MARJORY COLLINS VISITS PENN STATION.

Say what you will about the logic of either the New Deal or government subsidies for photographers who documented Depression and War, the photographic team was pretty good.

Marjory Collins was, for a time, a formidable presence among a group of pioneers who changed the trajectory of American photography. She was already an established documentary photographer when, in 1942, she was invited to join a team assembled by the Office of War Information to record everyday life on the home front.

The group was organized by Roy Stryker, an economist and noted photographer who had earlier formed the team that made legendary Depression-era pictures for the Farm Services Administration. Collins shared her government credentials with such illustrious colleagues as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Jack Delano, and Gordon Parks. That she belonged in such company says something about the depth of her work.

Her New York Pennsylvania Station portfolio, notes Kevin Keefe, offers "refreshing alternative to endless photographs of towering limestone arches, GG1 locomotives, and Broadway Limited tailsigns."

Enjoy.  The Classic Trains weblog posts tend to be outside the paywall.