In the archives of the Library of Congres, alongside the iconic “Great Depression” photos, thousands of killed, unpublished photographs reside.
Roy Stryker, the director of the FSA’s documentary program, was responsible for hiring photographers such as Dorothea LangeArthur Rothstein, Gordon Parks, and Walker Evans and forwarding them across the U.S.A to capture “misery” that had overtaken the country during the depression.
![Fennel Corbin who is being resettled on new land, Virginia Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/100-640x454.jpg)
![Negro boy selling pecans by road, near Alma, Georgia Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/99-468x640.jpg)
![Setting out rows of celery, Sanford, FloridaPhoto Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/98-2-640x458.jpg)
Photo Credit
![Part of migrant agricultural worker’s family near Belle Glade, Florida Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/97-479x640.jpg)
![An employee of the grapefruit canning plant at Winter Haven, Florida Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/96-640x466.jpg)
![Sharecropper’s wife and children, Arkansas Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/95-640x457.jpg)
![Children of sharecropper, North Carolina Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/94-475x640.jpg)
![Children at Greenbelt, Maryland Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/93-640x453.jpg)
Stryker was quite educated and informed his photographers, providing them with extensive research for each assignment. Stryker wanted to get the best out of his employees, and one would say he was a bit of a dictatorial and tyrannical editor.
Everytime photographers returned from the assignment with the negatives, Stryker and his assistants were painstakingly “reviewing” the photos. Images that didn’t meet the criteria were destined to meet the hole puncher. The weirdest part is that the editor didn’t have any explicit criteria to determine which photos will be published and which will be killed.So we can assume how difficult it was to satisfy his standards as he was ruthlessly “killing” all of the photographs that were not to his liking.
We have to agree on one, because of his sharp eye there are images that fully epitomize The Great Depression, such as the Dorothea Lange’s “Migrant Mother.”
![Red House, West Virginia Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/92-640x453.jpg)
![Red House, West Virginia Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/91-640x446.jpg)
![Medicine show, Huntingdon, Tennessee Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/90-640x463.jpg)
![Residents of Camden, Tennessee Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/89-640x457.jpg)
![Amite City, Louisiana Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/88-640x554.jpg)
![Resident at Amite City, Louisiana Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/87-640x454.jpg)
![Resident at Amite City, Louisiana Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/86-640x453.jpg)
![Truck repair, Plain City, Ohio Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/85-640x450.jpg)
![Newsboys, Jackson, OhioPhoto Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/84-640x450.jpg)
Photo Credit
While some of the photographs were merely punctured once around the corner, others were completely damaged, compulsively punctured several times making them permanently unsuitable for publication.
So, it’s obvious that Stryker was not a favorite among the photographers. They complained and protested constantly against “The photo killer” until in 1939 Stryker finally relented.
![Kids, Jackson, Ohio Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/83-640x449.jpg)
![Rehabilitation client, Garrett County, Maryland Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/82-640x448.jpg)
![Garrett County, Maryland, a surveyor Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/81-450x640.jpg)
![Steelworker’s son, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/80-640x450.jpg)
![Steelworker’s son, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/79-640x444.jpg)
![Wife of steelworker, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/78-640x448.jpg)
![Union headquarters, Aliquippa, PennsylvaniaPhoto Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/77-640x462.jpg)
Photo Credit
![Cutting hay, Windsor County, Vermont Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/76-461x640.jpg)
![Steelworkers, Aliquippa, Pennsylvania Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/75-640x446.jpg)
![Cutting hay, Windsor County, Vermont Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/74-459x640.jpg)
![Sideshow, State Fair, Rutland, Vermont Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/73-640x461.jpg)
![Picking stringbeans near Cambridge, Maryland Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/72-478x640.jpg)
![Crowds at races, Indianapolis, Indiana Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/71-640x461.jpg)
![Crowds at races, Indianapolis, Indiana Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/70-640x479.jpg)
![Postmaster at Old Rag, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia Photo Credit](https://www.thevintagenews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2016/06/69-640x460.jpg)