World War II caused a shortage of farm labor in Washington state. Some workers had left to serve in the military. Japanese Americans, many of whom farmed in King County, had been forcibly removed to inland incarceration camps. Governor Arthur B. Langlie declared the first week of June 1942 as "Farm Labor Week," and called for volunteers to help harvest the crops. The United States Employment Service and the Council of Social Agencies supplied teenage workers for the Victory Youth Farm Aid Corps.
This June 1942 photo shows teenage boys returning from a day of volunteer farm work at an unidentified location in King County. Many volunteers worked on farms near Bellevue or in the Green River Valley near Kent and Auburn.
Written on sleeve: FARMS, Youth workers Handwritten on image: Farmers & Farming--Youth farm labor Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): June 13, 1942.
Caption information source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 13, 1943. (PI research files)
ID Number: 1986.5.2909.2
Date: 1942
Physical Description: 1 negative : safety film, b&w ; 4 x 5 in.
