A welder in the round-house.

Drought, Dust, Depression, and War No. 25
Early Color Photography No. 3

A welder who works in the round-house at the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad’s Proviso yard.¹ Jack Delano.² December 1942. (FSA/OWI color image³)

I originally posted this image in 2005 in one of my first blogs.¹

When I first cropped and digitally enhanced the image that year, I didn’t see the welder with the cutting torch. In fact, I didn’t see him until I started to prepare the full image for online publication.

Jack Delano

In 1942 and 1943, working for the Office of War Information (OWI), Jack Delano traveled the U.S. documenting the part the railroads were playing in the war effort to rally support for the war effort.⁵ The project started in the railyards of Chicago photographing the busy freight systems and the many workers keeping the trains running around the clock.⁶

Jack Delano brought to his photography a visual perspective honed by rigorous, formal art training at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) which included the Cresson Traveling Scholarship, a two-year scholarship for foreign travel and/or study awarded annually to PAFA art students. His travel and study in Europe introduced him to the great museums of Europe and the works of masters.  His perception was also likely influenced by his early years in Ukraine and his life as an immigrant to the United States.⁷

1. Delano, Jack. “A Welder Who Works in the Round-House at the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad’s Proviso Yard.” Library of Congress. Accessed October 7, 2021. https://www.loc.gov….
2. Jack Delano was an American photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI), and a composer noted for his use of Puerto Rican folk material.
   • “Jack Delano.” Wikipedia, as edited September 26, 2021. Accessed October 7, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/… Jack_Delano.
3. “About This Collection:  Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs:  Digital Collections:  Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress. Accessed October 7, 2021. https://www.loc.gov….
4. Goad, Michael. “A welder in the round-house.” North Farnham Freeholder in Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. Accessed October 7, 2021. http://web.archive.org… December 18, 2005.
5. Stryker, Roy E. Letter to Mr. L. I. McDougle, Association of American Railroads. “Delano’s Proposed Trip to Do a Story on Transportation in the West.” Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Publications and Graphics, October 12, 1942. Accessed October 7, 2021. https://www.loc.gov… pdf.
6. Taylor, Alan. “Jack Delano’s Color Photos of Chicago’s Rail Yards in the 1940s.” The Atlantic, October 2, 2018. Accessed October 7, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com.
7. Reevy, Tony, and Pablo Delano (forward). The Railroad Photography of Jack Delano. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2015.