During the Great Depression, photographers were sent out under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration, in order to take photographs that would drum up support for the program. One of the locations visited by photographers was rural New Mexico, and the photographs that were taken remain a unique snapshot of this era in New Mexican history.

The stock market crash in October 1929 signaled the start of the Great Depression, which lasted for more than a decade. It threw millions of people out of work nationwide, and brought especially hard times to New Mexico’s primarily agrarian population. New Mexico and New Mexicans played a significant role in World War II, signaling a major change in the state’s economy and its recognition worldwide.