One of the greatest photographic archives in U.S. history was taken between 1935 and 1944 under the direction of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI). Luckily, Oklahoma was included and over 2,000 photographs were captured by traveling photographers – Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, and Arthur Rothstein. Keep scrolling to see 11 historic photos (and their original descriptions) that show us what it was like living in Oklahoma in the late 1930s.

1. "Daughter of tenant farmer hanging up clothes near Warner, Oklahoma." July 1939.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
2. "Family walking on highway, five children. Started from Idabel, Oklahoma, and bound for Krebs, Oklahoma." July 1938.
Dorothea Lange/Photogrammar
3. "Untitled photo, possibly related to pushing a car belonging to agricultural day laborer to start it, near Muskogee, Oklahoma." July 1939.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
4. "She lives on Scratch Hill, outside Atoka, Oklahoma." July 1938.
Dorothea Lange/Photogrammar
5. "Cotton farmers near Oil City, Oklahoma, day laborers." July 1937.
Dorothea Lange/Photogrammar

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6. "Bound for the wheat harvest in southwestern Oklahoma." July 1937.
Dorothea Lange/Photogrammar
7. "A possible solution to the dust problem is irrigation. This farmer is pumping water from a well to his parched fields. Cimarron County, Oklahoma." May 1936.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
8. "Dust is too much for this farmer's son in Cimarron County, Oklahoma." May 1936.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
9. "Removing drifts of soil which block the highways near Guymon, Oklahoma." April 1936.
Arthur Rothstein/Photogrammar
10. "Child coming out of grocery store, Webbers Falls, Oklahoma." July 1939.
Russell Lee/Photogrammar
11. "One of a group of western Oklahoma wheat farmers congregated at crossroads service station." July, 1938.
Dorothea Lange/Photogrammar

 

To view the full collection of photos from Photogrammar, click here.

Click here to read about 11 interesting facts about Oklahoma’s history, including the Dust Bowl.

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