American Coal: Russell Lee Portraits

Archivist's Reception Room

In person and online

Authors Mary Jane Appel and Douglas Brinkley will discuss how in 1946 the Truman administration made a promise to striking coal miners: as part of a deal to resume work, the government would sponsor a nationwide survey of health and labor conditions in mining camps. One instrumental member of the survey team was photographer Russell Lee. Lee had made his name during the Depression, when, alongside Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, he used his camera to document agrarian life for the Farm Security Administration. American Coal draws from the thousands of photographs that Lee made for the survey. Moderating the discussion will be Alice Kamps, curator of the National Archives exhibit Power & Light: Russell Lee's Coal Survey. A book signing will follow the program.

Power & Light: Russell Lee’s Coal Survey and programs presented in conjunction with the exhibit are made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of The Mars Family & Mars, Incorporated and Anonymous.