Lange, Dorothea

Dorothea Lange interview, 1964 May 22

Sound recordings: 1 sound tape reel (1 hour 45 min.) ; 7 in.
Transcript: 23 p.

An interview of Dorothea Lange conducted by Richard Doud. Lange speaks of her decision of photography as a career; working in commercial photography; the development of her individual style; the organization of the Farm Security Administration and her association with it; camaraderie among the FSA staff; Roy Stryker's influence and guidance and political abilities; the subjects of photographs and their reactions to being photographed; the people she encountered and her feelings about them, including migratory workers and Dust Bowl farmers; opinions of her colleagues; what made the FSA a success; trends in the field of photography and photojournalism and its future.

She recalls Walker Evans, Arthur Rothstein, John Vachon and Paul Vanderbilt.

This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

How to Use this Interview

• Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
• Transcript available on line at http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/lange64.htm
• A transcript of this interview is available online.
• A sound excerpt is available online
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