Russell Lee
1903 – 1986
The most prolific FSA photographer and chronicler of everyday American life
About Russell Lee
Russell Werner Lee was born on July 21, 1903, in Ottawa, Illinois. His childhood was marked by upheaval: his parents divorced when he was young, and after his mother died in 1913 he was raised by a succession of relatives and guardians. He attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1925.
Read full biography →From the Collection
Portrait of Russell Lee, FSA (Farm Security Administration)…
1942
[Untitled photo, possibly related to: Portrait of Russell…
1942
Jimmy Lee Shadd in his mother's cabbage patch at the FSA…
1942
Nyssa, Oregon. FSA (Farm Security Administration) mobile…
1942
Fort Klamath, Oregon. Old barns
1942
Tulare County, California. Farmer teaching his six-year old…
1942
Notable Works
Saying Grace Before the Barbecue Dinner at the Pie Town, New Mexico Fair
One of the most cherished images from Lee's Pie Town series, this photograph shows fairgoers bowing their heads in prayer before a communal barbecue dinner at the New Mexico fair. Made during his…
Browse the collection →Main Street, Pie Town, New Mexico
A view of the unpaved main street of Pie Town, New Mexico, a community of homesteaders that Lee documented at length in 1940. The image situates the town in its vast high-desert landscape and…
Browse the collection →Christmas Dinner in Home of Earl Pauley, Near Smithland, Iowa
Made in December 1936, early in Lee's FSA career, this interior shows children at a sparse Christmas meal that, as Lee's caption notes, consisted of potatoes, cabbage, and pie. The photograph is an…
Browse the collection →Timeline
Born in Ottawa, Illinois on July 21
Earns a degree in chemical engineering from Lehigh University
Hired by Roy Stryker for the FSA photographic unit, replacing Carl Mydans
Documents the town of San Augustine and migrant communities of Hidalgo County, Texas
Photographs the homesteading community of Pie Town, New Mexico in black-and-white and Kodachrome color
"I'm taking pictures of the history of today."
— Russell Lee