When people need pictures about life in the United States during the Great Depression and World War II, they frequently find fascinating photographs in the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) Collection.

This subject index improves online access to the FSA/OWI photographs by enabling browsing using the subjects assigned in the 1940s, when the vast FSA/OWI collection was organized. It makes it possible to view FSA/OWI photographs by such broad topics as "manufacturing" and such specific topics as "boot making," even if those words do not appear in the original captions. Viewing the images by subject category also helps researchers compare how various photographers, in different places, at different times conveyed similar subject matter.

To facilitate searching for images, the subject index is presented here in two arrangements:

The designation of the categories and the words used to describe them are products of their era and have not been altered for this presentation.

In addition to enhancing access, the structure of the subject classification scheme and its application to a body of more than 80,000 photographic prints in the period when the photographs were made are also worthy of study. This web page offers notes about the origin, application, and anomalies of the scheme and the access it provides to the photographs.