Jack Delano was one of a group of FSA photographers hired by Roy Stryker during the Depression. The FSA was established in 1935 as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs and given the mission to support small farmers and restore land and communities. Other FSA photographers included Charlotte Brooks, Esther Bubley, Marjory Collins, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, Arthur Rothstein, Ben Shahn, John Vachon, and Mary Post Wolcott. Together they captured the images that have come to define the Depression.

Hired in 1940, Delano captured images throughout the United States documenting American culture and people. He also undertook assignments including one that involved the train system. The photo above was made in 1941 on his first trip to Puerto Rico.

Born Jack Ovcharov in Kiev, Ukraine on August 1, 1914, Delano emigrated to Philadelphia with his family in 1923. At age 18, he began studying drawing and painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. At 22 he took up photography while studying in Europe. Delano was a war photographer after his years with the FSA. He died in 1997 in Puerto Rico.

America from the Great Depression to WWII: Black & white photographs from the FSA - OWI 1935-1945