On June 14, 1904, Margaret Bourke-White, a celebrated photographer known for her photo documentation of the Great Depression, was born in the Bronx, N.Y.

Bourke-White got her start in Cleveland in 1927 when she opened a studio in her one-room apartment. Her work became well known after she produced pictures of workers at the Otis Steel Co. She soon made enough money to move her studio to Cleveland's new Terminal Tower skyscraper.

In 1929, Henry Luce hired her to be the photographer for his new Fortune magazine. The following year she was the first Western photographer permitted into the Soviet Union. In 1935, a Bourke-White photograph graced the cover of the first issue of Life magazine.

Bourke-White traveled the country capturing images of the Depression with Erskine Caldwell, whom she would marry. They published their work in a book called You Have Seen Their Faces. Bourke-White was the first female war correspondent and the first to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II. She was also one of the first photographers to enter and document Nazi death camps.

Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361.