The FSA Poster Project

A webpage for "A Poster in the Streets, People in the Sheets: Posters and Audience Engagment in the FSA-OWI File"

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Welcome!

Welcome to my website on the FSA film advertisement project. The project thus far is a video introducing and briefly analyzing images in the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information photo collection for the sake of looking at the materiality and place of movie posters in the 1930s and early 1940s. Check out the posts below for bibliographical information as well as acknowledgements and credits.

Please feel free to send in questions and comments!

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Cara Finnegan, whose knowledge on this subject has been invaluable and whose seminars are always enlightening.

I would also like to thank Grace Hebert and David Tokarz for letting me tape and edit in their home.

I would like to thank Alexandra Moll, Grace Hebert, and Kristopher Weeks for starring alongside me, Kaylee Lukacena for allowing me to use a photo of her, Katie Bruner for letting me use her gorgeous sunglasses when I lost my own, and David Tokarz for yelling in my general direction when asked (and not using a NERF gun instead).

Thank you to the University of Illinois Library system for letting me take over the audio recording booth and for the loaning of equipment. 

Additional thanks to the University of Illinois Department of Communication, particularly the acceptance committee who kindly offered me a slot in this prestigious program. The peers and scholars I have been able to work with have been supportive, inquisitive, and kind in the moments when I have most needed it, and I would not have traded the experience of studying here for the world. 

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The Video for the Project

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Video Credits

The video was written and edited by Sara Roncero-Menendez, as a project for Dr. Cara Finnegan’s seminar on Visual Rhetoric, in the Spring of 2016 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The video not-for-profit/non-monetized and is hosted on YouTube under the user name evagirl77.

ACTORS

Alexandra Moll

Kristopher Weeks

Grace Hebert

David Tokarz (voice only)

Kaylee Lukacena

IMAGES

The majority of the images were taken from the FSA-OWI archive or are from the author’s personal collection. Please see the post entitled “Image Bibliography” for more details.

MUSIC

All music was used in accordance to the Creative Commons licenses chosen by the artists.

“Bar Manouch” by A Dehais 

“Soundtrack to a Surreal Dream” by Chris Neary

“Swing Saraband” by foundring

“Happy Ragtime Thingy” by Mag Magnet 

“Ambient” by HEARTPOEM

“Ambient (Prod. by KeL)” by KZA

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Footnotes

[1] Colleen McDanell, “Religious History and Visual Culture.” The Journal of American History (94, no. 1, 2007): 112.

[2] Martha Sandweiss, “Image and Artifact: The Photograph as Evidence in the Digital Age.” The Journal of American History (94, no. 1, 2007): 193.

[3] Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley, “Dish Night At The Movies: Exhibitor Promotions and Female Audiences During the Great Depression.” In Looking Past the Screen: Case Studied in American Film History and Method, edited by Jon Lewis and Eric Smoodin. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007): 247

[4] Joan McGettigan, “Facing the Depression: Movie Exhibition in the Philadelphia Area, 1931.”  Journal of American and Comparative Cultures (24, 1-2, 2001):18

[5] Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley, “Dish Night At The Movies: Exhibitor Promotions and Female Audiences During the Great Depression.” In Looking Past the Screen: Case Studied in American Film History and Method, edited by Jon Lewis and Eric Smoodin. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007): 251.

[6] Charles M. Dobbs, “Hollywood Movies and the American Community.” In Great Depression: People and Perspectives, edited by Hamilton Cravens, 207-225. (Santa Barbara, California: ABC CLIO, 2009): 209.

[7] Andrew Bergman, We’re in the Money: Depression America and its Films. (New York: Harper Colophon Books, 1971): xiii.

[8] Gabrielle Esperdy, “From Instruction to Consumption: Architecture and Design in Hollywood Movies of the 1930s.”  The Journal of American Culture (30, no. 2, 2007): 199 ; Douglas Muzzio and Thomas Halper, “Dead Ends: Urban Poverty and Underclass
Narratives in American Movies Through
the Great Depression.”  The Journal of Popular Culture (46, no. 5, 2013): 1012-13.

[9] Mary Beth Haralovich, “Selling Noir: Stars, Gender, and Genre in Film Noir Posters and Publicity.” In A Companion to Film Noir, edited by Andrew Spicer and Helen Hanson, 245-263. (West Sussex, UK: Wiley |Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2013): 248-49.

[10] Johannes Mahlknecht, “Three Words to Tell a Story: The Movie Poster Tagline.” Word & Image (31, no. 4, 2015): 417-18.

[11] Stephen Parmelee, “Remembrance of Films Past:  Film Posters on Film.”  Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (29, no.2, 2009): 184.

[12] Elizabeth Abel, Signs of the Times: The Visual Politics of Jim Crow, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010): 199.

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Bibliography

Abel, Elizabeth. 2010. Signs of the Times: The Visual Politics        of Jim Crow. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Bergman, Andrew. 1971. We're in the Money: Depression        America and its Films. New York: Harper Colophon        Books.

Dobbs, Charles M. 2009. "Hollywood Movies and the        American Community." In Great Depression: People and        Perspectives, edited by Hamilton Cravens, 207-225.        Santa Barbara, California: ABC CLIO.

Esperdy, Gabrielle. 2007. "From Instruction to        Consumption: Architecture and Design in Hollywood        Movies of the 1930s."  The Journal of American Culture        30 (2):198 - 211.

Fuller-Seeley, Kathryn H. 2007. "Dish Night At The          Movies: Exhibitor Promotions and Female          Audiences During the Great Depression." In Looking         Past the Screen: Case Studied in American Film History         and Method, edited by Jon Lewis and Eric Smoodin.         Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Haralovich, Mary Beth. 2013. "Selling Noir: Stars, Gender,        and Genre in Film Noir Posters and Publicity." In A        Companion to Film Noir, edited by Andrew Spicer          and Helen Hanson, 245-263. West Sussex, UK: Wiley         |Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Mahlknecht, Johannes. 2015. "Three Words to Tell a Story:        The Movie Poster Tagline."  Word & Image 31        (4):414-424.

McCrisken, Trevor B., and Andrew Pepper. 2005. American        History and Contemporary Hollywood Film. New        Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press.

McDannell, Colleen. 2007. "Religious History and Visual        Culture." The Journal of American History 94 (1):112-121.

McGettigan, Joan. 2001. "Facing the Depression: Movie               Exhibition in the Philadelphia Area, 1931."  Journal of        American and Comparative Cultures 24 (1-2):15-21.

Meyers, Cythnia B. 2011. "The Problems with Sponsorship         in US Broadcasting, 1930s-1950s: Perspectives from        the Advertising Industry."  Historical Journal of Film,               Radio, and Television 31 (3):355-372.

Muzzio, Douglas, and Thomas Halper. 2013. "Dead Ends:        Urban Poverty and Underclass
Narratives in American        Movies Through
the Great Depression."  The Journal of        Popular Culture 46 (5):1008 - 1028.

Parmelee, Stephen. 2009. "Remembrance of Films Past:               Film Posters on Film."  Historical Journal of Film, Radio        and Television 29 (2):181-195.

Sandweiss, Martha A. 2007. "Image and Artifact: The               Photograph as Evidence in the Digital Age."The Journal        of American History 94 (1):193-202.

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Image Bibliography

Bubley, Esther. Washington, D.C. Soldier in front of the Capitol theatre. March, 1943. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0691. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC. 

Bubley, Esther. Washington, D.C. Soldier in front of the Capitol theatre. March, 1943a. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0691. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.  

Collier, John. Moreno Valley, Colfax County, New Mexico. Mary Mutz making an apple pie on the Mutz ranch. February, 1943. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0863. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Collier, John. Picture selection from FSA (Farm Security Administration) files for war bonds mural in Grand Central Terminal in New York City. December, 1941. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 263. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Collier, John. Washington D.C. Portrait of Roy E. Stryker, photograph chief of the FSA (Farm Security Administration). January, 1942. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot Unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Delano, Jack. Interior of a one room shack in a settlement of Negro farmers who has moved out of the Santee-Cooper basin. Near Bonneau, South Carolina. March, 1941. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1533. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC. 

Dish Night at the State Theater. November, 1931. From the book, “The Life and Death of a Movie Theater” by I. Joseph Hyatt

Evans, Walker. [Untitled photo, possibly related to: Movie poster, vicinity of Moundsville Alabama]. Summer 1936. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot Unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Evans, Walker. Houses. Atlanta, Georgia. March, 1936. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1538. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Evans, Walker. Minstrel poster in Alabama town. January, 1936. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1604 & 2301. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Evans, Walker. Minstrel poster. Alabama. August, 1936. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1604. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Evans, Walker. Movie theatre on Saint Charles Street. Liberty Theater, New Orleans, Louisiana. 1935 or 1936. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1680. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Evans, Walker. Posters covering a building near Lynchburg to advertise a Downie Bros. circus. 1936. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot Unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Evans, Walker. Scott’s Run mining camps near Morgantown, West Virginia. Domestic interior. Shack at Osage. July, 1935. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1720 and 2301. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lange, Dorothea. Advertisement for current movie in town. Westley, California. The child is a flood refugee of March 1939 from southeast Missouri. April, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 349. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. [Untitled photo, possibly related to: Man in front of movie theater, Waco, Texas.] November, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot Unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Abandoned theater decorated with bottle caps. Quemado, Texas. March, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot Unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Baseball game at the annual field day at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) farmworkers community. Yuma, Arizona. March, 1942. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1306. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Children looking at poster in front of movie, Saturday, Steele, Missouri. August, 1938. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1202. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Decorated car in the Fourth of July parade at Vale, Oregon. July, 1941. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0322. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Interior of house. Arkansas River bottom near Vian. Oklahoma, Sequoyah County. June, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0523. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Man in front of movie theater, Waco, Texas. November, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0562. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Mexican boys looking at movie poster, San Antonio, Texas. March, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0592. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC. 

Lee, Russell. Mexican man in front of movie theater, San Antonio, Texas. March, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0592. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Movie theater. Southside, Chicago, Illinois. April, 1941. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1084. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Schoolchildren going to the movies, San Augustine, Texas. April, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0557A. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Sign in front of moving picture theater, Hood River, Oregon. October, 1941. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0649. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Signs in front of theater. Hobbs, New Mexico. March, 1940. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0640. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Lee, Russell. Tulare County, California. FSA (Farm Secuirty Administration) farm workers’ camp. At the movies. February, 1942. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0358. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Parks, Gordon. Southfields, New York. Interracial activities at Camp Nathan Hale, where children are aided by the Methodist Camp Service. Boy Scout troop no. 210 of New York, singing for the Protestant service "Onward Christian Soldiers" FSA (Farm Secuirty Administration) farm workers’ camp. At the movies. August, 1943. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 985. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Rosskam, Edwin. Children in front of moving picture theater, Easter Sunday matinee, Black Belt, Chicago, Illinois. Oklahoma, Sequoyah County. April, 1941. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0241. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Rothstein, Arthur. Interior of Postmaster Brown’s home at Old Rag. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. October, 1935.. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1419. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC

Shahn, Ben. “Black Fury” poster, a movie about a strike, Scotts Run, West Virginia. October, 1935. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1721. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

United States Office of Emergency Management. Poet and historian turns to films. Carl Sandburg, famous poet and Pulitizer prize winning historian has turned movie maker. He has just written the commentary for "Bomber," national defense motion picture produced by the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) film unit. He is shown here in the cutting room with Phillip Martin, film editor and technical supervisor of the film unit. Between 1940 and 1946. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot Unknown. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Vachon, John. Girl and movie poster, Cincinnati, Ohio. October, 1938. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1034. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Vachon, John. Movie theater, Elkins, West Virginia. There are two movies in town, both offer games of chance, win a dollar, three nights a week. June, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1736. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Vachon, John. Saturday morning movie crowd, North Platte, Nebraska. October, 1938. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 0417. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Wolcott, Marion Post. Movie advertisement on side of building. Welch, West Virginia. September, 1938. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1730. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Wolcott, Marion Post. Negro going in colored entrance of movie house on Saturday afternoon, Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi. October, 1939. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Lot 1639 & 2303. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC.

Additional Images from:

A Movie Theater in Vienna by CameliaTWU - Creative Commons

Posters: Wikimedia Commons

Misc: PBS, Time Magazine, Thinglink.

All other images were taken by the author.