Baltimore Street Photographer, Great Depression-era edition
Yale University recently unveiled a platform called Photogrammar, which hosts 170,000 images taken from 1935 to 1945 — which spans parts of the Great Depression — by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. There are more than 1,600 that feature the city of Baltimore during this time, and The Sun has identified more than a dozen “themes” from these images that we will roll out in The Darkroom in the coming weeks and months.
A majority of the photos from Baltimore focus on its industry at the time, but there were many that captured everyday life. And as the producer of The Darkroom’s ongoing series on Baltimore street photographers, I thought it a perfect fit to start with these photos. Photographers John Vachon, Marjory Collins, Sheldon Dick, Arthur Rothstein and Arthur S. Siegel were some of the photographers assigned to Baltimore. Captions in quotes are the original text provided for that photo.
-
- “Man who lives in row house. Baltimore, Maryland.” John Vachon. July, 1938
-
- “Shoe shine boy.” Marjory Collins, April 1943
-
- “Workers reading the newsstand papers while waiting for a trolley after work.” Marjory Collins, April 1943
-
- “Young boy in Baltimore slum area.” John Vachon, July 1938
-
- “Woman who lives in row house.” John Vachon. July, 1938
-
- “Man who lives in row house.” John Vachon. July, 1938
-
- “House in Negro section.” John Vachon, July 1938
-
- “Street under viaduct.” Marjory Collins, April 1943
-
- Scrubbing white steps. Baltimore, Maryland. John Vachon, July 1938
-
- “Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. Lunch time.” Arthur S. Siegel, May 1943
-
- “Employees of the Bethlehem Fairfield shipyard hurrying to catch the six a.m. ferry across Curtis Bay to work. The street is lined with their parked cars.” Marjory Collins, April 1943
-
- “A man repairing an umbrella.” John Vachon, April 1943
-
- “Street in Negro section.” Sheldon Dick, July 1938
-
- “A street scene.” John Vachon, March 1943
-
- “Street in slum area.” John Vachon, July 1938
-
- “Shopping district just before closing time at nine p.m. on Thursday night.” Marjory Collins, April 1943
-
- “Light street.” Marjory Collins, April 1943
-
- “Street in Negro section, Baltimore, Maryland.” Sheldon Dick, July 1938
-
- “Workers boarding a trackless trolley at four p.m. Trackless trolleys are more economical than buses to run because they require no gas; but do use tires. They are run by electric power in wires above the street and can be manipulated from one side of the street to the other.” Marjory Collins, April 1943
-
- Photo by Arthur Rothstein, April 1939
-
- “Third shift workers waiting on street corner to be picked up by shared cars around midnight.” Marjory Collins, April, 1943
-
- “Man sleeping in fish market.” Photo by Sheldon Dick, July 1938
Baltimore neighborhoods
Baltimore street photographers
Year in review
Freddie Gray: protests, aftermath
24 hours with...
A. Aubrey Bodine
Viewing Baltimore from above
Evelyn J. Chatmon
Oct 20, 2015 @ 10:20:01
I have no quarrel with the nomenclature because it is accurate for the times. What I do have a problem with, if in fact The Sun is making the decisions about which of the 1,600 images to use, is that of this set , they all depict my people as tattered, torn, ragged, and seemingly content. If some images of well to do Black people are not included as they are for the Caucasians, that would be a distortion of history.
Jon Sham
Oct 20, 2015 @ 11:19:57
Evelyn – This is one installment of a series that we plan to continue, picking a different theme each week from these archive images. I would invite you to look through the 1,600 photos and tell me if you truly think it is a misrepresentation, or that they were hand-picked to make black people look content with being poor. The images are what they are. There was no agenda or editorial decision made that fits what you are implying. The theme was “street photography” in Baltimore during the Great Depression. And I included every image I found that fit that category, whether the subject was white, black or otherwise.
trish dickerson
Oct 15, 2015 @ 20:06:37
You cannot erase the past by removing captions. Let these photos be preserved,as they are, with captions that reflect and are a puece of our history. I see no offense, and enjoy these images.
Carol Ott
Oct 15, 2015 @ 18:20:30
I’m glad you left the captions. People need to understand the context surrounding these photos, otherwise they just become “old pictures”.
Marcus Jennings
Oct 15, 2015 @ 13:55:54
While the photo tags would have been appropriate in the days that they were taken but, in today’s politically correct charged society they are not appropriate. I request that the photo tags be re-evaluated. Thank You.
Jon Sham
Oct 15, 2015 @ 16:44:21
Marcus – The idea was to preserve the captions as-is for presentation. You can see on image #13 that the caption is written that way above the photo. I sincerely do not mean to upset or disrespect anyone with the inclusion of the original captions, but thought that the authenticity was important to preserve in this way.
Benjamin Buchanan
Oct 16, 2015 @ 10:06:31
Who can’t understand that the photos captions are Period Specific? Marcus, stop being a troll. This is our history and if we deny it it will happen again. If you’re truly offended, then life’s got much more hurt in store for you my friend.