Indians at work magazine july 1940 navajo lasso native americans cowboy

A typical cover of "Indians at Work", a print magazine produced by two cooperating US Department of the Interior sub-agencies: the US Indian Service and also the Office of Indian Affairs (the latter, now called the Bureau of Indian Affairs). "Indians at Work" attempted to highlight some of the more positive aspects of reservation life while also providing, WPA style, gainful employment for a team of government photographers including Gordon Sommers who later provided photos for the Los Angeles Times. Other well-known New Deal era government photographers, mostly working under authority of the Department of Agriculture, of the Department of the Interior, or of the Works Progress Administration included Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Minor White, Gordon Parks, Ben Shahn, Dorothea Lange, and Arthur Rothstein. This July 1940 cover image shows a close-up of a young male Navajo horse-rider with a lasso and lariat coil of ranch-rope at the ready.