In “FSA in Kentucky,” Photographic Archives presents Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographs from the Library of Congress that focus on rural Kentucky between 1935 and 1943. During that time, photographers went into rural areas of the United States to document the poverty brought on by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl and, in doing so, to gain support for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal aid programs.
Some 13,000 images of the 77,000 that project director Roy E. Stryker selected for printing are from Kentucky. They are significant not only because they are part of the landmark FSA project, but also because they show places and people that otherwise might have gone undocumented.
The exhibit runs through April 30 in the Photographic Archives Gallery.
In the Kain Rare Books Gallery, “A Selection from the Harlan and Anna Hubbard Collection” shows the world of Kentucky artist, writer and back-to-nature philosopher Harlan Hubbard and his wife, Anna. The couple lived deliberately and artistically, first on a shantyboat as they traveled the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, then as farmers on seven acres at Payne Hollow in northern Kentucky from the early 1950s through the late 1980s.
The exhibit includes selections from the journals, literary manuscripts, letters and artwork UofL holds in the Hubbard collection, ca. 1903–1987. It runs through May 15.
Both galleries are in the lower level, east wing of Ekstrom Library on Belknap Campus. Admission is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.