In her 1939 photograph in Coffee County, Alabama, Marion Post Wolcott (1910-1990) posed Mrs. L.L. LeCompt at her sewing machine, likely the model available through the FSA’s catalog, with examples of her handiwork—both clothing and patchwork—staged on a chair as props nearby. “She does all the family sewing,” Wolcott wrote in the photo’s description, calling out the self-sufficiency of her subject. Another photo Wolcott took of Mrs. LeCompt featured a new stove, purchased through the loan program. The theme of self-sufficiency continues in that shot, with the farmwife standing over the stove stirring a pot while the pressure cooker jiggles along beside it.

[Full Title: "Mrs. L.L. LeCompt stitching quilt squares together. She does all her family sewing."]