America during the First Economic Crisis

Color photographs of the Great Depression. Recently, the Library of Congress has released a selection of 1,700 previously unpublished photographs of the era of the end of the Great Depression - the late 30s and early 40s. Here are the most expressive pictures that allow you to see the first global economic crisis in color.

A house in Houston, Texas, May 1943. Photographer John Vachon (1914-1975)

Prayer before lunch at the fair, Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Photographer Lee Russell (1903-1986)

The beginning of the holiday dinner, Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Photographer Lee Russell (1903-1986)

3 photos taken at a fair in Rutland, Vermont, September 1940. Photographer Jack Delano

William London, railroad worker with 25 years of experience, Melrose Park, near Chicago, Illinois. The photo was taken in the early 1940s

A marshalling yard in Chicago, Illinois, 1942. Photographer Jack Delano

Unladylike work: Viola Sievers washes an H-series locomotive in Clinton, Iowa, April 1943

Joseph Klensken washes up after a working day at a marshalling yard in Chicago. Photographer Jack Delano

Freight Locomotive Depot in Chicago, Illinois, May 1943

Unloading of wagons at the Chicago depot, April 1943. Photographer Jack Delano

Dancing couples, McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939 or 1940. Photographer Lee Russell (1903-1986)

Farm Auction, Derby, Connecticut, September 1940

Children harvest potatoes in fields near Caribou, Maine. Schools did not open until the harvest was harvested. October 1940

A shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942

Women railroad workers on their lunch break, Clinton, Iowa, April 1943

Surplus Sale, St. John's, Arizona, October 1940

On a plantation owned by the Department of Agriculture, Louisiana, 1940

Preparation of land for cotton planting, Greaney County, Georgia, June 1940

Construction of the Shasta Dam in California, June 1942

Cornfields along the river, northeast Tennessee, May 1940

Oat harvesting, southeast Georgia, circa 1940

Corn harvesting near Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940

Children sitting on the car. The photo was taken next to the Department of Agriculture labor camp near Robston, Texas, January 1940

A garden laid out next to Jack Weenery's dugout, Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940

Farmer Jim Norris, Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940

A used plumbing store in Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940

Sugar cane workers, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, December 1941

Main Street Grid, Colorado, December 1940

Fertilizer cart (circa 1940)

Rodeo in Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940

A boy from Cincinnati, Ohio, 1942 or 1943

Farmer with children at a barbecue, Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Photographer Lee Russell

Farmer Jack Weenery and his family, Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940. Photographer Lee Russell

The Parris Island barrage balloon, May 1942. Photographer Alfred Palmer

Sylvia Sweets Tea Shop, Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940 or January 1941. Photographer Jack Delano

Trucks of the starch factory in Caribou, Maine, October 1940. Photographer Jack Delano

Photo from Georgia (?), circa 1940

Scrap metal warehouse in Montana, October 1940

Children assemble a model airplane, Robstown, Texas, January 1942. Photographer Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985)

Farmer Jim Norris and his wife, Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940

Tying a ribbon on a calf's tail before a rodeo in Pie Town, October 1940

Pre-sorting oranges before shipping, Redlands, California, March 1943

Virginia Young (right), head of the repair shop at the Naval base in Texas. Her husband became one of the first victims of the United States in World War II. August 1941, photographer Howard Hallem.

Lucille Mazurek, 29, a former housewife whose husband was drafted into the army, works at a factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 1943. Photographer Howard Hallem