Night-Time at the Circus

This set of pictures, taken in July 1942, in Klamath Falls, Oregon, show the sideshows, barkers and crowds at a circus at night. Klamath Falls sits around 25 miles from the Oregon/California border. During WWII—when these pictures were taken—two Japanese internment camps were located near the city.

The pictures are the work of Russell Lee. Lee had been a chemist, then a painter, before he took up photography. Working for the Farm Security Administration, in 1942 Lee recorded not only these images but also recorded the force removal of Japanese Americans from the US West Coast, to detention camps such as those near Klamath Falls.