Community Corner

Ebay and the FSA Commemorate Ledyard

The Farm Security Administration wanted to "introduce Americans to Americans" and found a nice family in Ledyard to help.

 

For sale right now on Ebay a picture by renowned American Documentary photographer Jack Delano, which was taken in our very own Ledyard, Conn.
 
According to the seller, historicalfindings, back in the fall of 1940 Mr. Delano came to Ledyard to photograph and document a thanksgiving dinner at the home of Timothy Levi Crouch. The collection of 20 pictures document a day in the life of the Crouch Clan as they gather and celebrate the holiday.
 
DeLano was chronicling rural America for the U.S. Farm Security Administration and the Ledyard Patch came across Delano’s photo essay in 2010 through a website managed by Duane Schultz.

Schultz said in an interview with Patch, that the photos were taken in an area known as Quakertown in Ledyard, which spans along Col. Ledyard Highway from Groton to the Gallup Hill farm, which is approximately two miles.

Find out what's happening in Ledyardwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“This area was inhabited largely by followers of John Rogers Jr. of New London, who broke with the Congregational church there during the 1670s. These ‘Rogerene’ Quakers were not actual Quakers in that they had no connection with the followers of George Fox, founder of the Society of Friends.”

Delano photograhed the holiday with the Crouch family but also documented rural life in Ledyard. The photos now reside with the Library of Congress, but one such photo is for sale on Ebay now.

Find out what's happening in Ledyardwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to Wikipedia, “the Information Division of the FSA adopted a goal of ‘introducing America to Americans.’ Many of the most famous Depression-era photographers were fostered by the FSA project. Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Gordon Parks were three of the most famous FSA alumni. Jack Delano is another alum who has made a name for himself through his documentary work.


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