Fort Peck Dam, Montana
Photograph
Fort Peck Dam, Montana
1936
Gelatin silver print
Image (flush mount): 18 1/2 × 14 15/16 in. (47 × 37.9 cm)
Museum accession
1971.0155.0066
Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, TC: 1936 \ 120 [circled]
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, C: 674
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, BC: 47 x 37.8
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, C: 674
Inscribed in pencil on mount verso, BC: 47 x 37.8
TextThis image was featured on the cover of Life magazine’s first issue on November 23, 1936. It celebrates the modernization of the United States’ infrastructure taking place as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. The two men at the foot of the massive flood gates provide the viewer with a sense of scale, symbolically demonstrating the significance of industrialization. Bourke-White was one of Life’s first staff photographers, and she reported on major world events for the magazine for the rest of her career.
