Natchez, Mississippi 1940

Marion Post Wolcott. Unidentified Structure in Natchez, MS. August 1940. Digital reproduction from color slide. FSA/OWI Color Photographs, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. LC-USF35-115.

Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographer Marion Post Wolcott shot this image in the autumn of 1940. The digital reproduction is part of a Library of Congress pilot initiative to make some of its Prints and Photographs Division holdings available through Flickr, the photograph-sharing website. Begun in January of this year, the LC project was primarily intended as a means to make its collections known to a wider audience in a cost effective manner. The planners also hoped that viewers would contribute to the identification process, which would result in improving the cataloging for the related image, and thereby increase access. Architects have been especially helpful in this regard. To hear more about the logistics of the project, including copyright and non-exclusivity issues, click here.

Marion Post Wolcott (1910-1990) traveled extensively throughout the southeastern United States while working for the FSA. Among many other places, she visited the New Orleans Quarantine Station in Algiers, a Juke Joint in Melrose, and a Fish Shack in Natchitoches. Her daughter, Linda Wolcott Moore, maintains a sizable archive of her original negatives and has published a biographical sketch here.