Railroaders

These superb, World War II-era portraits of a diverse group of Chicago-area railroaders have been hailed as a universal story of labor. They were taken by Jack Delano for the federal Office of War Information in 1942 and 1943. Today Delano's portraits stand for themselves, contextualized by touching biographies, new portraits of the subjects' families by Jack Delano's son Pablo, historical essays, and other Delano images of Chicago's rail yards, shops, and stations. No other photographic study of portraits from this period compares to this one for its universality.