Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Lyman, Polish tobacco farmers near Windsor Locks, Connecticut

Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Lyman, Polish tobacco farmers near Windsor Locks, Connecticut

The Lymans were working in their tobacco barn when I came upon them...I asked them to let me take a photograph of them. At first, Mrs. Lyman demurred. With a giggle, she said, “Not in this dress. Let me change my clothes.” But after a bit of flattery, she agreed to pose with her husband, just as she was. There they stood, posing stiffly for the photographer, staring morosely at the camera, not at all like the jolly people they really were. So I said, “Mr. Lyman, I think your pants are falling down.” The pearls of laughter that followed were just what I wanted because that was what they were really like.

Jack Delano

Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection

Library of Congress

1940

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/item/fsa2000023028/PP/resource/