From 1935-1944, the US government did something unthinkable today: It funded art. To curry support for the Farm Security Administration's programs to benefit farmworker families displaced by the Great Depression, photojournalists were dispatched to document the programs' necessity. The result was 170,000 photographs, and through the miracle of the internet, the entire collection's now been digitized, and publicly accessible on the new photo platform Photogrammar—which is as it should be, considering the collection's origins as a project in the public interest.

But what's really exciting about this project if you live in Oregon is that it houses no fewer than 500 photographs shot in our very own state by pioneering photojournalist Dorothea Lange. Lange, of the iconic "Migrant Mother" image, was, along with Walker Evans, one of the most famous government-employed photographers of the era, and her photographs of migrant workers throughout Oregon make a pretty amazing visual history of the state. Here are some of the highlights, with Lange's original captions, where available:

Woodpiles along the street in Portland, 1939. From the original description: Costs five dollars and fifty cents per cord, and must be hauled thirty-five miles. (Shows homeowner on porch.)
  • Dorothea Lange
  • Woodpiles along the street in Portland, 1939. From the original description: "Costs five dollars and fifty cents per cord, and must be hauled thirty-five miles. (Shows homeowner on porch.)"

Portrait of a bean pickers child in Marion County, 1939. From the original description: Just arrived from near Joplin, Missouri. Question: Why did you leave there? Answer: We couldnt make it.
  • Dorothea Lange
  • Portrait of a bean picker's child in Marion County, 1939. From the original description: "Just arrived from near Joplin, Missouri. Question: 'Why did you leave there?' Answer: 'We couldn't make it.'"

Even more after the jump.

Children of a hop farmer, Polk County, 1939.
  • Dorothea Lange
  • Children of a hop farmer, Polk County, 1939.

Main Street in Independence, Oregon, 1939. From the original description: Man with blanket roll is Indian, come to find job in hop fields.
  • Dorothea Lange
  • Main Street in Independence, Oregon, 1939. From the original description: "Man with blanket roll is Indian, come to find job in hop fields."

Again, there are over 500 of these. You can see all of Lange's photos of Oregon here.