Hope in Hard Times: New Deal Photographs of Montana, 1936-1942 [Hardcover]

Mary Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2003

In the 1930s and 1940s, four Farm Security Administration photographers were detailed to Montana to document the effects of the Depression on the state. The four--Arthur Rothstein, Marion Post Wolcott, Russell Lee, and John Vachon--captured the many facets of the Depression in Montana: rural and urban, agricultural and industrial, work and play, and hard times and the promise of a brighter future.
Taken by men and women who became some of America's best-known photographers, the photographs of Rothstein, Wolcott, Lee, and Vachon are both stunning pieces of art and important historical documents. Today these striking images present an unforgettable portrait of a little-studied period in the history of Montana. Selected from the FSA Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the photographs in Hope in Hard Times offer viewers an unparalleled look at life in Montana in the years preceding the United States' entry into World War II.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Arthur Rothstein, Russell Lee, John Vachon, and Marion Post Wolcott became some of the United States' best-known photographers through their pictures of Depression-era America. Their assignment, as one of their associates described it, was to have "a long look at the whole vast, complicated rural U.S. landscape with all that was built on it and all those who built and wrecked and worked in it and bore kids and dragged them up and played games and paraded and picnicked and suffered and died and were buried in it."
In Montana the four photographers traveled to forty of the state's fifty-six counties, creating a rich record of the many facets of the Depression and recovery: rural and urban, agricultural and industrial, work and play, hard times and the promise of a brighter future. The photographers captured the dignity of Montanans as they struggled to scratch out livings from dried-up fields, nurture families in the shadows of Butte head frames, and foster communities on the vast expanses of the northern plains.
Hope in Hard Times, features over 140 Farm Security Administration photographs to illustrate the story of the Great Depression in Montana and the experiences of the photographers who documented it. Today these striking images, from cities like Butte to small towns like Terry, present an unforgettable portrait of a little-studied period in the history of Montana. Selected from the Farm Security Administration Collection at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the photographs in Hope in Hard Times offer viewers an unparalleled look at life in Montana in the years preceding the United States' entry into World War II.

About the Author

Mary Murphy is Associate Professor of History at Montana State University, Bozeman.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Montana Historical Society Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0917298802
• ISBN-13: 978-0917298806
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,703,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An absorbing visual presentation of black-and-white images, August 9, 2003

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hope in Hard Times: New Deal Photographs of Montana, 1936-1942 (Paperback)

Compiled from archives of photographs taken by Arthur Rothstein, Russell Lee, John Vachon, and Marion Post Wolcott (four of the United States' best-known photographs from the Depression era), Hope In Hard Times: New Deal Photographs Of Montana 1936-1942 is an absorbing visual presentation of black-and-white images that add a personal touch to the events of history, as the state of Montana and indeed the nation of America struggled to lift itself out of economic collapse. The extensive text provides an informed and informative commentary which provides an invaluable context and rounds out the memorable pictures creating a vivid total presentation. Hope In Hard Times is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to academic and community library 20th Century American History reference collections and reading lists.