#works progress administration

[stone-cold-groove]

John Is Not Really Dull - He May Only Need His Eyes Examined. Vintage Works Progress Administration health awareness poster - circa 1936.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Memorial Day used to be on May 30, but in 1968, Congress passed a law moving most Federal holidays to Mondays, so it is now celebrated on the last Monday in May. This is a poster from 1936-37, designed by someone known only as JCW, for the Federal Art Project.

Photo: Library of Congress (LoC)

[brianfrench1995]

Old Tampa Airport - Bulit by the WPA - Peter O. Knight Airport on Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida Postcard

@postcardtimemachine

[everymansbookclub]

From Wikipedia:

In 1938, he graduated with honors from the Cleveland School of Art and worked for the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

Like many WPA artists, Lee-Smith was concerned about the contribution art could make to the struggle for social justice and racial equality, and he created a series of lithographs on this theme. Lee-Smith's “The Artist’s Life No.1”, a 1939 lithograph, is one of his early masterpieces.

[blondebrainpowered]

Rural Pennsylvania, ca. 1939

Artist: Katherine Milhous

Katherine Milhous, who became an award-winning book illustrator, was also known for her WPA posters related to rural Pennsylvania Dutch culture as part of the Pennsylvania Art Project. Philadelphia-born, she created affectionate images of the local Amish and Mennonite communities. 

[todaysdocument]

Memorandum from Grace Langdon to Dr. L. R. Alderman Regarding the Waterbury, Connecticut Situation

Record Group 69: Records of the Work Projects AdministrationSeries: General Administrative and Operational CorrespondenceFile Unit: 211.4 Dr. Grace Langdon 41

March 29, 1941 211.4 written in red pencil

MEMORANDUM

TO: Dr. L. R. Alderman

FROM: Grace Langdon G.L.

SUBJECT: Waterbury, Connecticut situation

The following are my recommendations relative to the Waterbury request for help in care of the young children of working mothers:

1. That WPA take the responsibility of assisting Waterbury in providing the needed care since the situation is directly related to defense.

2. That a group be organized known as a Child Development Defense Group.

3. That it be definitely understood that this group is organized on a temporary demonstration training basis "for the duration" to be taken over locally as soon as possible.

4. That admissions be solely conditional upon the employment of the mother in industry directly essential to the completion of some defense contract, and that satisfactory evidence of this employment or promise of employment be provided.

5. That the fees to be charged be determined by the local social service agency or agencies and that they be in accord with those charged by the regular day nursery.

6. That any fees charged by handled by a local community group, preferably by the social service agency determining the fee to be charged, or if this is not possible by a committee representing agencies satisfactory to them.

7. That volunteer assistance be provided locally on such a basis that it can be depended upon to give the needed service regularly.

8. That the WPA employ the head worker and such other workers as shall be decided upon, depending upon the number of children to be served, and that the child development defense group be supervised by the nursery school supervisor.

-2-

9. That the age range of children correspond to the age range for the local day nursery with the understanding that no child of school age will be served during the hours when public school is in session.

10. That all conditions of sponsorship pertaining to nursery schools be effective in the Child Development Defense Groups.

I suggest that it might be well for Miss Robinson to go to Waterbury to help work out the details of this group since it is the first of its kind and can serve as a pattern for others.

[alwaysalwaysalwaysthesea]

Article in the January 15, 1940 LIFE about the WPA's efforts to standardize women's clothing sizing.

(source: LIFE archives)

[gregdotorg]

Dionne Brand's 1990 poem about it led to this 1920 photo of Mammy Prater, a 115-yo former enslaved woman born in South Carolina in 1805, who became the subject of a Los Angeles Times article about her longevity after she was interviewed for the 1920 US Census.

Brand's poem, "Blues Spiritual for Mammy Prater," is about her waiting until this moment for photography to be sufficiently advanced to record the weight of her life and experience.