JACK DELANO and photographers from the Farm Security Administration captured life in Puerto Rico during the 30s and 40s

Its hard to fathom how the island of Puerto Rico has changed. From its population which has tripled, and if were not for the chaos that ensued after hurricane Maria there be considerably more people living on the island. Fortunately there is an immense photographic testimony of all aspects of life on the island before WW2 and afterwards.

uploads2017105puertorico_36.jpgfit-in__1440x1440 — Image: Library of Congress

From its first inhabitants by Taíno natives to its centuries of rule under Spain and later the United States, Puerto Rico has developed a culture and character unique among the islands of the Caribbean.

93pzd9hdlsl21 — December 1941. “San Juan, Puerto Rico. In a dress factory.” Medium format negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration.

uploads2017105puertorico_40.jpgfit-in__1440x1440 — Jack Delano Image: Library of Congress

This becomes evident in these photographs that take us on a journey through time, where life was hard, simpler perhaps and filled with the same dreams and hopes of a better life, such as today.

In the late 1930s and early ‘40s, photographers from the Farm Security Administration visited the island to document the working conditions of plantation laborers cultivating sugarcane, tobacco, and other crops, as well as daily life both in the capital of San Juan and in remote mountain villages.

Cine-Roxy-VSJ-1941 — In this photo by Jack Delano a boy looks at the poster from the new film opening at the Roxy Theater in Old San Juan, Man Power with Marlene Dietrich and Edgar G Robinson and George Raft. 1941

MANPOWER-1941-Vintage-Poster — The film poster for Manpower, 1941

The film poster for Manpower, 1941

Still from the film that was showing in the Roxy, in SJ, PR

This ever changing scenery has been part of what makes the island so unpredictable in every sense of the word.

uploads2017105puertorico_8.jpgfit-in__1440x1440 — Photo by Jack Delano Image: Library of Congress

Jack Delano discovers Puerto Rico: After some very difficult years due to the shortage of work as a result of the Great Depression, in 1940 Delano finally received a telegram from the Agricultural Security Administration (FSA). Through this, he is informed that his services are needed to document, among other places, US territories, such as Puerto Rico. From the first moment he set foot on the Island in November 1941, Delano was delighted with her, especially with his people, as he often said. During this first visit to Puerto Rico, under FSA assignment, Delano, along with his wife Irene, managed to visit and document a large part of the municipalities. By the beginning of 1942, the Delano were forced to leave the Island, as World War II had broken out and the services of Jack Delano were required.

At the end of the war, Delano is awarded a scholarship from the Guggenheim Foundation which allowed him to return to the Island, where he was permanently established, for the year 1946. Subsequent decades were extremely important for the development of art and education on the island. . Governor Luis Muñoz Marín created the Division for Community Education (DIVEDCO) for which he recruited his great friend Jack Delano, who stood out as a producer, cameraman, screenwriter and music composer.

Then, he went on to direct more ambitious projects within the division, as was the film Los Peloteros (1951). For his part, Irene Delano organized and directed the Graphic Arts Workshop of the Public Parks and Recreation Commission.

Arriving the decade of the 80, Delano decided to retake the project that brought him for the first time to the Island; documenting the cultural, social and economic changes that had occurred in the last 40 years. ‘A continuity thread is also distinguished: the Puerto Rican, no matter how much he changes, has not lost his family air.’ (Puerto Rico mine, 1990) This impressive project led to the curator-ship of the exhibition Contrasts: 40 Years of Change and Continuity in Puerto Rico that was presented at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras by the end of 1982. The book Puerto Rico mine was published in 1990, as a result of this exhibition. Jack Delano died on August 12, 1997 in San Juan, PR.

Looking through a vast amount of images from photographers such as Jack Delano, publicity of decades past, family photos and advertising one can travel back in time and grasp what it meant to live in difficult times surrounded by nature, a growing city such as San Juan, social inequality and above all change.