Author Description

Before Dorothea Lange came across the "Migrant Mother," Florence Owens Thompson, she briefly stopped in El Monte, California. In El Monte, Lange photographed the new homes built by the Resettlement Administration. She captured the project with over a dozen images. The Rurban Homes were restricted to low-income families who were given a small farm in El Monte. Lange's collection of photographs of El Monte are especially compelling because they were taken just a month before Lange photographed "The Migrant Mother" in Nipomo, California. The images that Lange took over 85 years ago demonstrate how much El Monte has changed. More importantly, the images illuminate the contrast in the way people lived during the Great Depression across California. "El Monte 1936, Before the Migrant Mother" contains the photographs Lange took in El Monte and of the "Migrant Mother." Additionally, the photography book includes three original essays, including information about the City of El Monte and further information about the Rurban Homes.