Documerica Project - Photographs by Marc St.Gil

  

For the Documerica Project (1971-1977), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hired freelance photographers to capture images relating to environmental problems, EPA activities, and everyday life in the 1970s.

The U.S. National Archives digitized more than 15,000 photographs from the series, and they can now be seen online.

 Marc St. Gil was one of nearly one hundred photographers hired for DOCUMERICA. His assignment was to document the water and air pollution crisis in and around Houston, Texas.

While documenting the apparent pollution issues, St. Gil also captured striking images of rural life in 1970s in the Houston and San Antonio areas.

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Here are a few of my favourites from Marc St.Gil's set, 

along with the photographs original captions. 

Above 2 pics - Campers at Garner State Park, 07/1972

 Leakey, a Small Town near Garner State Park, Derives Much of Its Income from Summer Tourists and Fall Deer Hunters, 07/1972

 Leakey Resident Cooling Her Feet in the Rio Frio, 07/1972

Owner of the Local Grocery and Drugstore, 11/1972

 Abandoned Oil Field, 06/1972

 Cut-Rate Gas Station Operates Out of Bus, 06/1972

 Lunching on the Beach Opposite the Olin Mathieson Chemical Plant, 06/1972

 Olin Mathieson Chemical Plant on Far Side of Lake 07/1972

 The Polluted Lake Charles Which Has a Dangerously High Level of Mercury. Olin-Mathieson Plant in Background 06/1972

 Teenagers Enjoy Each Other's Company on the Bank of the Frio Canyon River near Leakey, Texas, and San Antonio 05/1973

 Area Young People Gather in the Cedar Woods by the Frio Canyon River near Leakey, 

Texas, and San Antonio, 05/1973

 Den behind a Store Which Caters to the Teenage Group in Leakey, Texas, near San Antonio, 05/1973

 The Atlas Chemical Company Belches Smoke across Pasture Land in Foreground. 06/1972

 Milk Wort and Butterfly in the Texas Countryside, near San Antonio, 06/1973