Lee’s A Family Picnic on the Fourth of July at Vale, Oregon (1941) is a photographic document of a family picnicking on the running board of their Ford. The doors are open, and Mom and Dad sit on the running boards. Children sit on the ground beside a picnic cloth. The picnic basket is a cardboard box with the brand name Sanka, a popular brand of instant decaffeinated coffee. The food is served in white ubiquitous agateware bowls.
This photograph is among many that Lee recorded at Vale’s celebration of the Fourth of July. At the time, Lee was working for the Farm Services Administration division, under the directorship of Roy Stryker.
Featured Image: Russell Lee. A Family Fourth of July Picnic at Vale Oregon (1941). Courtesy Library of Congress.
See Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection form an extensive pictorial record of American life between 1935 and 1944, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/