Your Government at Work: Documerica Chronicles 1970s America
The mandate for Documerica was intriguingly broad — “photographically document subjects of environmental concern” — and photographers responded with striking images covering everything from pot-smoking form to toxic smog.
The resulting work made the rounds at the time and then moldered in the National Archives for several decades. After a heroic effort to scan more than 15,000 color transparencies and B&W negatives, however, the collection is now out for world to enjoy.
Thousands of the images are gathered in a Flickr gallery, and the National Archives is hosting a physical exhibit through September. If you lived through the 1970s, the images will provide endless opportunity for nostalgic reverie mixed with “What the hell were we thinking?” moments.
If you’re too young to have been there, well…a lot of it made sense at the time.
Image credits: Header photograph is “Interior of Graffiti-Marked Subway Car” by Erik Calonius. All images courtesy the National Archives/EPA
