Beginning in 1942, when I was a year-and-a-half old, and for years thereafter, I would spend all summer with my parents in Tuolumne Meadows in the upper reaches of Yosemite National Park. I didn’t know until four decades later that… read more
The river winds from its Appalachian headwaters down the Tygart Valley in West Virginia, where a road known as the Seneca Trail takes snowboarders and hikers to and from Snowshoe’s year-round resort. Nearby, nestled in the crook of the valley’s… read more
By Evan Kalish The 2020 New Deal Legacy calendar highlights another dozen fantastic projects undertaken by various agencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. This year’s collection takes us all across the country, from the Caribbean (U.S. Virgin Islands) to the… read more
The American Guide Series, produced by the Federal Writers’ Project, is one of the most well-known WPA projects. Written as a collection of travel guides, the series included recommended tour routes as well as essays on the history and culture of… read more
Photo: Jim Wilson / The New York Times / Redux Smithsonian Magazine published a story by David Preston about young George Washington and his role in the French Indian War. Preston also briefly reports on the struggle to save the Arnautoff mural… read more
David W. Gates Jr., author of the Wisconsin Post Office Murals, has published a book focused on the murals created by New Deal artists for post offices across Wisconsin. Titled, Wisconsin Post Office Murals, the book includes: 130 full-color images of the murals… read more
Robin D. G. Kelley is a Professor of American History at UCLA and is completing a book on journalist Grace Halsell. In a piece for The Nation titled, “We’re Getting These Murals All Wrong,” Robin D.G. Kelley makes a case for using… read more
A thousand acres of shifting sand with clusters of old-growth live oak were the raw materials for San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. By the 1870s the dunes had been transformed into a Victorian-era commons for the burgeoning city. San Francisco’s… read more
Located in one of the City’s most beautiful Beaux-Arts buildings, the landmark Surrogate’s Court at 31 Chambers Street in Manhattan’s Civic Center, are the Municipal Archives and Municipal Library. Here the City preserves and makes available to the public the… read more