Randolph County, West Virginia, 1938
In September 1938 the photographer Marion Post Wolcott photographed the Tygart Valley Homesteads in Randolph County, West Virginia, for the Farm Security Administration. These are 11 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.
Homesteaders' children playing in pile of sand, Tygart Valley, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Buying groceries in community store. Tygart Valley, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Farmhouse with false front resembling a store, on main highway between Morgantown and Elkins, West Virginia. Someone lived in one room
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Homesteader's son bringing home some potatoes he got out of community garden, Tygart Valley, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Construction, new community dimension woodworking factory for making furniture. Showing water tower. Tygart Valley, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Armesteader and his family building a new shed for their calf. Tygart Valley, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
House, Tygart Valley Homesteads, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Highway cutting across poor farmland between Morgantown and Elkins, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Farmer going to town along the highway near Elkins, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Homesteader picking flowers. Tygart Valley, West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.
Good roads and land with houses in Tygart Valley homesteads. West Virginia
Marion Post Wolcott, Farm Security Administration, September 1938. Library of Congress record.