At the end of 1971, the EPA started Project Documerica, a planned 10-year odyssey to document the successes and failures of the agency's work in fighting pollution. They hired more than 100 photographers who struck out for every corner of the country to photograph the environment and how we use and abuse it.

 

The project was modeled on a similar effort by the Farm Security Administration, which hired freelance photographers in the '30s to capture images of farmers during the Great Depression.

 

Documerica was always meant to be open to the public for publication, but technological constraints made that hard to achieve in the '70s. This lack of availability was one of the reasons the project was shuttered in 1977, four years before the end of its original 10-year mission. The photos were taken to the National Archives and forgotten, more or less, by the public.

 

More than 30 years after the photographs were taken, they were given new life on the Web when the National Archives uploaded a large chunk of them to Flickr. The photos are organized by photographer and are a sheer joy to flip through.

 

Here are a few of my favorites (you can check out the archive's top picks in their favorites set):

 

Jet Zooms Over Southwestern Side of Neptune Road | On Flickr Boston, Mass.

Photo by Michael Philip Manheim

 

 

 

There is Some Local Opposition to Stripping the Land in Southeastern Ohio. Most People, However, Are Employed by the Coal Companies and Are Afraid Any Demands for Reform Will Cost Them Their Jobs. | On Flickr Hendrysburg, Ohio

Photo by Erik Calonius

 

 

 

Anxious Youngsters Begin the Chase in a Greased Pig Contest at the Tennesee Consolidated Coal Company First Annual Picnic Held at a Tennessee Valley Authority Lake near Jasper and Chattannooga, Tennessee | On Flickr Tennessee

Photo by Jack Corn

 

 

 

To see more photos, visit Documerica on Flickr and Documerica at the National Archives.