In recognition of the economic downturn, due to the the United States' housing market correction and subprime mortgage crisis, we thought we'd take a look at one of the other great downturns in modern economics, the great depression, to see if there is some hopeful inspiration that we can look forward to just in case we don't get bailed out at soon as we think.

While most people's perception of the great depression are grim images in black and white, due to most photographers of the time using only monochromatic film, some color photos do exist. And thanks to a historian who in 1978 discovered 700 incorrectly filed color pictures from the depression era taken for the Farm Security Administration in the archives of the Library of Congress, we can get a fresh look at the colors of American history.

Inspiration from the CL library

Photos from the Library of Congress flickr page