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The Fate of the New Deal
One of the many unknowns of Donald Trump’s impending presidency is the fate of America’s New Deal legacy. Last Tuesday, Newt Gingrich spoke before the Heritage Foundation in a wide-ranging speech celebrating Trump’s victory and the social, economic, and cultural changes… read more
A Quintessential CCC Picnic Grove
In the early 1990s I was approached by an older gentleman named Euclid Dearing, a veteran of the CCC in Indiana, to write a National Register nomination for the Hominy Ridge shelterhouse in Salamonie River State Forest. He was a… read more
Gene Fischer, 1952-2016
On October 18, 2016, Gene Fischer passed away at the age of 64. While we knew him as our Nebraska-based Research Associate, the Iowa-born teacher and columnist was a beloved member of his adopted town of Fairmount. As a long-time… read more
On Restoring a New Deal Mural
For more than seventy years, the murals of Frank W. Long have been hanging in post offices and other public buildings in the South and Midwest. “It was almost by accident that I became a painter of murals,” Long writes… read more
CCC Stone Hut Rebuilt After Fire
The work of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Vermont had a lasting impact on the state and its recreational infrastructure. Under the guidance of State Forester Perry Merrill, more than 40,000 individuals worked in Vermont’s 30 CCC camps, building… read more
The New Deal Lives On In Sonoma County
Gaye Lebaron of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat offered a timely meditation on the New Deal’s lasting importance for Sonoma County, following on a talk by the Living New Deal’s Gray Brechin. She wrote: “‘People think the Great Depression happened in black and… read more
A Cosmopolitan New Deal
The muralists of the New Deal are often perceived as being provincial and isolationist because their works celebrate “American values,” and depict a nation that is often rural, in a figurative style. Yet, many artists were internationally-minded and their realism was… read more
Discover a Forgotten New Deal Photographer in SF
An unknown elder of American landscape photography, George Alexander Grant (pictured) was the first Chief Photographer of the National Park Service. Though his iconic images inspired millions of Americans to visit their national parks, Grant is largely unknown because his… read more
“It Can’t Happen Here” – Revival of a New Deal Play
Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel, It Can’t Happen Here, tells the story of a demagogic, racist politician who wins the presidency and transforms the US into a brutal dictatorship. Within a year of its publication, the New Deal Federal Theatre Project adapted Lewis’s… read more