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The United States Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Archive: A Latent Nexus of Truth About the New Deal Era

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thesis
posted on 2023-04-18, 15:56 authored by Monika E. Berenyi

Since the conclusion of World War II, the ethos of the Roosevelt administration (1933-1945) and the achievements of the New Deal era have been celebrated by official rhetoric. American Document is a dynamic storytelling platform which deconstructs the validity of this long-sustained authority in the United States. Between 1935 and 1944, the United States Resettlement Administration (1935-1937), Farm Security Administration (1937-1942), and Office of War Information (1942-1944) contributed to the capture of a panoramic portrait of America in the form of a photographic survey. Collectively, these photographs constitute the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information archive, and impart an unparalleled documentary account of the New Deal era. This Thesis engages archival evidence to question and illuminate how state socialism was imposed on an unsuspecting people at the expense of individual liberty, free enterprise, and the ebb and flow of the American dream. 

History

Language

English

Degree

  • Master of Fine Arts

Program

  • Documentary Media

Granting Institution

Ryerson University

LAC Thesis Type

  • MRP

Thesis Advisor

Don Snyder David Bouchard David Tucker

Year

2012