Here is part of a collection of photographs of LeSueur, Minnesota taken in the spring of 1974 (a period of econimic stagnation) referencing the scripts written by Roy Stryker for the FSA photographers to document "Small Town America".
The instruction to the photographers in 1939 was to photograph what they thought might be common denominators among small towns ... storefronts, theaters, barber shops, public buildings as well as people on the street. The question was asked: is there a common denominator among towns in America with a population of under 5000 population.
As a young photographer I was smitten by the work of the likes of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lang and John Vachon so for a college project I followed one of the FSA’s historical experiments.
Next steps are to return to LeSueur and observe the small town again. We are experiencing another era of significant financial turmoil in this country as we did during the depression and the 1970s.
