A classic public domain stock image of homesteaders, Jack Whinery and family.
This is a public domain photograph from the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs Collection in the Library of Congress.
This is a classic public domain stock image from FSA color collection. In it, Russell Lee captured the Whinery family sitting for a group portrait. There is something almost eerie in the stillness of this image.
Jack Whinery and his family were homesteading in Pie Town, New Mexico in 1940 when this photograph was taken. Included in the portrait are Jack Whinery, his wife, three daughters and two sons.
This photo was taken by Russell Lee, who was working as an agent of the United States government. Because this image was taken by an employee of the federal government, it is in the public domain.
45 megabyte TIFF. Hosted at the Library of Congress.
User Descriptions
03.17.10
LARGE FAMILY:
1. The age of the photograph is 70 years. That means it was taken in 1940.
2.The head of the family was Jack Whinery.
3. He was posed with his wife and five children.
4.Among them 3 are his daughters and 2 are his sons.
5.Whinery and his wife does not look like they have 5 children.
6.They look as a young parent which has to be noted by this generation, as now people are not concentrating much on their health and particularly ladies who grew up large after a baby.
7.The family was quite scared with some issues which was running oat that time Pie Town, New Mexico.
8.There might be some war as the photo was taken from the war information.
9.The place where they were sitting, shows their poverty as it was not proper.
10.The walls are made from cardboards and the curtains were torn and dirty.
11. The dresses of the children was not proper.
12. But the kids looks really beautiful but with a fear in their eyes.
13.Not only fear, their eyes shows they need some thing like protection and help.
14. As it was a colour photograph the real needs were easily visualised and it was tempting to yield them some help.
03.27.10
This is a picture the Whinery’s, a 1940′s homesteading family in Pie Town New Mexico. They are young parents with five children. The composition is interesting, with Mr. Whinery as the central figure, looking directly into the camera and everyone else to one degree or another relative to him. The faces are illuminated by a band of light that stretches horizontally across the picture, leaving the top and bottom of the photo somewhat obscured by darkness. The background appears to be the wall of a sort of shack, it is covered with nailed on brown paper. Behind Mrs. Whinery’s head is a rather optimistic looking advertisement of some sort, featuring a smiling well dressed young lady in a red dress. This poster stands in stark contrast to Mrs. Whinery herself. There is also some sort of picture behind Mr. Whinery’s head be the glare or the flash from the camera makes it unrecognizable. There is also a window with curtains above the oldest girls head, but nothing is visible outside of it. The care given to the composition (the centrality of Mr. Whinery, the tallest in the back, the smaller children grouped strategically around the parents) suggests that none of these details are entirely accidental. This family is not defeated, they clearly have little and work hard, but there is a slight sense of possible optimism about the picture.
08.07.10
This image is interesting! The restlessness show’s on Mrs. Whinery’s face, the girls who look like twins appearsto have been crying before the picture was taken, at least the one on Mrs.Whinery’s right side. It is interesting how Mr. Whinery and his son’s stare the camera directly. The oldest child appears to be else where, maybe in a world of her own. Perhaps this was a family room, they didn’t have much, but they still had eachother. This photo captures a family in need and a family that is mad at the world at that point and time.