It seems that every blog post on the severity of the current recession must include the obligatory depression-era photo. By far the most common is the Dorothea Lange's famous "Migrant Mother" photo taken in Nipomo, CA in 1936 of a 32-year old migrant worker and her family, shown below.
I've also seen a few blogs (most notably, AllThingsD) use this image of a "Jobless Men Keep Going" sign, another WPA photograph, this one by John E. Allen.
The WPA did a great job of documenting the period and their photos are all in the public domain, housed by the Library of Congress.
I've also seen sites using imagery from John Ford's film adaptation of Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, such as this one of Henry Fonda as Tom Joad. Fonda was great in the role, but he still looks a little too clean and comfortable.
My nine-year-old daughter equates the Great Depression with the recently released Kit Kittredge movie.
Of course, an effective Depression photo must be either B&W or Sepia, so perhaps this image works better.
For me, though, if I want to think of a precocious adolescent during the Depression era, my preference would be for Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal), here with Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal) in the classic film, Paper Moon.
I guess we should just be thankful that the Great Depression came before the era of YouTube, or else we would be left with images of migrant workers being Rick-rolled.
