In July, 1991, a team of photographers and oral historians from Southwest Texas State University set out to retrace the steps of Farm Security Administration photographer, Russell Lee (1903-1986). Fifty years after Lee visited and photo-documented the living and working conditions of the Depression era communities of San Augustine, Texas, and Pie Town, New Mexico, this group was inspired by Lee’s FSA images held at SWT’s Southwestern Writers Collection. The group visited these same two towns Lee visted, in some cases the same people, taking photographs and conducting oral histories. The team was funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation, and was led by Francine Carraro, Ph.D., and Eric Weller, M.F.A., students included Tom Anderson, Kathleen Dolan, Homero Garcia, Kerri Madden, Darryl Meyer, Stephanie Shaddock, Karen Sorenson, Mark Edward Smith, Russell Smyth, and Sondra Talbert.
The oral histories and photographs taken by this team led to an exhibit and accompanying catalog featuring selected photographs and portions of the oral histories. The exhibit was first shown at SWT in September, 1992, and traveled to Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX) and Stephen F. Austin University (Nacogdoches, TX) in 1993.
Jean Lee, widow of Russell Lee, and Bill Wittliff, founding donor of the Southwestern Writers Collection and the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography, donated a significant collection of Russell Lee’s vintage FSA prints and field notes, as well as cameras, personal papers, and photographs spanning Lee’s entire lifetime and career, to the Southwestern Writers Collection beginning in 1986. While other institutions such as the Library of Congress, National Archives, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Louisville also hold important Russell Lee collections, the collection at Southwest Texas State University includes the largest group of vintage FSA prints.
For more information about photographer Russell Lee, please visit our web site at www. library.swt.edu/swwc/wg/exhibits/rlee/.
From the guide to the Francine Carraro / Eric Weller “Retracing Russell Lee” Project Collection, 1991-1993, (Southwestern Writers Collection, Special Collections, Alkek Library, Texas State University-San Marcos)
