ROY STRYKER

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* Economist
* Government Photographer
* Employer of The (FSA)
Farm Security Administration

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Roy Stryker is famed
for having headed the
Information Division of the
'Farm Security Administration.'
This government division was
established during the
Great Depression and their
mission was to the document
- through photography - the era.
In 1935 Stryker became the
Director of the 'Historical Section'
(Information Division) of the
Resettlement Administration
or the FSA.

Stryker was the project's manager.
He made the photos available to
publications. It focused attention
on the rural poor.

164,000 prints were developed from
negatives;
while some 77,000 different
finished photographic prints, were
made for the publication;
plus 644 color images.

During World War II, the
FSA Photographic Unit
was reassigned to the
Office of War Information.
The FSA's Photographic Unit
was transferred to the
Library of Congress.

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Stryker resigned and went to work
for Standard Oil in its
'public relations documentary'
from 1943-50.
Photographers on the SO Project
included, among others:
* Berenice Abbott,
* Gordon Parks
* Todd Webb;
* Esther Bubley,
* Harold Corsini,
* Russell Lee,
* Arnold Eagle,
* Elliott Erwitt
* Sol Libsohn,
who would later follow
Stryker to his next project
in Pennsylvania.

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From 1950-52, Stryker worked
to establish the
Pittsburgh Photographic Library.
In 1960, the collection was
transferred to the
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

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After leaving the 'PPL',
Stryker directed a
documentation project
at Jones & Laughlin Steel
Corporation.

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Thereafter, Stryker accepted
consulting jobs and conducted
University of Missouri Seminars
on Photo-Journalism.
Stryker eventually returned to
the west in the 1960s.

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***MEMORIAL WORDS ***

"Photographs are
precious memories...
the visual evidence of place
and time
and relationships...
Ritual talismans
for the treasure chest
of the heart."

~ Robert Fulghum,
'FROM BEGINNING TO END'

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This biography is
humbly presented by
Audrey Burtrum-Stanley / Arkansas