Our Recent Discoveries
By Fern L. Nesson, June, 2020 In these days of pandemic and civil unrest, lay-offs and economic insecurity, anxiety and depression, the WPA Guides can be a source of comfort. The Guide’s writers would have related to our pain, as it… read more
A few months ago I was in Noble County in northeastern Indiana, wearing one of my other hats, giving a presentation at a remote state park, one that came into the system after the New Deal. Fully half of Indiana’s… read more
A reproduction of a New Deal mural was recently unveiled at the Barnesville Post Office in Ohio. Painted by local artist Twyla Fisher and commissioned by the Belmont County Historical Society, the mural is a replacement for the original Treasury Section… read more
Aymar Embury II, prolific Architect of the New Deal in New York City, created some of the City’s best known features, and nobody knows. To find out more about Embury’s built legacy read this essay by Living New Deal associate, Frank… read more
Housing segregation, like racism in general, has deep roots in American society. It wasn’t imposed by the federal government — and certainly not by the New Deal. Richard Walker, Living New Deal Director in an interview with the Jacobin.
Featured in Art Deco in Indianapolis (Greiff 1980), the stunning WPA-built Naval Armory, the work of architect Ben H. Bacon, has graced the bank of the non-navigable White River since before its dedication in October 1938. At the time of that… read more
“New Deal Picture Stories” – The Photography of Arthur Rothstein will be hosted by the Canessa Gallery, located at 708 Montgomery St. San Francisco, CA.Opening Reception: Friday, December 7, 2018. 6:00pm–9:00 pm. Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985) is recognized as one of America’s premier photojournalists. Rothstein became the… read more
By Phyllis Wrynn ___________________________________ The first of the five bronze figures in George Segal’s “Depression Breadline” sculpture at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial depicts Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist Leon Bibel—a lifelong friend of Segal’s. Many notable American artists relied… read more
The former Roosevelt Hospital has recently reopened its doors as a senior housing complex. The facility was originally constructed in 1937 as a tuberculosis sanitarium and funded by the Public Works Administration. According to the Edison-Metuchen Sentinel and the American Planning Association, “The new… read more
Bernard Zakheim’s family has recently discovered the original, 10 feet high charcoal sketch drawings for his mural, The Library, located at the Coit Tower in San Francisco. Painted by Zakheim in 1934, the mural became the center of political controversy. Several… read more