RUSSELL LEE, Quadricycle used on narrow gauge railroad, Telluride, Colorado, 1940, 7.125x9.5" Gelatin silver print, Printed c. 1940, Inscribed in crayon on print recto in margin: (73) 22P FSA. credit stamp on print verso; FSA return stamp; miscellaneous notations in blue, red, and black pencil; typed caption label: Quadricycle used on narrow gauge railroad. In the early days this took the place of the more modern handcar. Telluride, Colorado. September, 1940.

A view of the Quadricycle used to drive on the narrow gauge railroads of Telluride at the time.

Russell Lee (1903-1986) began his study of photography in 1935, ten years after earning a degree from Lehigh University (Pennsylvania) in chemical engineering. Photography, he thought, would aid his ability as a painter studying in San Francisco and at the Woodstock art colony (New York) in the early 1930s. His career took an abrupt shift when he was invited by Roy Stryker to join the government's Historical Section of the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lee worked from 1936 to 1943 as a prolific photographer in the FSA combining his keen sense of documentary with an engineer’s precise mastery of lighting (especially flash photography). Stryker called him a "taxonomist with a camera." Besides making more FSA negatives than any other photographer, Lee was one of the first to utilize new color photography materials in his recording of people and events in Pie Town, New Mexico. After leaving the FSA, Lee continued to work for various government agencies until 1947 when Standard Oil of New Jersey hired him. His industrial images were printed in Fortune and in The New York Times. A second career spanned the years 1956 to 1973 while Lee was on the teaching faculty of the University of Missouri, and later at the University of Texas at Austin. Despite an education in engineering, Lee's images and teachings never underplayed the role of photography as an objective witness to call attention to the pride and prejudice that characterized society in the mid-1900s.
Credit: Luminous Lint.

Fair to Good. Handling marks, moderate wear.