This gentleman is not identified but is thought to have been photographed in the earliest days of the Irwinville Farms Project.
Arthur Rothstein/Library of Congress (August 1935)
Chester Foster Driving Home His Cattle
John Vachon/Library of Congress (May 1938)
“The Farm Was Our Own: Memories of the Irwinville Farms Project” – A Short Film by Erin O’Quinn
This is a wonderful tribute to the Irwinville Farms Project! Erin O’Quinn expertly blends archival photographs with the anthem of the Great Depression, Happy Days are Here Again, to set the context and has a great interview with Irwinville Farms resident Edward McIntyre.
Irwinville Farms Tobacco Barn, Circa 1937, Bradford Farm
Irwinville Farms Tobacco Barn © Brian Brown 2014
Steve Mixon suggests that this is likely located on the old Bradford Farm.
To see other images of this barn:
http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.com/2009/02/11/tobacco-barn-big-creek-church-road/
http://vanishingsouthgeorgia.com/2014/02/07/irwinville-farms-tobacco-barn-big-creek-church-road/
Filed under Irwinville Tobacco Barns
Children at the May Day Picnic, Irwinville, 1939
In her book about Irwinville Farms, Joy Wilson McDaniel identifies these twins as Ruby Deen & Francine Thomas. It’s one of my favorite photos from Irwinville.
It looks like the children of Irwinville had as much fun as the adults.
These are cataloged as “unidentified” within the Library of Congress Irwinville collection, but since they virtually match other shots from the May Day Picnic of 1939, the assumption of archivists is that they were made the same day.
Marion Post Wolcott/Library of Congress (Spring 1939)
Wilson Farmstead, Irwin County
This was among the most common styles of housing in South Georgia prior to the Great Depression; many structures of this style remain today in various stages of modification. Thanks to Gary McDaniel for identifying this as his grandparents’ home. It was archived as a typical home of an Irwinville Farms client before resettlement. The young boy on the front porch, barely visible on the right, is his uncle, Bill Wilson. Gary’s mother, Joy Wilson McDaniel, is an Irwinville native and the author of the wonderful history: Irwinville Farms Project: The Making of a Community.
Arthur Rothstein/Library of Congress (September 1935)
Here’s a link to the photograph of Bill Wilson:
Farm Client’s Garden
While men were out tending the fields, women often kept a small produce garden. Here, a client inspects her bountiful work with a home demonstration agent.
The photo below is a proof of sorts. I don’t know why they were hole-punched, but quite a few I’ve found recently have this defect. It’s possible that they were rejected by the Washington office and deemed not publishable, for whatever reason, but I really have no idea. It could be that the photographers and/or subjects just didn’t like them for some reason.
John Vachon/Library of Congress (May 1938?)
