Great Depression: The Works Project Administration (WPA)

Facts on File article

short PBS article

Mapping the New Deal; "No city, town, or rural area was untouched by the New Deal. Hundreds of thousands of roads, schools, theaters, libraries, hospitals, post offices, courthouses, airports, parks, forests, gardens, and artworks—created in only one decade by our parents and grandparents—are still in use today"

8 slideshows featuring original photographs of WPA projects in Kentucky; These images document the accomplishments of the WPA within the state of Kentucky: the construction of schools, hospitals, courthouses, libraries, and municipal buildings. Many of these photographs show people enrolled in various WPA programs: pack-horse librarians, writers, musicians, teachers, artists, doctors, nurses, and women’s training centers.

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) Poster Collection consists of 907 posters produced from 1936 to 1943 by various branches of the WPA. Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. The posters were designed to publicize exhibits, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programs in seventeen states and the District of Columbia, with the strongest representation from California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The results of one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts, the posters were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s.

History Detectives searches for connections between a collection of unusual paintings and the largest job creation program in America's history. (good background information on WPA art) TRANSCRIPT and VIDEO

glass murals and sculptures

article about marble sculpture in high school library

overview and links to online narratives, texts, photos, and guides

primary documents; life histories, slave narratives, plays,

NY Times article

see and read complete book digitized (photographed) online, or download (multiple formats available)

overview

view online or download

The following text includes extracts from and paraphrases of material in documents in the Federal Theatre Project Archives. These documents, are examples selected from the Administrative Records.

summary of program

overview of WPA radio programs, and complete WPA Radio Scripts

JSTOR article

(scroll down to page 8 for details on NYA)

JSTOR article

A Speech by Aubrey W. Williams, Executive Director of the National Youth Administration, before the joint meeting of college and university administrators and secondary school officials in the Penn Harris hotel at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 7 p.m. Thursday, September 23, 1937

A Speech in 1937

This visual image display is supplementary to the promotion of the University of Kentucky’s WPA collection as a Center of Excellence. Its purpose is to promote an understanding of what the WPA is and its impact on the State of Kentucky.

Projects Listed by State and City (also listed by artist, category, alphabetically, and on map)

Mapping the New Deal; "No city, town, or rural area was untouched by the New Deal. Hundreds of thousands of roads, schools, theaters, libraries, hospitals, post offices, courthouses, airports, parks, forests, gardens, and artworks—created in only one decade by our parents and grandparents—are still in use today"

8 slideshows featuring original photographs of WPA projects in Kentucky; These images document the accomplishments of the WPA within the state of Kentucky: the construction of schools, hospitals, courthouses, libraries, and municipal buildings.