A bountiful harvest The midwestern farm photographs of Pete Wettach, 1925-1965

One of the more enduring aspects of the Farm Security Administration's Tenant Purchase Program was its excellent photographic documentation. The publication of selected photographs by A.M. (Pete) Wettach, an FSA supervisor in the Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, area, brings to light the character and themes of the Corn Belt of the 1930s through the mid-1950s. Although an FSA agent first, Wettach had an intense love for photography, which resulted in the publication of his work in a number of major farm periodicals such as Wallace's Farmer, Farm Journal, and Prairie Farmer. After a broad introductory narrative, editor Loveless has placed the photographs into five thematic chapters with accompanying essays to illustrate some of the key elements of farm culture of the period, including the role of women, the essence of child life on the farm, tenant purchase farm environments, innovative farm practices, and the sense of interdependence that farm families held and still hold to some extent. The candid striking poses of the subjects, tied to Loveless's perceptive essays and a touching introduction by Iowa's First Lady Christie Vilsak, provide an excellent visual representation of the period and locale. Recommended for all levels of readers. L. S. Cline Southwest Missouri State University

The photographs in this outstanding book are drawn from thousands of images taken by Wettach over the course of 40 years. A self-taught photographer, Wettach worked as an Iowa county supervisor for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) during the 1930s and 1940s. Although he was not hired as an FSA photographer, his work both complements and effectively contrasts with images by Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, and other well-known photographers. While the FSA photographers poignantly captured the hardships of the Great Depression, Wettach depicts frugal rural people in the Midwest busily gathering hay, picking apples, butchering hogs, and generally providing for themselves, as well as enjoying occasional simple pleasures. Still, the book's title refers more to the collection of photographs than to the farm families, who are at best just getting by. The great strength of Wettach's work is the intimacy of his photographs. Journalist and editor Loveless has done a superb job of selecting the photographs and arranging them into separate chapters. Her text and captions set the photographs in a distinct time and place. Essential for all collections of fine photography and 20th-century American history.-Raymond Bial, Parkland Coll. Lib., Champaign, IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.