Jack Delano took today’s throwback Thursday photograph in September 1940. It shows a farmer cutting a field of buckwheat along Route 79, near Ithaca, New York. This photo is just one of 170,000 photographs that were taken by the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression.Between 1935 and 1945, the Farm Security Administrations and Office of War Information (FSA-OWI) sent photographers across the country to document the effects of the depression and to help build support for New Deal relief programs. Photographers included Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Arthur Rothstein. The program also produced some of the most iconic images of the era.
Today, thanks to a program launched by Yale University, all of these photographs can be searched online. The web-based platform Photogrammar, allows visitors to organize photos by photographer or geographic region, and also includes a helpful interactive map.See more photos from Tompkins County.Image Credit: Photogrammar, Library of Congress.