Wartime Washington

This app shows over 2000 photographs Esther Bubley took for the Office of War Information (OWI) during 1943.

She was hired by Roy Stryker, head of the OWI (and the earlier Farm Security Administration), as a darkroom assistant, so she stayed home while the other OWI photographers (such as Arthur Rothstein) roamed all over. With Strykers encouragement she began photographing around Washington. The result is an in-depth look at the Home Front in World War II, which is why this app is titled as it is. (It might have been titled "FSA-OWI: Esther Bubley", to align with the others of my FSA-OWI series.)

This is a focused collection, so Ive organized it around her main subjects, notably Woodrow Wilson High School (600+ photos), Greyhound and other buses (600+ photos), and a dozen smaller groups showing home and boarding-house life, and various other subjects that interested her.

Most of the photos are smaller than the Mac screen, but still large enough to enjoy and study. About 15% of them are larger, filling more of the screen, so Ive repeated them in the Large Photos group so you can view just them if you want.

Also included is a link to a 9-minute video, "Esther Bubley: A Life in Photography", created and narrated by her neice. You can watch the video inside this app.

You can view all of the photos in a grid (with Library of Congress captions and dates) one-by-one, or as a slideshow. You can also order prints.