DOCUMERICA 2020
A Proposal to Replicate and Expand the EPA’s
Signature Photography Project from the 1970s
In 1971, the recently created Environmental
Protection Agency established a photography
project to document the state of the American
environment as it then existed at the dawn of
the environmental movement in the United
States.
Known as Project DOCUMERICA, it would
ultimately employ over 100 photographers to
accomplish that task. Over the next several years,
an archive of work to be preserved amassed a
volume of over 16,000 color transparencies.
Project DOCUMERICA owed its early
success to the unique collaboration of two
men:
• Project Director Gifford Hampshire (left), who
originated the idea based on his knowledge
of the similar photographic project
conducted by the Farm Security
Administration during the Great Depression
in the 1930s.
• EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus
(right) who fully supported the project, but
more importantly, had close enough
connections to the Nixon White House to
assure continued funding despite demands
by others that the money could be better
spent elsewhere.
Many of the photographers recruited for DOCUMERICA went on to very
successful careers, a number of whom are still actively working today.
Beyond environmental degradation, they were assigned to depict the
country as it then appeared, to create an illustrated baseline against which
future photographic coverage could be compared and contrasted.
Ultimately, Project DOCUMERICA was derailed by Watergate.
Ultimately, Project DOCUMERICA was derailed by Watergate.
Just as it was getting up to speed, the Hampshire—Ruckelshaus collaboration
Just as it was getting up to speed, the Hampshire—Ruckelshaus collaboration
was broken. The EPA’s Administrator was reassigned to fill a top post in the Justice
was broken. The EPA’s Administrator was reassigned to fill a top post in the Justice
Department that was vacated during the scandal. And shortly thereafter, Ruckelshaus
Department that was vacated during the scandal. And shortly thereafter, Ruckelshaus
himself famously resigned in what came to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre.
himself famously resigned in what came to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre.
Without a supportive EPA Administrator, Hampshire couldn’t maintain the
Without a supportive EPA Administrator, Hampshire couldn’t maintain the
funding levels the project had enjoyed for its first few years, and it eventually
funding levels the project had enjoyed for its first few years, and it eventually
languished. Assignments ceased, staff was reassigned and the body of 16,000 images
languished. Assignments ceased, staff was reassigned and the body of 16,000 images
selected for the collection eventually came to rest at the National Archives.
selected for the collection eventually came to rest at the National Archives.
There the collection resides on these three shelves in the facility’s Cold Vault.
And there, DOCUMERICA effectively disappeared for the next 25 years.
It wasn’t until the advent of digital photography that a significant number
of the images were scanned and once again made available to the public
online.
But rather than scan the well preserved original DOCUMERICA
transparencies, the Archives chose instead to digitize a set of duplicate
slides that had suffered significant magenta shift in the span of years since
their creation. And that’s unfortunately the only version of the collection now
available to the public.
Nevertheless, current imaging software can largely correct the magenta
shifting problem, resulting in vintage images that are very useful to
compare with the same scenes today:
1972 Telluride, Colorado 2012
DOCUMERICA photographer Michael Philip Manheim shot a 727
airliner flying low over homes on East Boston’s Neptune Road in May
1973 as it approached Boston’s Logan International Airport.
Accompanied by a reporter from NPR’s Living on Earth, he returned
to Neptune Road in 2010 to shoot the same view from the same spot
and same direction as his 1973 picture.
A treeless, smoggy
Boston in 1973.
A much expanded Boston
amid trees and clean air in
2012.
Selected photographs from the EPA Anniversary project became
part
of a traveling exhibition that toured around the country in 2012.
But there, the brief renaissance of Project Documerica came to
close. . .
* * * * *
DOCUMERICA 2020
WOULD ONCE AGAIN SEEK TO REBOOT THE ORIGINAL
• Its primary purpose would be to replicate images from the
original project as accurately as possible while also recording
their locations.
• Additionally, it would seek to add new subject matter to the
archive that didn’t previously exist, like Superfund sites or urban
renewal.
• And of equal importance, it would need to include a distribution
channel capable of sharing as broadly as possible on a global
scale the timely results of its productive efforts (lacking in the
original).
• Production
Ideally, recruit a corps of the original DOCUMERICA photographers.
Augment it with volunteers drawn from student ranks or elsewhere.
Utilize existing sources of public domain photography like the EPA’s.
Include accurate geographic location & direction data in all new images.
DOCUMERICA 2020 CHALLENGES
• Editing & Dissemination
Web and digital technology now makes this task immensely easier.
Creation of a central administration presence that could be
anywhere.
Effective public communication effort for wide public distribution.
Effective use of time-lapse & augmented reality display techniques.
• Funding
Explore both monetary sources as well as other sources-in-kind.
Partner with Education, NGOs and others with same interests.
Explore corporate sponsorship along with crowd sourced
revenue.
