(click on image for larger version)

Irwinville Farms, Georgia

1938 May.

Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.

photo information based on neighboring file image

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)  hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a03422

According to major news sources, including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, major budget shortfalls in Arizona will result in the closure of 13 state parks by June.  Eight others have already been closed.

The Los Angeles Times:

The action represents the largest closure of state parks in the nation, although several other states are considering similar moves.

“It’s a dark day for the Arizona state parks system,” said Renee Bahl, the system’s executive director.

“We have 65,000 acres around the state and the majority of them are closing.”

The Arizona parks receive about 2.3 million visitors per year who bring about $266 million into the state, Bahl said.

The New York Times:

The Arizona State Parks Board has voted unanimously to close 13 parks in response to budget cuts.

The Washington Post:

The Arizona State Parks Board is closing some of the state’s iconic Old West landmarks, including the Tombstone Courthouse in one of the West’s most storied towns, and the Yuma Territorial Prison, which housed hundreds of Old West outlaws and was portrayed in the film “3:10 to Yuma.”

The decision also closes parks such as Red Rock State Park near Sedona that draw tens of thousands of tourists a year.

The Legislature has cut 61 percent of the state parks budget since July.

In a Huffington Post editorial, Chad Campbell, the House Democratic Whip in the Arizona State Legislature, describes the reappropriation of a quarter of a million dollars meant for state parks:

GOP legislators recently pilfered a nearly $250,000 gift left by an elderly woman – now deceased – for the Arizona State Parks system.

The severity of budget cuts in Arizona is quite disturbing, but the cuts to State Parks have touched an especially raw nerve. In 2003, 82-year-old Asta Forrest left nearly $250,000 to the Arizona State Parks Board. This Danish immigrant’s gift to Arizona was inspired by her love of its beautiful natural surroundings.

It’s ironic that, in today’s rough economic times, state parks are being closed.  During the Great Depression, construction of state parks provided need work for thousands of young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Typical farmer group of Prairie City, Missouri, in Mississippi County

1936 Mar

Mydans, Carl, photographer.

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a01759

While I’m moving on – or back – to other things, climate issues will continue to be an interest. With 5 of my last 6 posts being on the subject, it’s time to look at other things.  I’ll try to figure out a way to continue to share some of what I learn, though, without this becoming a climate change blog.

I’m still happy with Windows 7.  My computer at work uses XP, though, and moving back and forth between Windows 7 and XP makes getting used to Windows 7 a little harder, I think.

Yes, I am still working.  A contract extension has been approved and, assuming the VP signs the funding paperwork, I will be there until about the middle of March.  After that, I plan not to work for at least the rest of 2010.

Regular visitors to Exit 78 may recognize that my theme has changed once again.  I have moved to the Thesis theme, which allows a lot more control over the appearance.  I’ve got the basic structure down pretty good now, but I’ll be tweaking on it, so there may be subtle changes day to day.

I still have a little bit of material to post from our September trip, photo galleries to develop and publish and images from the great depression to share.

Moving on.

Delat County, Colorado
October 1940

Russell Lee, photographer

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Collection
(Library of Congress)

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsac.1a34205

Daughters of a Tygart Valley homesteader.
House and factory in background.
West Virginia

June 1939

John Vachon, photographer

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection
(Library of Congress)

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a04289

Street scene, Washington, D.C.
November 1937

John Vachon, photographer

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection
(Library of Congress)

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a03094

War veteran who sells pencils, Omaha, Nebraska

November 1938

Photographer: John Vachon

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection
(Library of Congress)

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a03797

Hay stack and automobiles of peach pickers, Delta County, Colorado

1940

Photographer: Russell Lee

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Collection
Library of Congress

Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsac.1a34202

April, 1935
Prowers County, Colorado.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8e03000

Found in photos of cherry pickers,

Berrien County, Michigan July 1940

John Vachon, 1914-1975, photographer.

Part of Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a06841

Farm boy who sells “Grit.” Irwinville Farms, Georgia

1938 May.

Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a03421

day 75

Tommy Murphy, in transit through Omaha, Nebraska

1938 Nov.

Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a03953

day 44

Street scene, Washington, D.C. Proprietor of a tombstone shop

1937 Nov.

Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a03092

day 23

Street scene, Washington, D.C.

1937 Nov.

Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.

photo information based on neighboring file images

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a03093

day 21

Washington, D.C.

(no other information on subject available)

1937 Nov.

Vachon, John, 1914-1975, photographer.

photo information based on neighboring file images

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a02969

day 17

Family living on Natchez Trace Project, near Lexington, Tennessee

1936 June

Mydans, Carl, photographer.

Photo information based on images with neighboring call numbers

Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a01538

day 12

Kansas, October 1938, 1/2 mile from the state line.

15½¢ a gallon for gas!

and, yes, at that time, there was a ½¢ coin still in circulation.

Child of former tenant farmer, now a day laborer.

Ellis County, Texas

1937 June.

Photographer: Dorothea Lange

Part of: Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA

Interestingly, in looking at the eyes of this child, you can see the silouette of photographer Dorothea Lange.

Girls of Lincoln Bench School study their reading lesson.
Near Ontario, Malheur County, Oregon

1939 Oct.

Photographer: Dorothea Lange

Part of: Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC 20540 USA

hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8b35063