This series of photographs by Arthur Rothstein depicts men and women in canning and packing plants in Winter Haven and Fort Pierce, Florida. While photographs of agricultural work appear throughout the Library of Congress's Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives Collection, I thought that these images of Floridian workers packing and canning grapefruits and oranges were dramatically different than other, more nostalgic images of small farmers in the US South during the 1930s. Arthur Rothstein seems to have taken a particular interest in migrant workers during his time in Winter Haven and Fort Pierce, Florida in 1937.
| Arthur Rothstein. Packing fruit in the packinghouse at Fort Pierce, Florida, January 1937. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Black & White Negatives Collection, LC-USF33-002342-M5. |
| Arthur Rothstein, Packing fruit in association packinghouse at Fort Pierce, Florida. Some migratory labor is employed here, January 1937. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Black & White Negatives Collection, LC-USF33-002343-M3. |
| Arthur Rothstein, Juicers in the grapefruit canning plant at Winter Haven, Florida. Many of these men are migrants, January 1937. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Black & White Negatives Collection, LC-USF33-002370-M2. |
| Arthur Rothstein, Sectioners at work canning grapefruit. About half of these girls are migrants. Winter Haven, Florida, January 1937. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Black & White Negatives Collection, LC-USF33- 002369-M4. |
| Arthur Rothstein, At work in the grapefruit canning plant at Winter Haven, Florida, January 1937. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, FSA/OWI Black & White Negatives Collection, LC-USF33-002368-M1. |
