The Pie Town Annual Barbecue, New Mexico

Russell Lee took these photographs of New Mexico’s Pie Town in October 1940, on behalf of the Farm Security Administration. Lee had arrived in June of that year, and left with more than 600 pictures.

When Lee took the pictures, Pie Town had existed for less than twenty years. Founded by one Clive Norman, it took its name from Norman’s propensity for baking apple pies. Less than 200 people call Pietown their home town today, but in 1940, more than 250 families lived in the locale. Many of these families had fled the dustbowls of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas during the 1930s.