16 Photographs That Capture the Best and Worst of 1970s America
A new exhibit at the National Archives highlights an interesting decade—one that gave rise to the environmental movement and some awkward fashion
- By Megan Gambino
- Smithsonian.com, March 08, 2013
(“Young woman watches as her car goes through testing at an auto emission inspection station in Downtown Cincinnati, Ohio.” Lyntha Scott Eiler, Cincinnati, OH, September 1975. Credit: National Archives)
From 1971 to 1977, DOCUMERICA contracted 70 photographers. All combined, they logged 115 assignments in every region of the country, totaling more than 20,000 images. “There are a lot of expected images. You see photographs of smog, junkyards, polluted streams and dead fish,” says Bustard of the collection, now held at the National Archives. “But, DOCUMERICA had a broader vision of what the environment was. The photographs also capture the decade’s fashions, trends and lifestyles.”
“Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project,” a new exhibition at the National Archives, features about 90 color photographs culled from the collection. The landscapes and portraits were reproduced from preserved Kodachrome and Ektachrome originals, and, as a result, show the vivid colors of the times (and, of course, the baby blue leisure suits).
“Memories may fade and shift, but the records preserved in the National Archives help us to uncover how things really looked,” says David S. Ferriero, archivist of the United States.
View this selection of photographs from “Searching for the Seventies: The DOCUMERICA Photography Project,” on display in the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery at the National Archives through September 8, 2013. Other images can be found, here, on Flickr.
Comments (5)
The 70s--whether socially, sartorially, ecologically, or anything elseally--a time for doing less with more.
Posted by Wayne A. Silkett on April 18,2013 | 04:08 PM
To see photos of 1970 ,early 1970 too is interesting .Kind of strange for me seeing early 1970, can't help it ,I was born that year.Thank You ,I got to see the earliest part of 1970.
Posted by Tina Summers on April 4,2013 | 02:09 PM
Dear Smithsonian.com: Either put all the pictures on one page, or learn technologies like Ajax or HTML5 so the entire page doesn't have to load again just for me to see the next picture. It's too slow, plus I have to scroll to see the picture every time the page reloads. Poor design. Thank you Roger
Posted by hiru on March 18,2013 | 03:45 PM
I came to age in the 1970's. While I'm not terribly nostalgic for that decade, I remember it as a period of greater freedom, increased critical thinking, and less gullible acceptance of whatever came out of the District of Columbia and news agencies. As for "awkward fashion" during the 1970's, that's rather subjective isn't it? Does the editor think today's clothing is superior because it appeals to a 'modern' demographic? As a poor boy who worked through college I dealt with my share of fashion snobs who looked down on my old levis and work boots. It seems those same elitists with their shallow notions of 'hip' found their way to the Smithsonian. Good riddance.
Posted by Marvin on March 10,2013 | 07:56 PM
Dear Smithsonian.com: Either put all the pictures on one page, or learn technologies like Ajax or HTML5 so the entire page doesn't have to load again just for me to see the next picture. It's too slow, plus I have to scroll to see the picture every time the page reloads. Poor design. Thank you,
Posted by Roger Waters on March 10,2013 | 04:18 PM