The Pioneer Wedding in The Searchers

The Pioneer Wedding of Charlie McCorry and Laurie Jorgensen in The Searchers, directed by John Ford, 1956.

https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/91456

            The wedding scene portrays a complex and meaningful expression of American cultural history. It depicts a proposed ritual of great significance in the lives of frontier pioneers and aligns the film with other great Westerns which are ‘about the founding or early struggling stages of modern bourgeois.’ (Robert Pippin). A lively, wedding scene replete with bonhomie, fine clothes and good food may not appear to be the most appropriate scene in which to analyse the dominant myths of the legendary American West. Using the framework of Kitses binary oppositions, this essay will explore the insertion of a joyous community celebration into a powerful, Western revenge/quest narrative. It will demonstrate aspects of the mythic West  being undermined by changing economic and social conditions, particularly for women.

            The warm and snug interior scene in the Jorgenson’s home resonates as a collective concept for civilisation, community, family and protection. Looking in to the dance floor, the camera angle emphasises the cordial union and genial coming together of the masculine and feminine: energetic men and women who will succeed despite the hostile place that lies just outside. Their stoic adherence to affable forms and patterns of civilised life are being subtly stage-managed by the mother and the bride who remain, true to Western genre conventions, mainly invisible. The furnishings, crockery and the prized blue ornaments around the roaring fire aspire to convince the spectator of a romanticised, idealistic way of living, a civilisation uniquely recognised as American. These artefacts also indicate the presence of improved trade and communication networks to previously isolated communities, and thereby tying the West into a national consumer culture.

            Although the wedding rituals demonstrate the expansion of middle class culture into the West, Laurie Jorgensen’s choice of bridegroom appears to position her centrally in the pragmatism of the frontier and the wilderness. She has forsaken the possibility of romantic love with Martin Pawley and accepted the necessity of marriage for practical reasons, to have a partner in land and labour.  There is not a sense, from an examination of the father figure portrayed by Lar Jorgensen, that she has complied with any strong, patriarchal authority. She has accepted doltish Charlie McCorry in a solipsist gesture as a husband she can mould and influence.

            The wider availability of print culture due to improved communications may also have influenced Laurie to navigate carefully among conflicting desires for love, economic partnership, and shared power within a relationship. (Cynthia Prescott 2007) The film gives no hint as to McCorry’s economic prospects, but as a second-generation frontier woman, Laurie would expect that he demonstrates kindness and genteel ‘Eastern’ behaviour.

            The wedding is subtly revealing of a further influence from the East in the form of a new technology which was impacting women’s domestic work. (Prescott) Products of the highly prized sewing machine are much in evidence in the wedding party clothes; the tucks, frills and bustles compete with any illustrations in Eastern magazines. It can be inferred that Mrs Jorgenson had already negotiated any domestic power struggle to purchase a sewing machine and show that women’s work was sufficiently valuable to warrant a significant financial investment.

            

Both factors point to changing social conditions, where bourgeois virtues, especially ‘the domestic virtues, are gaining a psychological grip in an environment where the heroic and martial virtues were so important.’ (Pippin) In the characters of Mrs Jorgensen and Laurie there is little to suggest that they are subjected to the traditional harsh frontier female labours such as described in the work of Lilian Schlissel.

            Thus, the wedding dance scene questions some of the dominant myths of the West. The whole sequence takes place indoors, in a domesticated female space. Surrounded by their friends and neighbours, brought together through the power of female networks, there is little evidence of the isolated homesteader family. There is no suggestion of the harsh and hostile landscape outside. In addition, the men are enclosed and contained within the space and appear to have made a transition to the refinements of civilisation, dressed in their immaculate city suits and no red kerchiefs in sight. Only one set of spurs is noted and they are soon removed – a reminder of the extreme respect for the occasion. The men are teamed happily together in dancing and socialising and share much good humour witnessing the absurd brawl between Laurie’s’ competing suitors. Meanwhile, we see no sign of rugged, dusty individuals propping up the bar. That is, until the appearance of the emblematic and taciturn Ethan Edwards, the quintessential rugged cowboy hero, we are reminded of the violence and savagery in the ‘reel’ West, just outside on the Plains.

            In conclusion, using Kitses binary oppositions, the scene is situated in terms of the changing social conditions of the West and their impact on women’s lives. In the closing sequence of the scene it is noted how the masculine/outsider individual risks being ignored by the more important, feminised pre-occupations of the community. A community whose future is being more and more influenced by the refinements and products of the East.

The Searchers, 11:00 22/07/2014, FilmFour, 140 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00532EB8 (Accessed 24 Feb 2017)

Hearne, Joanna. “Book Review:Horizons West: Directing the Western from John Ford to Clint Eastwood.” (2006). Great Plains Quarterly. Paper 157.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1156&context=greatplainsquarterly

Pippin, Robert, B. “What Is a Western? Politics and Self Knowledge in John Ford’s The Searchers.”

Prescott, Cynthia Culver. ""Why She Didn't Marry Him": Love, Power, and Marital Choice on the Far Western Frontier." Western Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (2007): 25-45. http://www.jstor.org.winchester.idm.oclc.org/stable/25443458.

Schlissel, Lillian. “Women’s Diaries on the Western Frontier.” Brooklyn College.

The Searchers & the Western Myth

Based on the 1954 Alan Le May book of the same, John Ford's The Searchers is to many, the quintessential Western film. Due to the Western's symbolic role in contemporary popular culture, this film becomes inextricably linked with the myths of the American West as a physical space, lifestyle and set of ideologies.

One of the more interesting aspects to The Searchers is its interpretation of the archetypal conflict between the white men of the frontier and the indigenous peoples they found there, an encounter that, in cinema, invariably leads to combat. More specifically, it is the relationship and exchanges between Ethan, our Western hero, albeit one with moral ambiguity, and Scar, the war chief of the Comanche Indian tribe. When they finally meet outside of Scar's teepee, locking into each others gaze with each trying to assert his masculinity over the other, it is perhaps all too easy to revert to the long-established idea that Scar and Ethan are directly antagonistic. In this relationship, the traditional story arc dictates that one must triumph over the other with a series of moral and ideological consequences that conform to the binary systems that characterise the Western, many of which are detailed by Jim Kitses; good and evil, savagery and (relative) sophistication. By the film's conclusion, it becomes clear that this is true to an extent, as exemplified by Ethan's eventual triumph over Scar in order to return Debbie home and create a satisfactory ending. However, it is perhaps more interesting and relevant to a discussion on the Western myth to consider Ethan and Scar not as perpetual enemies, but rather, as counterparts who occupy an identical niche within their respective groups.

Returning then to their original meeting, the fact that this occurs in Scar's camp might be representative of Indian autonomy, as embodied by Scar himself. Otherwise, this setting might be considered as another mechanism through which the mythical qualities of the West are presented to the viewer. For example, the notion of the protagonists entering into enemy territory and striving for victory against all odds reinforces their heroic status and inevitably plays into the Western fantasies, both historically and cinematically. In order to further fortify his classically 'Western' qualities, Ethan begins to negate the Indian dominance implied by having met in their camp by making derogatory comments about Scar in an effort to humble him. This begins immediately with Ethan responding simply 'Scar huh?' when introduced to the war-chief by Emilio, going on to tell Scar that 'You speak pretty good American, for a Comanche, someone teach ya?'. This comment reaffirms the traditional disconnect between the white and Indian cultures that is so integral to the Western myth portrayed in these films by implying a kind of white superiority. Furthermore, Scar's attempt at bridging this disconnect through language is met with scorn from Ethan who suggests that this level of culture is unattainable by Scar on his own, thus disempowering him. Nonetheless, Scar is able to come back with an identical comment towards Ethan when the latter shows a basic understanding of the Comanche tongue, showing a form of equality between the two leaders. This begins to hint at a mutual respect between the two due to their comparable prowess and the fact that, as critic Robert B. Pippin acknowledges, "They are both on revenge quests." thus returning to the idea that they occupy an identical niche in their respective story arcs and communities.

We then enter into the tent where Scar attempts to intimidate Ethan and Martin by showing them his scalp collection, taken from white men as revenge for his two murdered sons. This is also the point of the film's major revelation when an older and 'Nativized' Debbie is shown displaying the scalps on a
pole. In many ways, this might be viewed as a challenge to the myths of the West, as through Debbie, an attractive white woman, Ford is able to humanise the Indians. This is reinforced through her harsh treatment at the hands of Ethan wherein Ford forces his viewers to reconsider the archetypal dichotomy between the Indians and white men and re-evaluate the morality of ethnic absolutism as an ideology.

Another interesting facet to this exchange is the idea of Scar being able to tame White culture (as represented by Debbie) and bend it against their own in a fashion that defiantly mirrors the kind of subjugation to which the Natives are typically subjected. Again, this has occurred both in the Western genre of cinema, and in real history, a key example being the evangelisation of the Native Americans throughout the Westward expansion of the 19th century. In using Debbie as a mechanism to display his own power, Scar assumes a more dominant role associated with the white heroes, perhaps supporting Pippin's view that "Scar sometimes seems another part of Ethan's character - his alter ego", implying an implicit link between the two. Pippin continues to postulate that Scar represents elements of Ethan that are "illicit that he nevertheless devoutly wants,such that, by killing Scar, Ethan will prove that those desires were never part of himself". This is an interesting idea and relates back to Ethan's status as a primordial anti-hero, suggesting that the elements of his identity represented by Scar are undesirable or immoral. Eventually, Ethan is able to kill Scar and he proceeds to scalp him - an act which is described by Martin M. Winkler as revealing "Ethan's utter inhumanity" in an "act of barbarism committed by someone isolated from society and its norms". This too is interesting as a kind of sadistic twist on the usually moral or exemplary individualism of the Western hero. Overall, Ethan's scalping of Scar, isolated from its moral implications, shows the archetypal success of white power in this perpetual conflict, and goes some way to creating a satisfactory ending to The Searchers. 

Finally, it is important to remain aware of the concerted effort to demonise Scar - through his (un-Indian) name, his actions and perhaps most notably, through his physical appearance which epitomises the terrifying ideas of the noble savage. Overall then, while the relationship between Ethan and Scar is certainly thought-provoking and evidence of significant progression or revision within the Western genre, the conclusion of this relationship reverts back to established generic conventions.

Bibliography

Primary Source - The Searchers. DVD. Dir: John Ford (1956; Burbank, CA: Warner Bros)

Secondary Sources

Kitses, Jim, Horizons West:Anthony Mann, Budd Boetticher, Sam Peckinpah: Studies of Authorship within the Western.

Pippin, Robert B. What Is a Western? Politics and Self-Knowledge in John Ford's The Searchers, Critical Enquiry 35, 2009.


Tinker, George E. Missionary Conquest: The Gospel and Native American Cultural Genocide (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993)

Winkler, Martin M. "Homer's Iliad and John Ford's The Searchers", revue interdisciplinaire sur la Grece archaique, Annee 2003, Volume 7, Numero 1, pp. 593-599.

The Searchers: Hollywood and the Birth of the Anti-Hero?

The Reworking of an American Myth: The Western and the Anti-Hero

During the 1960s, the nature of Westerns presenting a mythicized interpretation of American history began to change. Previous ‘traditional westerns’ such as George Stevens’ ‘Shane’ (1953) or Howard Hawks’ ‘Rio Bravo’ provide traditional Western narratives, where good triumphing of evil is essential to the story. By 1964, this traditional and ‘innocent’ myth began to be reworked with the release of ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ an Italian (Spaghetti) Western directed by Sergio Leone. This picture saw the ‘birth of the anti-hero’ a character which, unlike those from previous Westerns, does not have a moral code, but instead is ambiguous in nature, switching alliances and sides of the law for (usually) financial gain. The clip below, from a ‘Fistful of Dollars’, highlights the birth of the anti-hero, a character who breaks the rules set out by Gene Autry’s ‘Cowboy Code’ in the first 10 minutes of the film.

From 1964 onwards, many American films began to incorporate the Anti-Hero figure. The anti-hero dominated Western movies, and began to influence the revisionism of the genre, seen in films such as Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven (1992). Although, the anti-hero did not just dominate Westerns, the archetype was prominent in detective films such as Don Siegel’s ‘Dirty Harry’ and sci-fi films such as George Lucas’ Star Wars (1977) with the character of Han Solo, and in James Cameron’s Terminator (1984).    

1957: The Origins of the Anti-Hero

Many Film historians and critics such as Christopher Frayling, credit ‘Fistful of Dollars’ as being the film in which ‘gave birth’ to the anti-hero, although it is evident that the origins of the archetype began to develop much earlier. A prime example of these origins can be seen in John Ford’s 1956 classic, the Searchers starring John Wayne. John Wayne is noted for usually playing characters that have moral codes and who stand for what is right in the ‘uncivilized west’. Although, in the Searchers, Wayne’s character Ethan Edwards can be seen as an ‘anti-hero’. In Arthur Eckstein’s ‘Darkening Ethan: John Ford's "The Searchers" (1956) from Novel to Screenplay to Screen’, Eckstein describes Ethan Edwards as a ‘psychologically damaged’ and a ‘tragic figure’. Immediately, Eckstein shows that Wayne’s character is not the traditional, 'white-hat', western hero. Throughout the film, Ethan continuously makes racist remarks about American Indians and commits atrocities such as scalping scar.

  John Wayne “I Don’t Shoot Anyone in the Back”:

In the Searchers Ethan and Martin’s camp is ambushed by Futterman, who is subsequently shot, in the back, by Ethan. This section of the film, shows how Wayne's character can be seen as an anti-hero, who will stop at nothing to protect his interests. Although Futterman did shoot at Martin first (which is conforming to the rules set out by Autry), shooting a man in the back, can be seen as straying from the ‘cowboy code’. Considering Wayne in Don Siegel’s 1976 production, ‘The Shootist, was against shooting a man in the back, the question, ‘why was it acceptable in the Searchers’ remains important. Eckstein believes the answer to this question lies in the ‘dominance’ of John Ford’s direction and vision and how, stories like the searchers needed to be given ‘serious weight’.

On a Side Note…Catchphrases: ‘Quick Drawing, Fast Talking’ Anti-heroes:

Furthermore, Anti-heroes are known for their catchphrases. In the 'Dirty Harry' movies, Callahan is known for asking ‘punks’ to ‘make his day’, in 'Star Wars', Han Solo doesn’t like to ‘know the odds’, and in 'The Last Crusade', Indiana Jones believes it 'belongs in a museum'. Despite catchphrases being prominent in many films, the characteristic can be seen to have originated with Ethan Edwards in the Searchers, who must enjoy Buddy Holly’s 1957 classic ‘That’ll Be the Day’.

Bibliography

Primary Sources:

A Fistful of Dollars, DVD/Blu Ray, Dir: Sergio Leone. 1964, Metro Goldwyn-Mayer studious, 2010.             

Shane. DVD. DIR: George Stevens.1953, Paramount Home Entertainment, 2003.

Star Wars (A New Hope), DVD. Dir: George Lucas. 1977, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2015.

The Searchers, DVD, Dir: John Ford. 1957, Warner Home Video, 2006.

Terminator, DVD. Dir: James Cameron. 1984, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2009.

The Last Crusade, DVD. Dir: Steven Spielberg. 1989, Paramount Home Entertainment, 2008.

The Shootist, DVD, Dir: Don Siegel. 1976, Paramount Home Entertainment, 2005.
Unforgiven, DVD, Dir: Clint Eastwood. 1992, Warner Home Video, 1998.  

Secondary Sources:

Eckstein, Arthur M. “Darkening Ethan: John Ford's "The Searchers" (1956) from Novel to Screenplay to Screen”. Cinema Journal, Vol. 38, No. 1 (1998) 3-24
Frayling Christopher. Spaghetti Western: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. London: LB Tauris and co LTD, 1998.

The Great Depression and America’s Most Beloved Ideal

America’s Most Beloved Ideals: ‘Manifest Destiny’ and ‘Rugged Individualism’:

‘For I stand tonight facing west on what was once the last frontier. From the lands that stretch three thousand miles behind me, the pioneers of old gave up their safety, their comfort and sometimes their lives to build a new world here in the West. They were not the captives of their own doubts, the prisoners of their own price tags. Their motto was not "every man for himself"--but "all for the common cause." They were determined to make that new world strong and free, to overcome its hazards and its hardships, to conquer the enemies that threatened from without and within.’ John F. Kennedy – 1960 Democratic National Convention.

At the 1960 Democratic National Convention, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy highlights the key components of the American national character. These components include the American dream of moving westward and the notion of ‘rugged individualism’.  These two components developed during the 19^th century when moving west (which was considered Americas ‘manifest destiny’) was considered important in terms of developing the economy and building a new, ‘strong and free world’. These themes have continued to be prominent in American history in terms of continuing a ‘strong and free’ American society, but also in influencing a ‘strong and free’, democratic world, shown through many foreign policy acts such as the post-WW2 ‘Marshal Plan’. In contemporary America these components continue to be important within popular culture. They can be particularly seen through film, especially within the Western genre. The Western encapsulates the components of ‘Manifest Destiny’ and ‘Rugged Individualism’ and as a result will be discussed as being ‘America’s most beloved ideal’.  

As aforementioned, Kennedy’s words echo the United States history of Westward Expansion in the 1800s. Although, they also call back to another period in American History, to an era in which there were new ‘hazards and hardships’, but yet the continuing rhetoric of ‘moving west’ for economic profit and being ‘ruggedly individualistic’ in doing so remained prominent, but yet was also under attack. Furthermore it was a period that, through photographs, played upon Western iconography. This period is known as ‘The Great Depression’.

The Great Depression: Historical Context

The Great Depression (1929-1939) is remembered for being the longest economic downturn in American and Western history. The Depression was prompted by the Wall Street stock market Crash of 1929, which resulted in the lack of consumer confidence in goods and banks and then the subsequent loss of jobs. By 1933 the number of unemployed people reached 13 to 15 million and half of the banks had failed. By 1933 it was clear that America was at a standstill, both economically and socially.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt would take over Herbert Hoover as President and introduce a number of measures through his ‘New Deal’ which would encourage economic growth. Both Presidents were very different in their approach to the Depression. As a Republican, Hebert Hoover believed the Government should not introduce fiscal policies and believed the ‘rugged individualistic’ American people could themselves recover the economy. Roosevelt on the other hand believed that this economic downturn required government intervention. Historiography on this period shows the debate between whether Roosevelt’s policies helped America recover from the Depression, or if the outbreak of WW2 helped revive the economy. To conclude, this period highlights one of the only times in American History in which American optimism was replaced with a sense of hopelessness and despair.

The Depression and ‘Americas Most Beloved Ideal’: The FSA Photographs

The Depression, which started in America’s most famous city, New York, and subsequently hit many other cities hard, is remembered through photographs of farmers and migrants in the West. At first, this may startle one, as one would think that it would be remembered foremost by photos of unemployed workers in cities, but with some thought, the reason to why it was remembered this way is obvious. By capturing the depressions effects in the west, it would have shown, and more importantly today shows, how ‘Americas most beloved ideal’, the West, was under attack and needed help, so that its core values could be reaffirmed. The example below further articulates this notion of America’s heartland being under attack.

Hopeless Horizon:

This image, appropriately titled “man in rocking chair and woman washing clothes in a tub” (1936), captures the American spirit in the Depression. The photograph shows the pessimism that clouded the hearts and minds of many American citizens, a nation of people looking into the distance with hope for recovery and prosperity. Furthermore, the photograph could be a still image taken from a western. This helps articulate the point that, today people resonate with images of the Depression from the west as it shows how ‘Americas heartland’, the place where many put their hopes and dreams of the future, was under attack. In essence, the American Dream was under attack.

Bibliography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNouvB5ii80&feature=youtu.be

https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/AS08q5oYz0SFUZg9uOi4iw.aspx

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/background.html

http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG03/comedy/historicalcontext.html

The Slow Burn of "Migrant Mother's" Celebrity Culture

Migrant Mother as Victim

The purpose, function and content of the Farm Security Administration demonstrates many of the issues raised by Terry Barrett in his research on ‘Teaching about Photography.’ The project initially documented cash loans made to individual farmers by the Resettlement Association and then expanded to record the lives of sharecroppers and migratory agricultural workers and later the mobilisation efforts for World War Two. The scale of the enterprise under the direction of Roy Stryker was considerable:

‘The unit's main office was in Washington, D.C. The office distributed photographic equipment and film, drew up budgets, allocated travel funds, hired staff, developed, printed, and numbered most negatives, reviewed developed film, edited photographers' captions written in the field, and maintained files of negatives, prints, and captions. The main office also distributed images to newspapers, magazines, and book publishers, and supplied photographs to exhibitions.

Staff photographers were given specific subjects and/or geographic areas to cover. These field assignments often lasted several months. Before beginning their assignments, photographers read relevant reports, local newspapers, and books in order to become familiar with their subject. A basic shooting script or outline was often prepared. Photographers were encouraged to record anything that might shed additional light on the topic that they were photographing, and they received training in making personal contacts and interviewing people.’

(http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/fsa/background.html)

It is at this point when Dorothy Lange meets an impoverished family  that the three unique characteristics of the medium; selectivity, instantaneity and credibility, (Barrett 1986) coalesce to produce one of the most famous images of the Depression.

The archivist in this video describes the way in which the photographer Dorothea Lange selected the images of the young woman. Additionally, the archivist provides a detailed account of the realities of the migratory experience for the sitters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1heTNwnJJ4

 In her notes of the encounter, Lange wrote:

“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five [actually six] exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires of the car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.” (Popular Photography, Feb. 1960)

The text mentions hardships but appears so light weight compared to the realities that Dorothea would have witnessed. And this image certainly seemed to ‘help’ Dorothea as it was very widely distributed and subsequently led to a large number of publications dealing with the issues of the rural poor.

So why would the sobriquet ‘victim’ be attached to this iconic image? It lies not only in the woman being the victim of the consequences of the Depression but in the way that her life, her story, goes on to be one of continuous poverty and hardship. Meanwhile the media industry gains profits from the use of her image. Even when elderly and very ill, she again becomes subject to further media interest as the Reference list demonstrates.  Does her final epitaph  rest in this quote from a family member:

“The grandson that she was talking about was Roger Sprague, my late husband who was Florence's Grandson. We gave a presentation in 2002. Our family memoir is now out on Amazon.com. "Migrant Mother, The Untold Story" Please read if you want the true story of her life and the day the picture was taken.” (Oleta Kay Ham 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1heTNwnJJ4 )

This plea acknowledges that the family are aware of the power and influence of photography but  Florence Thompson lived in an  era where many people saw migrants such as her, as a threat and disgrace.

To conclude, have some lessons been learnt from those days about female autonomy, financial independence and maternal rights?

References
Barrett, Terry. "Teaching about Photography: Selectivity, Instantaneity, and Credibility." Art Education 39, no. 3 (1986): 12-15. doi:10.2307/3192950.

Later Publications Discussing "Migrant Mother":

Curtis, James. Mind's Eye, Mind's Truth: FSA Photography Reconsidered. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989. [LC Call #: TR820.5.C87 1989 (P&P)] (Another version of the chapter on Lange was published as: Curtis, James C. "Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, and the Culture of the Great Depression." Winterthur Portfolio: A Journal of American Material Culture (Spring 1986) 21:1-20.

Dunn, Geoffrey. "The heart of a woman." Santa Maria Sun, vol. 2, no. 46 (Feb. 15, 2002).

-----. "Photographic License." Metro: Santa Clara Valley's Weekly Newspaper, vol. 10 (Jan. 19-25, 1995): 20-24.

-----. "Photographic License." New Times: San Luis Obispo (2002). Archive no longer available online, but may be accessible through Internet Archive: (accessed 11/2007): http://web.archive.org/web/20020602103656/http://www.newtimes-slo.com/archives/cov_stories_2002/cov_01172002.html

"Dust Bowl Update." Life (Aug. 1979): 9.

Foley, Jack. "'Migrant Mother' Now Lies Dying: Subject of Photo Racked by Cancer." San Jose Mercury News(Aug. 21, 1983).

"A Haunting Symbol of the Depression Struggles for Her Life, Pleads For Help." Rochester, NY, Democrat and Chronicle (Aug. 25, 1983).

Heyman, Therese T. Celebrating a Collection: the Work of Dorothea Lange. Oakland: Oakland Museum, 1978 [LC Call #: TR 647.L36 (P&P)]

Natanson, Barbara O. "Exploring Contexts: Migrant Mother" in American Women: A Gateway to Library of Congress Resources for the Study of Women's History and Culture in the United States. Web site: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awpnp6/migrant_mother.html (accessed: March 15, 2004).

Sprague, Roger. Migrant Mother: The story as told by her Grandson. Web site: http://www.migrantgrandson.com/ (accessed: March 15, 2004).

Taylor, Paul. "Migrant Mother: 1936." The American West: The Magazine of Western History. (May 1970): 41-