New UA Press book showcases 184 images of state worth viewing

‘It’s All Done Gone,” WILL BE A CLASSIC OF DEPRESSION ERA PHOTOGRAPHS OF ARKANSAS

IT'S ALL DONE GONE: Arkansas Photographs from the Farm Security Administration Collection, 1935-1943, by Dr. Patsy G. Watkins, published by the University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, 250 pages, large 8 ½ by 11 format, 184 black and white images, $29.95 cloth.

Watkins will discuss the book on Wednesday, Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Fayetteville Public Library. Books to purchase and autographs by Watkins will be held after the talk, which is free and open to the public.

It is indeed rare that I'll commit an entire column to one Arkansas book, while so many are out there to discuss and write about in this space.

But this week, I certainly will.

Dr. Patsy G. Watkins, formerly the head of the Journalism and Strategic Media Department in the Walter J. Lempke School of Journalism at the University of Arkansas, has recently published a book that is indeed worthy of an entire column.

Her research into the Farm Security Administration's archives of some 250,000 photographic images made across America during the Great Depression, and especially the over 800 images assigned with "Arkansas" as either a place or people who hailed from the state, are indeed a valuable addition to our state's history.

The book, published by the University of Arkansas Press, is one of the most beautifully designed books in UA Press history. The design of the book, heavy on the images -- and not so much on text, is a delight to all photographers, amateur or professional.

The simple design formula of one photograph to a page -- is done to give intensity to the reader/viewer that only these very well-done photographs can portray of the people, the emotion of the moment and all these images are indeed frozen in a tumultuous time in our nation and state's history.

Watkins has been careful in her writings to allow the excellent photography to shine past any words we might -- almost 85 years later -- offer on these scenes. She does, however, mine the FSA resources, other books published on these elite photographers, and even such sources as interviews, biographies, autobiographies, histories and even books about their published works in total to give the reader an insight into these skilled lens-men and lens-women.

These photographers were indeed artists of the finest caliber.

Sent into the Arkansas Delta, the Ozarks, and even other areas of the state -- their images were at first, designed to show the poverty and the struggle of the farm workers, sharecroppers and tenant farmers to the nation.

While not all the images are of just "hard times" and "defeat," many of these images show a hard-working, determined collection of men and women, making the most out of the rough and tumble times.

Names such as Ben Shahn, Arthur Rothstein, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans and Russell Lee populate these pages. Each of their photographs -- sometimes a single frame -- are works of art.

None of the photos are staged, posed or configured to show anything other than the daily routine work of men, women, boys and girls in their current circumstances.

These images, originally designed for publicity by the FSA to show the nation the dire circumstances enveloping the agricultural community -- never matched up to their intended use. But, what a national treasure this collection has become.

There are 10 chapters, starting with "Cotton." And other chapters such as "Houses," "Food," "Children," "Small Towns," and "Tenants, Sharecroppers and Rehabilitation Clients," fill the pages of the book.

Watkins allows the very captions written by the photographers, often weeks after taking these photographs at the time, to tell the viewer the "when" and "where" (geographically) these images were snapped.

The "who" that is in these photographs, by name is often lost to the annals of time.

The "what" these images depict is, however, never lost today or another 85 years from today.

This is, as this amateur historian, sees it -- an important book of Arkansas' past. It is a book that speaks from every page a message of hard-work, perseverance in hard times and the grit and determination of an Arkansas generation still among us, but declining quickly.

Books by the University of Arkansas Press can be purchased online by visiting www.uapress.com or at your local independent book sellers in Northwest Arkansas.

More summertime books and books for fall next week.

MAYLON RICE IS A FORMER JOURNALIST WHO WORKED FOR SEVERAL NORTHWEST ARKANSAS PUBLICATIONS. HE CAN BE REACHED VIA EMAIL AT [email protected]. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

Editorial on 08/15/2018