By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943

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1. Federal Project Number One

The growing popularity of radio and motion pictures reduced the number of job opportunities available to professional musicians and theater workers during the 1920s. A decade later, the Great Depression eliminated many of the remaining jobs.

In 1935, the WPA established the Federal Project Number One, a collection of government-funded programs for professionals in the fields of drama, music, writing, and art. This project employed thousands of people to provide educational and recreational opportunities in communities across the United States.

The visual-arts branch of the program, the Federal Art Project (FAP), designed posters for many Federal Project Number One efforts. Searches on the terms, theatre project, music project, and writers' project yield hundreds of posters from this collection. The Special Presentation, "Amassing American 'Stuff': The Library of Congress and the Federal Art Projects of the 1930s" from the American Memory collection, The New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project: 1935-1939, provides additional information about the WPA holdings available from the Library of Congress.

a. Federal Theatre Project Under the direction of Hallie Flanagan, the Federal Theatre Project offered drama classes and presented performances ranging from vaudeville and a puppet circus to dance festivals and dramas such as an African-American production of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," the Living Newspaper's "Injunction Granted," and the courtroom piece, "It Might Happen to You." Additional information about the Federal Theatre Project is available in the American Memory collection, The New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project: 1935-1939.

Federal WPA Variety Theatre presents Nine Big Vaudeville Acts.

Federal Music Project presents Johann Strauss's comic opera "Die fledermaus" - "The bat."

W.P.A. Federal Music Project offers courses for adults - piano, voice, violin, cello, ear training, theory, and ensemble appreciation.

Who's Who in the Zoo: Illustrated natural history prepared by the WPA Federal Writers Project.

• Why do you think that the Federal Project Number One sponsored educational and recreational programs?
• Do you think that there were other benefits to the project besides providing employment opportunities?
• How did graphic artists represent the different branches of the Federal Project Number One and their variety of programs?
• What types of images were used to advertise a program?
• Do you think that these posters were successful advertisements? Why or why not?
• Do you think that there were other benefits to the posters besides providing employment and advertising?
• Why do you think that there were specific projects created by and for African Americans?

2. Federal Art Project

This branch of the Federal Project Number One supported many artistic opportunities outside of advertising other WPA programs. Many visual artists were commissioned to create murals, sculptures, paintings, and posters. The Special Presentation, "Posters for the People," from the American Memory collection, The New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project: 1935-1939, explains that the FAP provided visual artists in the United States with a unique opportunity:

Not only did it allow artists to practice their craft, collaborate and innovate, but it served as a collective apprenticeship for artists who brought America to the forefront of international art . . . . [such as] Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Louise Nevelson - artists who not only put U.S. art on the map but shifted the center of that map from Paris to New York.

Hundreds of community centers opened across the nation offering classroom and exhibition space as FAP employees taught art education and art appreciation courses. A search on art class produces sample posters that advertise free classes for adults and children in disciplines such as painting, sculpture, drawing, and pottery. Meanwhile, a search on exhibition produces advertisements for events sponsoring and promoting artists ranging from local artists, including local children, members of the FAP, as well as internationally-acclaimed artists such as Pablo Picasso.

A WPA Education Program in Chicago.

FAP workers also researched the nation's art history. A search on the phrase, Index of American Design, produces posters for exhibits of American folk art. Similar to the Federal Music Project's Index of American Composers, this project provided a photographic record of the country's artistic accomplishments by documenting thousands of paintings, sculptures, handicrafts, and folk art between 1935 and 1942.

• Why do you think that the FAP exhibited such a wide range of art, including professional and folk art as well as work by local children?
• Why do you think that education was an important aspect of the arts programs in Federal Project Number One?
• What do you think is the relationship between art education and art patronage?
• What do you think were the benefits of creating an Index of American Design?

3. Education The Federal Project Number One wasn't the only government-sponsored program offering community-education courses during the 1930s. The WPA's Adult Education Project provided classes on a variety of subjects in conjunction with local Boards of Education. A search on the phrase, free classes, yields posters that advertise adult education classes such as reading, writing, arithmetic, trade and technical skills, and rudimentary English. Occupational classes were also available for teenage boys and girls but the advertised "pay, employment, security, and promotion" often was different for males and females.

Boys--Are You Interested in a Job?

Girls--Are You Interested in a Job?

What types of adult skills training were available through the WPA? Why do you think that adult education was important to combat the Great Depression? What is the difference between job opportunities advertised for boys and girls? Why do you think that these distinctions were made? Do you think that these distinctions were fair?

4. Urban Housing

The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 established the Public Works Administration (PWA) and allocated $3.3 billion to construction projects across the United States. Four years later, the National Housing Act required that whenever new low-income housing was constructed, nearby substandard housing was to be demolished. This legislation was intended to improve the quality of available low-income housing without influencing the real estate market.

A poster for low-rent housing in Cleveland.

A search on the term, planned housing, yields posters presenting new housing developments as a means to reduce social problems such as fires, juvenile delinquency, infant mortality, crime, and disease. Pieces such as "Eliminate Crime in the Slums Through Housing" and " Better Housing: The Solution to Infant Mortality in the Slums" represent the effort to promote these projects. Many of the housing developments were based on European designs that optimized sunlight and ventilation and featured landscaped parks. A search on the term, rent, yields renditions by four artists of apartment complexes from the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority.

• What types of images and colors are used to depict the slums?
• How do these images representing existing housing projects compared to the images of new low-income housing?
• How did posters promoting the notion of planned housing attempt to influence the public? What motivations did the posters provide the public for supporting planned housing?
• How do these posters compare to posters that advertised specific developments such as the program from the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority?
• Do you think that new housing could combat some of the social ills of the city, as advertising suggested?
• What other types of programs do you think might have improved the living conditions in these parts of a city?
• How do these efforts compare to the building of high-rise housing projects during the second half of the twentieth century?

5. World War II

The nation mobilized for war in the wake of Japan's December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The newly-established War Production Board converted industries from a commercial to a war effort and conserved scarce materials such as steel. Searches on the terms salvage and water produce posters portraying conservation as an integral part of the national defense. In addition to limiting consumption, citizens were asked to contribute money and goods. War loans and the sale of Liberty Bonds covered half of the cost of the war. A search on bonds yields posters encouraging the purchase of stamps and bonds with slogans such as "He gives 100%, you can lend 10%."

Don't Be A Drip! Be patriotic... Stop Leaks... Save Water...

Your Binoculars Could Prevent This.

Other posters called for specific donations of time and equipment. Searches on terms such as volunteer and enlist yield advertisements calling for people to join the civilian defense and for skilled laborers to build boats for the Navy. A search on binocular also produces U.S. Navy requests for equipment with declarations such as, "No enemy sub will dare lift its eye if you lend your Zeiss or Bausch & Lomb binoculars to the Navy." Meanwhile, a search on defense features posters that provide information about blackouts and air raids (including posters reading, "Keep cool, don't scream, don't run, prevent disorder, obey all instructions") and emphasize that careless conversation about military information can be deadly with calls to "Serve in Silence."

• What types of images and phrases did these posters employ to emphasize community involvement?
• Do you think that these efforts were effective ways to call for public conservation and donations? Why or why not?
• How do you think that the public responded to these requests?
• Do you think that the public was required to make personal sacrifices? If so, how?
• Why do you think that some posters emphasized the limited discussion of military topics? Do you think that this is censorship? Why or why not?
• What types of public service information did posters provide regarding the war?

6. Public Health

The WPA also had federal health agencies that provided services to address disease epidemics and to raise public awareness. A search on health produces posters that emphasize a number of proactive approaches to health care. Some pieces emphasize preventive efforts such as tests and examinations for manageable diseases such as gonorrhea, smallpox, syphilis, and tuberculosis. For example, one poster promoting treatment for syphilis declares, "Shame may be fatal: If you fear you have contracted a disease don't let false shame destroy health & happiness."

Chicago Will Control Syphilis.

Eat Fruit. Be Healthy.

A search on cancer produces posters that address a disease for which there were no comparable, successful treatments. Pieces such as "Obey Cancer's Danger Signals" and "The Only Safe Weapons Against Cancer" emphasize the importance of early detection and treatment while acknowledging that there isn't a single cure for the disease. "Beware the Cancer Quack" attempts to protect patients from additional suffering at the hands of physicians who advertise cancer treatments, promise a cure, or demand payment in advance. Other posters emphasized the importance of preventive efforts such as "community sanitation planning" and proper nutrition. For example, milk is advertised "for health, good teeth, vitality, endurance, strong bones" and as a solution for both "winter warmth" and "summer thirst."

• How did these posters attempt to deal with both curable and incurable conditions? What actions were recommended in each case? Why do you think that the federal government was interested in promoting such actions?
• How do sanitation and nutrition relate to these actions?
• Who do you think benefits from these actions and their promotion? Why?