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American Workers in Color

WWII color photographs.Created by: PICRYLDated: 1939
Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies
WWII color photographs. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs from the Library of Congress. The original images are color transparencies ranging in size from 35 mm. to 4x5 inches.

Photographers working for the U.S. government's Farm Security Administration (FSA) and later the Office of War Information (OWI) between 1939 and 1944 made approximately 1,600 color photographs that depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The pictures focus on rural areas and farm labor, as well as aspects of World War II mobilization, including factories, railroads, aviation training, and women working.
290 Media in collection ∙ page 1 of 3
Carefully trained women inspectors check and inspect cargo transport innerwings before they are assembled on the fuselage, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Carefully trained women inspectors check and inspect cargo transport i...

American mothers and sisters, like these women at the Douglas Aircraft Company, give important help in producing dependable planes for their men at the front, Long Beach, Calif. Most important of the many types of aircraft made at this plant are the B-17F ("Flying Fortress") heavy bomber, the A-20 ("Havoc") assault bomber and the C-47 heavy transport plane for the carrying of troops and cargo

American mothers and sisters, like these women at the Douglas Aircraft...

Woman working on an airplane motor at North American Aviation, Inc., plant in Calif.

Woman working on an airplane motor at North American Aviation, Inc., p...

Santa Fe R.R. locomotive shops, Topeka, Kansas

Santa Fe R.R. locomotive shops, Topeka, Kansas

Gus Worke, a farmer who came from Germany 40 years ago, Southington, Conn.

Gus Worke, a farmer who came from Germany 40 years ago, Southington, C...

C & NW RR; locomotives in the roundhouse at Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill.

C & NW RR; locomotives in the roundhouse at Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill...

C. & N.W. R.R., Mrs. Dorothy Lucke, employed as a wiper at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa

C. & N.W. R.R., Mrs. Dorothy Lucke, employed as a wiper at the roundho...

Chicago and North Western R.R., Mrs. Thelma Cuvage, working in the sand house at the roundhouse, Clinton, Iowa. Her job is to see that sand is sifted and cleaned for use in the locomotives. Mrs. Cuvage's husband works as a guard at the Savannah (Ill.) Ordnance plant

Chicago and North Western R.R., Mrs. Thelma Cuvage, working in the san...

John Kelseh, blacksmith, at his forge in the blacksmith shop at the roundhouse, Rock Island R.R., Blue Island, Ill.

John Kelseh, blacksmith, at his forge in the blacksmith shop at the ro...

Huge drop hammers work day and night forming sheet metal parts for United Nations bombers and fighters at the North American Aviation, Inc., plant, Inglewood, Calif. The heavy hemp rope is used to snub the hammer so that it forms the part under proper pressure and rises clear of the work after each operation. This plant produces the battle-tested B-25 ("Billy Mitchell") bomber, used in General Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, and the P-51 ("Mustang") fighter plane which was first brought into prominence by the British raid on Dieppe

Huge drop hammers work day and night forming sheet metal parts for Uni...

War production workers at the Heil Company making gasoline trailer tanks for the U.S. Army Air Corps, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Elizabeth Little, age 30, the mother of two children, spraying small parts. Her husband runs a farm

War production workers at the Heil Company making gasoline trailer tan...

North American B-25 bomber is prepared for painting on the outside assembly line, N[orth] A[merican] Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, Calif.

North American B-25 bomber is prepared for painting on the outside ass...

A noontime rest for a full-fledged assembly worker at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company. Nacelle parts for a heavy bomber form the background

A noontime rest for a full-fledged assembly worker at the Long Beach, ...

Girl inspectors at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company make a careful check of center wings for C-47 transport planes

Girl inspectors at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft C...

Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircra...

Mechanical operator on boiler parts, Combustion Engineering Co., Chattanooga, Tenn.

Mechanical operator on boiler parts, Combustion Engineering Co., Chatt...

Riveters at work on fuselage of Liberator Bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas

Riveters at work on fuselage of Liberator Bomber, Consolidated Aircraf...

Drilling a wing bulkhead for a transport plane at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

Drilling a wing bulkhead for a transport plane at the Consolidated Air...

Lowering an engine in place in assembling a transport plane in a Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

Lowering an engine in place in assembling a transport plane in a Conso...

Switch boxes on the firewalls of B-25 bombers are assembled by women workers at North American [Aviation, Inc.]'s Inglewood, Calif., plant

Switch boxes on the firewalls of B-25 bombers are assembled by women w...

Sheet metal parts are numbered with this pneumatic numbering machine in North American's sheet metal department, N[orth] A[merican] Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, Calif.

Sheet metal parts are numbered with this pneumatic numbering machine i...

Camouflage class in New York University, where men and women are preparing for jobs in the Army or in industry, New York, N.Y. They make models from aerial photographs, re-photograph them, then work out a camouflage scheme and make a final photograph

Camouflage class in New York University, where men and women are prepa...

C. & N.W. R.R., women wipers employed at the roundhouse cleaning one of the giant "H" class locomotives, Clinton, Iowa

C. & N.W. R.R., women wipers employed at the roundhouse cleaning one o...

Photograph probably shows Mrs. Marcella Hart and Mrs. Viola Sievers. Compare to USW36-639.

A girl riveting machine operator at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant joins sections of wing ribs to reinforce the inner wing assemblies of B-17F heavy bombers, Long Beach, Calif. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F bomber is a later model of the B-17, which distinguished itself in action in the south Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude, heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men -- and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions

A girl riveting machine operator at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant...

Punching rivet holes in a frame member for a B-25 bomber, the plant of North American Aviation, Inc., Calif.

Punching rivet holes in a frame member for a B-25 bomber, the plant of...

Excavating within the log cofferdam during an early stage of construction, Douglas Dam, Tenn.

Excavating within the log cofferdam during an early stage of construct...

Assembling Liberator Bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas

Assembling Liberator Bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, ...

Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Co., Chattanooga, Tenn.

Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Co., Chattano...

Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee

Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, woman is working on a "Ven...

Two employees at the roundhouse at Proviso yard, C & NW RR., Chicago, Ill.

Two employees at the roundhouse at Proviso yard, C & NW RR., Chicago, ...

Casting a billet from an electric furnace, Chase Brass and Copper Co., Euclid, Ohio. Modern electric furnaces have helped considerably in speeding the production of brass and other copper alloys for national defense. Here the molten metal is poured or cast from the tilted furnace into a mold to form a billet. The billet later is worked into rods, tubes, wires or special shapes for a variety of uses

Casting a billet from an electric furnace, Chase Brass and Copper Co.,...

Mounting motor [on a] Fairfax B-25 bomber, at North American Aviation, Inc., plant in [Inglewood], Calif.

Mounting motor [on a] Fairfax B-25 bomber, at North American Aviation,...

Employees at North American Aviation, Incorporated, assembling the cowling on Allison motors for the P-51 fighter planes, Inglewood, Calif.

Employees at North American Aviation, Incorporated, assembling the cow...

Working inside the nose of a PBY, Elmer J. Pace is learning the construction of Navy planes, Corpus Christi, Texas. As an NYA trainee at the Naval Air Base, he gets practical experience. After about eight weeks, he will go into civil service as a sheet metal worker

Working inside the nose of a PBY, Elmer J. Pace is learning the constr...

Greasing a locomotive at the 40th Street shops of the C & NW RR.

Greasing a locomotive at the 40th Street shops of the C & NW RR.

"Big Pete" Ramagos, rigger at work on dam (TVA) Douglas Dam, Tenn.

"Big Pete" Ramagos, rigger at work on dam (TVA) Douglas Dam, Tenn.

Servicing one of the floodlights that turn night into day at the big construction operations for a new steel plant which will make important additions to the vast amount of steel needed for the war effort, Columbia Steel Co., Geneva, Utah

Servicing one of the floodlights that turn night into day at the big c...

Workers on the Liberator Bombers, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., [Fort Worth, Texas]

Workers on the Liberator Bombers, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., [Fort W...

A wing brace assembly for a B-25 bomber is prepared for the assembly line of an aircraft plant, North American Aviation, Inc., Calif. With plenty of speed, a 1,700-mile cruising range and a ceiling of 25,000 feet, it has performed as a medium bomber and as an escort plane

A wing brace assembly for a B-25 bomber is prepared for the assembly l...

With careful Douglas training, women do accurate electrical assembly and installation work, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

With careful Douglas training, women do accurate electrical assembly a...

War production worker at the Vilter [Manufacturing] Company making M5 and M7 guns for the U.S. Army, Milwaukee, Wis. Ex-housewife, age 49, now doing bench work on small gun parts. Son [is] Second L[ieutenan]t, Son-in-law, Capt[ain] in Army

War production worker at the Vilter [Manufacturing] Company making M5 ...

Women become skilled shop technicians after careful training in the school at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant, Long Beach, Calif. Most important of the many types of aircraft made at this plant are the B-17F ("Flying Fortress") heavy bomber, the A-20 ("Havoc") assault bomber and the C-47 heavy transport plane for the carrying of troops and cargo

Women become skilled shop technicians after careful training in the sc...

Workers leaving Pennsylvania shipyards, Beaumont, Texas

Workers leaving Pennsylvania shipyards, Beaumont, Texas

Worker inspecting a locomotive on a pit in the roundhouse at the C & NW RR's Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill.

Worker inspecting a locomotive on a pit in the roundhouse at the C & N...

A mating operation on a transport plane just before it comes to the pre-assembly line at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

A mating operation on a transport plane just before it comes to the pr...

Farm Security Administration borrower plowing his garden with one of the few plows used on the island, vicinity of Frederiksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands

Farm Security Administration borrower plowing his garden with one of t...

Crane operator at TVA's Douglas Dam, Tennessee

Crane operator at TVA's Douglas Dam, Tennessee

Working on a locomotive at the 40th Street shop of the C & NW RR, Chicago, Ill.

Working on a locomotive at the 40th Street shop of the C & NW RR, Chic...

A young woman employee of North American Aviation, Incorporated, working over the landing gear mechanism of a P-51 fighter plane, Inglewood, Calif. The mechanism resembles a small cannon

A young woman employee of North American Aviation, Incorporated, worki...

Employees at Mid-Continent Refinery, Tulsa, Okla.

Employees at Mid-Continent Refinery, Tulsa, Okla.

Formerly a sculptress and designer of tiles, Dorothy Cole converted her basement into a workshop to tin plate needles for valves for blood transfusion bottles prepared by Baxter Laboratories where she lives, Glenview, Ill. She turns in her profits to war bonds to provide a college education for her young nephew

Formerly a sculptress and designer of tiles, Dorothy Cole converted he...

The water stretching machine of an eastern parachute manufacturer stretches shroud lines so as to make them more adaptable to the finished product, Manchester, Conn.

The water stretching machine of an eastern parachute manufacturer stre...

Two women workers are shown capping and inspecting tubing which goes into the manufacture of the "Vengeance" (A-31) dive bomber made at Vultee's Nashville division, Tennessee. The "Vengeance" (A-31) was originally designed for the French. It was later adopted by the R.A.F. and still later by the U.S. Army Air Forces. It is a single-engine, low-wing plane, carrying a crew of two men and having six machine guns of varying calibers

Two women workers are shown capping and inspecting tubing which goes i...

Metal parts are placed on masonite by this woman employee before they slide under the multi-ton hydropress, North American Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, Calif.

Metal parts are placed on masonite by this woman employee before they ...

Flexible performance of C-47 transport planes is due in part to their two 1,200 horsepower radial engines and to their three-blade variable-pitch propellers, Long Beach, Calif. Picture taken at the Douglas Aircraft Company. The versatile C-47 performs many important tasks for the army. It ferries men and cargo across oceans and mountains, tows gliders and brings paratroopers and their equipment to scenes of action

Flexible performance of C-47 transport planes is due in part to their ...

Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, Texas

Working in the Assembly and Repair Dept. of the Naval Air Base, Corpus...

P-51 ("Mustang") fighter plane in construction, North American Aviation, Inc., Los Angeles, Calif.

P-51 ("Mustang") fighter plane in construction, North American Aviatio...

Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American [Aviation, Inc.]'s Inglewood, Calif., plant

Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembl...

A lathe operator machining parts for transport planes at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

A lathe operator machining parts for transport planes at the Consolida...

Clerk in one of the stock rooms of North American Aviation, Inc., checking to see if the proper numbers of parts were received and placed in the proper bin, Inglewood, Calif. This plant produces the battle-tested B-25 ("Billy Mitchell") bomber, used in General Doolittle's raid on Tokyo, and the P-51 ("Mustang") fighter plane which was first brought into prominence by the British raid on Dieppe

Clerk in one of the stock rooms of North American Aviation, Inc., chec...

Girl worker at lunch also absorbing California sunshine, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Girl worker at lunch also absorbing California sunshine, Douglas Aircr...

Working inside fuselage of a Liberator Bomber, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas

Working inside fuselage of a Liberator Bomber, Consolidated Aircraft C...

On North American's outdoor assembly line, a painter cleans the tail section of a P-51 fighter prior to spraying the olive-drab camouflage of the U.S. Army, N[orth] A[merican] Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, Calif.

On North American's outdoor assembly line, a painter cleans the tail s...

Welder at work on Douglas Dam, Tenn. (TVA)

Welder at work on Douglas Dam, Tenn. (TVA)

Generator works at the winding of a generator stator in a new addition to TVA's hydroelectric plant at Wilson Dam, Sheffield vicinity, Ala. Located 260 miles above the mouth of the Tennessee River, the dam has an authorized power installation of 288,000 kw., which can be increased to a possible ultimate of 444,000 kw. The reservoir at the dam adds 377,000 acre-feet of water to controlled storage on the Tennessee River system

Generator works at the winding of a generator stator in a new addition...

Women are trained to do precise and vital engine installation detail in Douglas Aircraft Company plants, Long Beach, Calif.

Women are trained to do precise and vital engine installation detail i...

War production workers at the Heil Company making gasoline trailer tanks for the U.S. Army Air Corps, Milwaukee, Wis. Mrs. Angeline Kwint, age 45, an ex-housewife, checking the tires of trailers. Her husband and son are in the U.S. Army

War production workers at the Heil Company making gasoline trailer tan...

A worker in the roundhouse at the C & NW RR., Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill.

A worker in the roundhouse at the C & NW RR., Proviso yard, Chicago, I...

Drill press operator, Allegheny Ludlum Steel[e] Corp., Brackenridge, Pa.

Drill press operator, Allegheny Ludlum Steel[e] Corp., Brackenridge, P...

[Children on row house steps, Washington, D.C.]

[Children on row house steps, Washington, D.C.]

P-51 ("Mustang") fighter planes being prepared for test flight at the field of North American Aviation, Inc., plant in Inglewood, Calif.

P-51 ("Mustang") fighter planes being prepared for test flight at the ...

Installing an engine at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

Installing an engine at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, F...

Daniel Anastazia, blacksmith's helper at the roundhouse of the Rock Island R.R., Blue Island, Ill.

Daniel Anastazia, blacksmith's helper at the roundhouse of the Rock Is...

Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies

Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Show...

Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill.; C & NW RR; Roy Nelin, a box packer in the roundhouse at the Proviso yard

Melrose Park (near Chicago), Ill.; C & NW RR; Roy Nelin, a box packer ...

Electric phosphate smelting furnace used to make elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the vicinity of Muscle Shoals, Alabama

Electric phosphate smelting furnace used to make elemental phosphorus ...

A carpenter at the TVA's new Douglas dam on the French Broad River, Tenn. This dam will be 161 feet high and 1,682 feet ong, with a 31,600-acre reservoir area extending 43 miles upstream. With a useful storage capacity of approximately 1,330,000 acre-feet, this reservoir will make possible the addition of nearly 100,000 kw. of continuous power to the TVA system in dry years and almost 170,000 kw. in the average year

A carpenter at the TVA's new Douglas dam on the French Broad River, Te...

A noontime rest for a full-fledged assembly worker at the Long Beach, Calif., plant of Douglas Aircraft Company. Nacelle parts for a heavy bomber form the background

A noontime rest for a full-fledged assembly worker at the Long Beach, ...

Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee

Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, woman is working on a "Ven...

Installing one of the 4 motors on the transport plane at Willow Run

Installing one of the 4 motors on the transport plane at Willow Run

Photo shows the Willow Run manufacturing plant, run by the Ford Motor Company near Ypsilanti, Michigan, which made the B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2009)

Mr. Leatherman, homesteader, coming out of his dugout home, Pie Town, New Mexico

Mr. Leatherman, homesteader, coming out of his dugout home, Pie Town, ...

Formerly a sculptress and designer of tiles, Dorothy Cole converted her basement into a workshop to tin plate needles for valves for blood transfusion bottles prepared by Baxter Laboratories, Glenview, Ill. She turns in her profits to war bonds to provide a college education for her young nephew

Formerly a sculptress and designer of tiles, Dorothy Cole converted he...

Drilling horizontal stabilizers: operating a hand drill, this woman worker at Vultee-Nashville is shown working on the horizontal stabilizer for a Vultee "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee. The "Vengeance" (A-31) was originally designed for the French. It was later adopted by the R.A.F. and still later by the U.S. Army Air Forces. It is a single-engine, low-wing plane, carrying a crew of two men and having six machine guns of varying calibers

Drilling horizontal stabilizers: operating a hand drill, this woman wo...

Santa Fe RR freight train about to leave for the West Coast from Corwith yard, Chicago, Ill., Santa Fe R.R. trip

Santa Fe RR freight train about to leave for the West Coast from Corwi...

The careful hands of women are trained in precise aircraft engine installation duties at Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

The careful hands of women are trained in precise aircraft engine inst...

Two Navy wives, Eva Herzberg and Elve Burnham, entered war work after their husbands joined the service, Glenview, Ill. They assemble bands for blood transfusion bottles at Baxter Laboratories. Mrs. Burnham is the mother of two children

Two Navy wives, Eva Herzberg and Elve Burnham, entered war work after ...

Working with a small steam drop hammer at the blacksmith shop in the Santa Fe R.R. shops, Topeka, Kansas

Working with a small steam drop hammer at the blacksmith shop in the S...

Mrs. Virginia Davis, a riveter in the assembly and repair department of the Naval air base, supervises Chas. Potter, a NYA trainee from Michigan, Corpus Christi, Texas. After eight weeks of training he will go into civil service. Should he be inducted or enlist in the armed service, he will be valuable to mechanized units of the Army or Navy

Mrs. Virginia Davis, a riveter in the assembly and repair department o...

Working on the wing center section at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

Working on the wing center section at the Consolidated Aircraft Corpor...

[Men working on telephone lines, probably near a TVA dam hydroelectric plant]

[Men working on telephone lines, probably near a TVA dam hydroelectric...

Transfusion donor bottles, Baxter Lab., Glenview, Ill.

Transfusion donor bottles, Baxter Lab., Glenview, Ill.

Women at work on C-47 Douglas cargo transport, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.

Women at work on C-47 Douglas cargo transport, Douglas Aircraft Compan...

C. & N.W. R.R., Mrs. Irene Bracker, mother of two children, employed at the roundhouse as a wiper, Clinton, Iowa

C. & N.W. R.R., Mrs. Irene Bracker, mother of two children, employed a...

Putting the nose section of a mighty transport plane in place in the fuselage mating fixture at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

Putting the nose section of a mighty transport plane in place in the f...

Inspecting of landing wheel of the transport planes at Willow Run

Inspecting of landing wheel of the transport planes at Willow Run

Photo shows the Willow Run manufacturing plant, run by the Ford Motor Company near Ypsilanti, Michigan, which made the B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2009)

Working on the boiler of a locomotive at the 40th Street shops of the C & NW RR, Chicago, Ill.

Working on the boiler of a locomotive at the 40th Street shops of the ...

[Electric phosphate smelting furnace used in the making of elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the Muscle Shoals area, Alabama]

[Electric phosphate smelting furnace used in the making of elemental p...

Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Co., Chattanooga, Tenn.

Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Co., Chattano...

Farm Security Administration borrower, vicinity of Frederiksted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands

Farm Security Administration borrower, vicinity of Frederiksted, St. C...

Installing an engine at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, Fort Worth, Texas

Installing an engine at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant, F...

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