“Mother of three soldiers,” Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, June 1943, by John Vachon, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
The three Blue Star service flags in the window indicate that the family had three sons fighting in WWII.
“Lady tending her flower box, Omaha, Nebraska,” (probably October) 1938, by John Vachon, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
(Click on the image to get a better look.)
The photographer, John Vachon, was on his first solo assignment for the Farm Security Administration in October and November 1938. In addition to taking pictures of rural agricultural projects in Nebraska, he was tasked with recording scenes of life in Omaha for a book by Atlantic magazine writer George Leighton.
There is an interesting discussion of his Omaha work here. His pictures in the city captured “portraits of Depression victims and scenes of comfortable everyday life,” like the one above.
Vachon later worked for Look magazine for 25 years, and he won a Guggenheim fellowship in 1973, two years before his death at age 60.
enclos*ure 