Part One: Origins and Aims | A Comparison between the Farm Security Administration and Mass Observation
This part one of a four part series comparing the Farm Security Adminstration with Mass Observation, their British equivalent organisation.
This part one 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 Subsriber below, then open the introductory post.
Introduction (and full essay if you’d like to upgrade to a Paid Subscription!)
Part One: Origins and Aims
The Farm Security Administration and 1930’s America
The FSA was a government agency, and was created for a very specific purpose, to give assistance to farmers who were becoming displaced through a drop in agricultural prices, general mechanization of farms, and the Great Depression, amongst other factors. The historical department of the FSA began to employ a number of photographers, under the supervision of Roy Stryker. The purpose of these photographers was to “document the American way of life in the 1930’s.”[2] The photographers who began shooting, in 1935, were, Arthur Rothstein, Carl Mydans, Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. These photographers were split into regional areas to provide as wide coverage as possible, for example, Lange was situated on the West Coast, and Evans was situated in the South. The FSA were a government funded organisation with a huge number of staff, yet their photographs inevitably became more personal, their aim being to provoke a reaction from the audience. The main intention of the FSA was to use these photographs to influence political, leading to social, change.
The FSA photographers were commissioned under the premise that they would collect photographs which depicted rural poverty with regards to poor farmers, and so much of the work reflected this quite straightforwardly. This said however, many of the photographers regarded themselves as the determining factor for how their work would turn out, and so a lot of images did not strictly adhere to what Stryker deemed was necessary at that particular time. In a letter to Dorothea Lange, for example, Stryker wrote,
“Would you, in the next few days, take for us some good slum pictures in the San Francisco area. (Of course, no California city has slums, but I’ll bet you can find them.) We need to vary the diet in some of our exhibits here by showing some western poverty instead of all south and east… When you get to Los Angeles, I think it might be worthwhile to see if you can pick up some good slum pictures there also.”[3]
Stryker tried to direct his photographer’s as much as possible, whilst at the same time trying not to be too overbearing.
Mass Observation and 1930’s Britain
Mass Observation was created as a link between the government and the people, many people believing there was a large gap between the two elements, and also the press. There was, at this time,
“a deep distrust of the press, and criticism of the inability of the press to fulfil its supposed function, that is, to bridge the gap between rulers and ruled, to tell the public of the moves and thoughts of its elected leaders and to tell the leaders of the opinions of the electorate.”[4]
An event which highlighted this was “The Abdication Crisis” of 1936. This took place because the King, Edward VIII, wanted to marry a twice divorced American. Many people in the cabinet and the Prime Minister, amongst others, strongly disapproved. Following this, the King abdicated, and was succeeded by George VI. The main part of this incident which instigated the creation of Mass Observation however was the involvement of the press, or to be more exact, their lack of involvement. The press did not cover the crisis until the 3rd of December, when the King’s abdication was almost certain.
Mass Observation was initiated by three men, Tom Harrisson, Charles Madge, and Humphrey Jennings. The organisation was needed because,
“there were, sciences of primitive man, economic man, abnormal man, but the chaos of the past year (referring to the Abdication crisis amongst other things) necessitated a new science, a science of ourselves.”[5]
This effectively meant that Madge and Jennings, from Blackheath, London, and Harrisson, from Bolton, Lancashire, would conduct studies of the everyday person, using groups of volunteers, or “observers” as they became known due to their method of study. This would be to simply watch and record everything around them to do with human behaviour. An early example of this method is the first published Mass Observation book, May 12th, which recorded the coronation of George VI, from a number of different viewpoints. Observers from across the country contributed their observations of the day from wherever they were situated, for example Somerset, North Shields and Ilkley.
Mass Observation was primarily a text-based research project, however on some occasions, mainly within the Bolton project, other mediums would be used as illustrations. Humphrey Spender, a photographer, became a volunteer with Mass Observation, and went on to work with a number of magazines including Picture Post. Spender became the main photographer for Mass Observation, building up a large body of images around the Bolton area. Julian Trevelyan also worked with Mass Observation for a time, producing work as a collagist.
Mass Observation conducted their research in quite a scientific manner, on a large scale using a large number of observers, whilst still being a small organisation, being managed by three or less people (Madge and Jennings left the project before the Second World War). This method gave a general overview of what the public were thinking or doing. Mass Observation were concerned with collecting text-based information in order to further understand the general public’s views and opinions (Apart from a few photographers and artists who were volunteers for Mass Observation, mainly Humphrey Spender or Julian Trevelyan, who entered photographs or drawings into the archive instead of text.). Harrisson, Madge and Jennings coordinated the collection and publication of the research, as well as being involved with the actual collection of the information. The purpose of the observers was, “to describe fully, clearly, and in simple language all that he sees and hears in connection with the specific problem he is asked to work on.”[6] Observers were utilized all over the country, based from where they lived. This gave a wide area for the data to be collected from. The artists working with Mass Observation worked in the same way, producing work wherever they lived. This is why Spender produced such a large body of work around Bolton.
References
[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.
Enjoyed this post but don’t want to subscribe? Buy me a roll of HP5!
I am not an scholar or expert, but my understanding of Lange's bread line photograph is that it was not part of the FSA project, that she took that in her own in San Fran. Am I wrong about that?