Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Felix Vachon (1914-1975) span the years 1913-1995, with the bulk from 1935 to 1959, and consist of family papers, general correspondence, lecture notes, writings, financial papers, notes, clippings, and printed matter. The focus of the papers is Vachon’s career as a photographer. The collection is arranged in three groups: family papers, general correspondence, and subject file.
The family papers consist chiefly of Vachon’s letters to his mother, Ann O’Hara Vachon, and his first wife, Millicent “Penny” Vachon. These letters provide descriptions of many of Vachon’s assignments as photographer chiefly for the Farm Security Administration (FSA), 1937-1942, the Office of War Information (OWI), 1942-1943, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, 1943-1944, and Look magazine, 1947-1959. They document his extensive travels across America for FSA and OWI, focusing on rural areas and small towns during the Depression and the country’s mobilization during World War II. The family correspondence reflects the variety of Vachon’s assignments, including politics, religion, poverty, and stories about entertainers and writers such as Marilyn Monroe and Tennessee Williams. Also in the family papers are letters chronicling his student days at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., 1935-1936; descriptions of living in Washington from 1935 to 1939; detailed accounts of his training and duties while in the United States Army at Camp Blanding, Florida, 1945; and his work for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Poland, 1946. The correspondence conveys his passion for jazz music and movies and includes his observations about American social life and mores. The family papers also contain genealogical material relating to the Vachon family.
The subject file reflects Vachon’s lifelong desire to be a writer and consists chiefly of his articles, essays, short stories, and poetry. Also located in this file is a transcript of a conversation in 1952 between Roy Emerson Stryker, the director of the FSA project, and FSA photographers, including Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, and Vachon, discussing their work.