Jobless on the Edge of a Peafield, Imperial Valley, California (Migrant agricultural worker. Holtville (vicinity) Calif. Feb. 1937)

Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1980. Photograph. Near fine. A portrait of an unidentified migrant farm worker on the edge of the California desert, just north of the Mexican border. He sits on a dirt berm, in a row of other men, suggested only by their elbows, which are visible at the edges of the image. Lange took this image while working for the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Security Administration (two WPA agencies). The most famous image from this period in her career is Migrant Mother, the iconic Depression-era photograph.

Lange's original title, typed on a label on the print in the Library of Congress was "Migrant Agricultural Worker". It is sometimes called "Jobless on the Edge of a Peafield" or "Migrant Agricultural Worker, Near Holtville."

At the time she took this photograph, Lange was working for the federal government and so the negatives belonged to her employer. For decades they have been on deposit at the Library of Congress and for many years, anyone could ask the library to make prints, directly from Lange's original negatives. This is one of those silver gelatin prints.

Image, 7-9/16 by 8 on 8-by-10 inch sheet. A near fine print, stamped on the back (verso) with a single line of black ink, "Reproduced from the collection of the Library of Congress" with notes about the negative used, "58350 / F34-16113" in pencil. With good contrast and medium tonal range. In raking light, small creases and dents are visible on the paper.

Prints from the Library of Congress are hard to date, but I suspect these are from the late 1970s or early 1980s.