Records from the Great Depression
Cath Madden Trindle
Federal Arts Project (WPA)
The Federal Arts Project was established
in August 1935 and terminated September 1939 with instructions for states to
allocate all project art work to eligible tax-supported public institutions. It was reputed to have created more than 200,000 works, FAP artists created
posters, murals and paintings. It was the goal of the FAP to employ out of
work artists and provide art for non-federal buildings, such as schools,
hospitals and libraries.
Artists
wishing to be considered for the Federal Art Project had to prove they
were impoverished and had to submit samples of their work. Before they could be
apply, they had to be accepted for Home Relief. If chosen for the Project,
artists were paid a salary of about $24 a week.
There were three primary divisions of the
project: art production, art education and art research. The primary
product of the art research portion of the project was the Index
of American Design, consisting
of approximately 18,000 watercolor renderings of American decorative arts
objects from the colonial period through the nineteenth century. The
education component resulted in art centers, classes, lectures and exhibits
around the country. The production aspect produced many of the wonderful murals that are still in existence today.
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Like many Federal agencies the National Park Service
benefited by the work of FAP artists.
(Public Domain Images Online) |
The Autry Historic Southwest Museum in
Los Angeles has a collection relating to a Federal Arts Project
sponsored by the National Park Service at the Southwest Museum and the
Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art from 1936-1937.
You will
find administrative records which include correspondence, instructions
and personnel reports. The photographic collections include field notes, file
notes and the photographs themselves. A third section of the collection
includes chalk and ink drawings, maps, oil paintings and watercolors depicting
the collectinos and historical figures from California History.
This is
just a sample of what might exist for other projects. If your family members
were employed by the FAP look in local repositories for collections on the art
works in the area where they lived.
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The Letter – Burlingame Post Office
funded by Section of Fine Arts – Department of the Treasury |
The Department of the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture (Section of Fine Arts), was established in 1934
and administered by the Procurement Division. It continued until 1943.
Unlike the other New Deal art programs, commissions were awarded
through competitions and artists were paid a lump sum for their work.
Competitions were open to all artists, regardless of economic status. Proposals
were reviewed without identifying the name of the artist who had made the
submission.
Find more
on New Deal Arts Programs:
Formerly hosted on the California State Genealogical Alliance Blog, this series of articles and blog posts about the agencies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal" is now available on the San Mateo County Genealogical Society Blog. 
