Jack Delano's work was so admired
that after studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia,
the academy sent him to Europe for further study. Upon returning in May 1940,
he joined the historical section of the Farm Security Administration (FSA),
headed by Roy Stryker. His first assignment was to photograph the Northeast, a
favorite area of Stryker's. Stryker found that Delano's artistic training
allowed him to capture an entire yet specific site in each photograph. After
the FSA was abolished, Stryker was employed by the Office of War Information
and took

In this image, Delano photographed a
family recently emigrated from Poland on the second-story porch of a house in
need of paint and repair. The family faces a difficult life and economic
plight, but Delano does not depict the people as pitiful; instead he allows his
sitters a sense of quiet pride.

Although officially dated only by
year, this image can be more precisely dated by the manner of dress of the subjects.
The clothing dates this image as having been taken during New England's
relatively short summer.

Delano continued photographing after
his FSA and Office of War Information stints ended, and turned his attentions
to the people and landscape of Puerto Rico. He later became director of
Government Television Service in Puerto Rico, where he still lives.