If you don’t know about Documerica on Flickr yet, you should.
“For the Documerica Project (1971-1977), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities, and everyday life in the 1970s.”
I particularly appreciated the 100 photos by Michael Philip Mannheim which document noise pollution and structural damage within the community around Neptune Road in Boston.
We live in a time in which imagery of aeroplanes in close proximity to buildings wheedle at our unconscious; the pregnant threat of collision is always with us. Mannheim’s subjects on Neptune Road share a different type of agitation. They’ve seen an extra runway inserted, their neighbourhood split in two and a rail link nestled against their properties. The noise, vibrations and ever-presence of aircraft for these folk is menacing but for very different reasons.
Just wanted to share.
Prison Photography 
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August 11, 2011 at 7:51 am
Frank
These photos are great. The context and the look of old photos speaks volumes. Although I tend to romanticize any shots that look so aged, you can see a very contemporary sort of social conscience in these photographs. All in all a very interesting study of a time, issue and place. Thanks for posting.
August 12, 2011 at 11:12 am
Link Love: 8/12/2011 | The Bigger Picture
[…] in that era. This iconic project is now available on the National Archives’ Flickr stream [via Prison Photography].Some sample Documerica photos from the “DOCUMERICA Favorites” set on the US National […]