Part Four: The Farm Security Administration and Mass Observation in Relation to William Stott’s Definition of Documentary
This is the final part of a four part series comparing the Farm Security Adminstration with Mass Observation, their British equivalent organisation.
This is the final part of a four part series comparing the Farm Security Adminstration with Mass Observation, their British equivalent organisation. If you’d like to access the full essay now, instead of in weekly sections, become a Paid Subscriber below, then open the introductory post.
Introduction (and full essay if you’d like to upgrade to a Paid Subscription!)
Part Two: Factors which led to variation in approach of the farm security administration and Mass Observation
Part Three: Approaches to Objectivity
Part Four: The Farm Security Administration and Mass Observation in Relation to William Stott’s Definition of Documentary
The FSA and Mass Observation projects focused on documenting their society throughout the pre-war period of the 1930’s. They did this through the use of text, photography and collage, as well as other mediums. However these served a very different purpose within each project.
The FSA used their photographs to both publicise and humanise the economic crisis in America at the time. The work was publicised through numerous books produced by the FSA, as well as unaffiliated magazines such as Survey Graphic, Life, or U.S. Camera.
Mass Observation, instead of trying to publicise a certain aspect of British society at this time, were trying to find out about it. They focused more on publishing their research, rather than photographs or art produced by volunteers. A number of monographs have been produced since this period, of Humphrey Spender’s photographs from his time working with Mass Observation.
Through their differing approaches, the two projects fit within Stott’s definition of documentary. The work produced by the FSA aimed to provoke an emotional reaction from the audience, to instigate social change and alleviate rural poverty in America. The photographers working for the FSA produced a relatively small number of images for the project, each one containing a large amount of information to do with the subject, and with a very specific intention for the image. Through these aspects, the overall work produced by the FSA relates to Stott’s idea of the “human document”, which is read emotionally. That the audience read the work emotionally was a vital part of the FSA’s intentions for the work.
The research Mass Observation undertook was in a scientific manner, using a cataloguing process, with volunteers recording everything around them. This method ties in with Stott’s idea of the “impersonal document.” The artists involved with the project also adopted a catalogue style in some respects, with Spender taking a wide number of photographs of many locations and subject areas, and Trevelyan producing wide landscapes when he worked with Mass Observation. This cataloguing process dehumanized the work produced. Mass Observation produced research; “in plain English which everyone can understand”[15] so as to achieve as wide an audience as possible.
“The idea, being more abstract, is a hundred times delayed or illegitimised before it reaches at fifth hand the ultimate consumer, the ordinary man who has no defence against what he is told.”[16]
Such a wide publication of the information, as well as the medium in which it is presented, usually as a large book with no illustrations (such as May 12th), makes it less personal, again linking Mass Observation’s process with that of the “impersonal document.”
Both projects were successful. The photographers working for the FSA are now celebrated among the greatest American photographers. Mass observation went on to work with the British government during the Second World War, but retained the rights to their work, thus achieving their goal of; “forming a bridge between leaders and led in the interests of the people.”[17]
Bibliography
Agee, J. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1941.
Evans, W. Walker Evans, American Photographs, New York, Brodock Press Inc. 1995.
Galassi, P. Walker Evans & Company, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 2000.
Hurley, F. Portrait of a Decade, New York, Da Capo Press, 1972.
Jeffery, T. Mass Observation: A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978.
Jennings, H. May the Twelfth, London, Faber and Faber Ltd. 1987.
Spender, H. Worktown People, Bristol, Falling Wall Press, 1982.
Spender, H. Lensman, Somerset, Butler and Tanner Ltd. 1987.
Stange, M. Symbols of Ideal Life, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Stott, W. Documentary Expression and Thirties America, New York, Oxford University Press, 1973.
Trevelyan, J. Indigo Days, Great Britain, Wyman and Sons Ltd. 1957.
Wells, L. Photography: A Critical Introduction, London, Routledge, 1997.
www.boltonmuseums.org.uk
http://spender.boltonmuseums.org.uk/index.html
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/fsa/fsabio.html
References
[1] Stott, W. Documentary Expression and Thirties America, New York, Oxford University Press, 1973, p.8.
[2] Hurley, F. Portrait of a Decade, New York, Da Capo Press, 1972, p.54.
[3]Hurley, F. Portrait of a Decade, New York, Da Capo Press, 1972, p.70.
[4] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p.2.
[5] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p.3.
[6] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p.21.
[7] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p.28.
[8] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p. 2.
[9] Stott, W. Documentary Expression and Thirties America, New York, Oxford University Press, 1973, p.269.
[10] Stott, W. Documentary Expression and Thirties America, New York, Oxford University Press, 1973, p.269.
[11] Wells, L. Photography: A Critical Introduction, London, Routledge, 1997, p. 92.
[12] Wells, L. Photography: A Critical Introduction, London, Routledge., 1997, p. 92.
[13] Spender, H. Worktown People, Bristol, Falling Wall Press, 1982, p.17.
[14] Hurley, F. Portrait of a Decade, New York, Da Capo Press, 1972, p.80.
[15] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p. 22.
[16] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p. 22.
[17] Jeffery, T. Mass Observation, A Short History, University of Birmingham, 1978, p. 45.