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Fayette County, West Virginia, 1938

In September 1938 the photographer Marion Post Wolcott photographed Gauley Bridge, Falls View and Longacre in Fayette County, West Virginia, for the Farm Security Administration. These are 10 of those negatives, with the captions she wrote for them.

The negatives are federal works. They are in the public domain, they are held by the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress, and anyone may reproduce them. Each caption below is hers, transcribed in full — including the parts a video has no room for.

Her captions for West Virginia name the town, not the county. The county given here was resolved against the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System, Domestic Names file for West Virginia.

Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along the river. On highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia

Negro woman washing clothes outside of shacks along the river. On highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

Homes of men who work on coke ovens, Longacre, West Virginia

Homes of men who work on coke ovens, Longacre, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

Playing checkers with bottle caps along highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia

Playing checkers with bottle caps along highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

Coke ovens make heavy impenetrable smoke over whole town. Workers' homes in background. Longacre, West Virginia

Coke ovens make heavy impenetrable smoke over whole town. Workers' homes in background. Longacre, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

Part of tipple with laborers' homes in back, Longacre, West Virginia

Part of tipple with laborers' homes in back, Longacre, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

[Untitled photo, possibly related to: At leLance to tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Famous for "silicosis" scandal]

[Untitled photo, possibly related to: At leLance to tunnel near Gauley Bridge, West Virginia. Famous for "silicosis" scandal]
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

An alloy plant, Falls View, West Virginia

An alloy plant, Falls View, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

Coal tipple in background, with coke ovens to right, Longacre, West Virginia

Coal tipple in background, with coke ovens to right, Longacre, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

[Untitled photo, possibly related to: Old boxcars often converted into homes along highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia]

[Untitled photo, possibly related to: Old boxcars often converted into homes along highway between Charleston and Gauley Bridge, West Virginia]
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

[Untitled photo, possibly related to: Coke ovens, Longacre, West Virginia]

[Untitled photo, possibly related to: Coke ovens, Longacre, West Virginia]
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.

About these photographs

The Farm Security Administration sent photographers through Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina between 1935 and 1943. The surviving file runs to tens of thousands of negatives, and every frame carries the photographer's own caption and the month it was taken.

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