Скачать или смотреть 20 Wonderful Color Photographs Capture Everyday Life in Texas in the Early 1940s

On the eve of the Great Depression, most Texans lived on farms or ranches or in small towns. Though the previous decade saw successes in oil, the economy was still dominated by agriculture – cotton in the north, livestock in the west and a growing citrus industry in the south.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, many Texans believed the state’s rural nature would insulate the region from the worst of the financial crisis. As the nation’s economy collapsed, it became clear that Texas would suffer, too. Across the state, agriculture and the new industries of oil and lumber fell victim to the growing economic depression.

These vintage photographs are filled with pathos, but they also make the Great Depression seem otherworldly--wholely dissimilar from the vivid color of the struggling economy we now find ourselves in.