Una mujer de los años treinta (Jackson)

This photograph is from a portfolio of images by Eudora Welty, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author and photographer. The portfolio includes 18 of her photos from the 1930s and early 1940s. The collection of images was produced in 1992 by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Welty helped select the final images and decided how they would be printed.

Welty was born in Jackson, Mississippi. She studied at several schools before starting her career. In 1935 she worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and made photographs of daily life in Mississippi. She also began writing short stories and later became a full-time writer.

People often compare Welty’s photographs to those by Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans. They were American documentary photographers who also chronicled life during the Great Depression. Welty’s images do not try to tell a full story. Instead they show brief, meaningful moments. Welty’s style helps viewers notice small details and emotions, and her work offers a clear view of ordinary life in the South. 

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away.

Eudora Welty

The images in Welty’s portfolio were chosen from more than a thousand negatives. She used different cameras over time, and each camera changed how the images looked. Together the images in her portfolio show the range of her work and her focus on real-life experiences.