Bureaucrats at their desks

Dutch photographer Jan Banning has traveled the world documenting the consequences of war, the homeless and impoverished, and victims of human trafficking. Asked to photograph a story on the administration of international development aid, something he thought to be “un-photographable,” Banning and a journalist set out to visit hundreds of local government offices worldwide. Between 2003 and 2007, they met civil servants in eight countries on five continents. “Though there is a high degree of humour and absurdity in these photos,” Banning says, “they also show compassion with the inhabitants of the state’s paper labyrinth.”

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ccc – beaverhead forest, mt

“Portal at Ruby CCC camp, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana.” Oregon State University Special Collections.

tr

Teddy Roosevelt (Boston Public Library)

the best is yet to come

The President’s Price Commission.1972. Penn State Special Collections.

public dime, 1960

Worker emptying parking meter, 1960. Seattle Municipal Archives.

township of yarmouth council, 1928

 

 

Township of Yarmouth Council, 1928 – Elgin County Archives

 

 

in the trenches

Burlington, N.D. – Workers connect the sewer casing to the reamer. US Army Corps of Engineers. Photo by Jeff DeZellar.

The bureauphile has been busy in the trenches. Stay tuned!

w.w. vereide

“W.W. Vereide, 1959” – Engineering Department, Seattle Municipal Archives.

 

prescribed fire

“Paul Stevko, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, at Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge during the Deep fire in 2009.” Photo by Josh O’Connor, USFWS. http://www.fws.gov/floridapanther/

distinctive competence

The U.S. National Park Service Interpretive Ranger depicted above will remain nameless, but it was my good fortune to spend a few hours with her one morning this August. We hiked over big rocks along the ocean in Maine’s Acadia National Park. Honestly, I learned more about rocks from this interpretive ranger than I remember from classroom geology. We also learned about the land’s social history – gifted by J.P Morgan, as a vacation home for a generation of “rusticators” (why isn’t that word more popular?), and ultimately to the National Park Service early in the 20th Century.