In 1935 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration (the name was changed to Work Projects Administration in September of 1939), as part of his New Deal programme to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work. In July of 1935, Federal Project Number One (Federal One) was established within the WPA as a central administration for the arts-related projects. Federal One provided funds specifically for artists, musicians, actors, and writers through the Federal Art Project (FAP), the Federal Music Project, the Federal Theatre Project, and the Federal Writer's Project. FAP employed more than five thousand artists in various art projects including the many poster divisions that were created throughout the United States.
Many New Deal administrators believed that art could be a part of the daily lives of all Americans, not just the elite, and could enrich the lives of all who came in contact with it. The main objective of FAP was the employment of out-of-work artists, but this was not its only goal. The activities of FAP also included art production, education, and research. The project employed artists in the fields of easel painting, sculpture, photography, mural painting, and graphic arts, and it also held exhibitions and organised community arts centres through which many Americans were first introduced to the arts. Another well-known, well-received FAP project, the Index of American Design, created a survey of illustrations of American decorative and folk arts from colonial times through the late nineteenth century.
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 publicise exhibitions, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programmes 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.
This is part 1 of a 4-part series on WPA posters:
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| 1930-40 Field Day W.P.A. Recreation Project District No.2 colour silkscreen print |
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| 1930-40 Hiking W.P.A. Recreation Project District No.2 colour silkscreen print |
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| 1930s Discover Puerto Rico U.S.A Where The Americas Meet Made by N.Y.C. Art Project W.P.A. colour silkscreen print |
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| c1934 State Parks artist: Dorothy Waugh colour silkscreen print |
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| 1935-1939 Federal Theatre Project Marionette Theatre Presents RUR colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Amateur Contest for Children Final Eliminations artist: Estelle Levine colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 The Technics of Bel Canto by G.B. Lamperti Dept of Parks Water Carnival - Music Dancing Singing artist Charles Verschuuren colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Don't Gamble with Syphilis Consult Health Authorities Illinois W.P.A. Art Project, Chicago colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Eliminate Crime In The Slums Through Housing artist: Christopher DeNoon colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 First Houses Sponsored by the New York City Housing Authority artist: Estelle Levine colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 In March Read The Books You've Always Meant to Read Art Project W.P.A. Chicago colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Indian Art Of The United States artist: Pistchal colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 National Letter WritingWeek Oct. 17 Illinois W.P.A. Art Project Chicago colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Senior Amateur Music Contest on the Mall, Central Park colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 The Chocolate Soldier June 6 Municipal Auditorium Long Beach colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 WPA Federal Theatre Presents "The Emperor's New Clothes" artist Richard Halls colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 The Enemy is Syphilis Enlist employees in a campaign against it colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Visit the Brookfield Zoo Free Thursday Saturday Sunday colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Work with Care artist: Nathan Sherman colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936 Visit The Zoo Federal Art Project W.P.A. Pennsylvania artist: Hugh Stevenson colour woodcut print |
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| 1936-37 City of New York Municipal Airports colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-37 Don't Mix 'em artist: Robert Lachenmann colour lithograph print |
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| 1936-37 Federal Dance Theatre presents Salut au Mondes artist: Richard Halls colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-37 Detroit Federal Theatre Presents It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-37 Keep your Fire Escapes Clear Tenement House Dept. of the City of New York colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-37 Memorial Day May 30th colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-37 Pennsylvania Federal Art Project artist: Isadore Posoff colour woodcut print |
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| 1936-37 Work with Care PPA Federal Art Project Pennsylvania artist: Robert Muchley colour woodcut print |
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| 1936-37 WPA Federal Theatre Presents It Can't Happen Here artist: Richard Halls colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-38 By the "L" Brookfield Zoo artist: Charles Raymond Long colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-38 Exhibition WPA Federal Art Project Pennsylvania artist: Katherine Milhouse colour woodcut print |
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| 1936-38 Information Brookfield Zoo Federal Art Project artist: Mildred Waltrip colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-38 Keep your Teeth Clean Federal Art Project colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-38 See America Welcome to Montana U.S. Travel Bureau Federal Art Project artist: Richard Halls colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-38 Visit the Brookfield Zoo by the "L" Federal Art Projectsilk artist: Arlington Gregg colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-38 WPA Women Painters Federal Art Gallery, Boston colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-39 Certain People of Importance Federal Art Project artist: Kenneth Whitley colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-39 Craft School Henry Street Settlement Federal Art Project artist: Henry Jerome Rothstein colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-39 Exhibition color Lithography Federal Art Project artist: Jerome Henry Rothstein colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-39 Exhibition Functions of the Federal Art Project artist: Jerome Henry Rothstein colour silkscreen print |
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| 1936-39 Exhibition Materials For The Artist Federal Art Project artist: Jerome Henry Rothstein colour silkscreen print |
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