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Museum face record

Unidentified person in Camping by the roadside, hoping for cotton

A detected face whose identity remains unanswered and is reviewed before publication. August 1936 · California

Camping by the roadside, hoping for cottonAugust 1936 · California
What the record says

The photograph, the source, and the unknowns

Not anonymous after all. The caption describes a roadside camp, but the Library's record adds three names — Zella (McCann) Power, her husband Jess, and their baby Jesse — and credits them to a family member. Somebody's relative recognised them and wrote in. That is exactly what the plaques on this wall are for.

Archive caption
Drought refugees from Oklahoma camping by the roadside, hoping to work in the cotton fields
Creator
Dorothea Lange
Date
1936-08
Credit
Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Black-and-White Negatives
Rights
US Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information collection — LoC states the contents are in the public domain and free to use and reuse; work of the US federal government · Public Domain Mark 1.0

This face is unanswered. A suggestion is sent privately for review and does not become a public fact until confirmed.

Share and cite

This link carries its own context.

Dorothea Lange. “Camping by the roadside, hoping for cotton.” 1936-08. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Black-and-White Negatives. https://www.loc.gov/item/2017763095/. Viewed via Nostalgia Museum artifact 760, reviewed 22 August 2026. https://getnostalgia.ai/museum/artifact/QcEYXx4d87xRlzMp/760/face/1001

Continue in public

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