Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA) Sites

The Melrose Park Library is located in the building that was previously the main post office for Melrose Park. In 2007 "Airmail" was rediscovered hidden by a drop ceiling. It was painted by Edwin Boyd Johnson in 1937 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Medium: fresco Size: 8' long, 4 1/2 high Restoration Info: Restored by Parma Conservation and returned to Melrose Park in 2010.

Michigan State University's main library houses a mural by Henry Bernstein titled "America's First Agricultural College." The work was first created for the then-new East Lansing post office. From the Kresge Art Museum New Deal Walking Tour: "Originally commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts ... for the old East Lansing Post Office on Abbott Road (now Dublin Square Pub), this mural is typical of the emphasis on representational art, scenes of local history, and nostalgia for the disappearing rural life. The Section, however, did not initially approve of Bernstein’s proposals for the mural, which all related to Michigan State University. Although Bernstein...

This tempera on canvas mural "Early Spanish Caballeros" was painted by Lew E. Davis with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds. It was moved to its current location at the museum from the Los Banos Post Office.

This building was originally the post office, but then was repurposed as the Mineola Historical Museum. The oil-on-canvas mural by Bernard Zakheim, entitled "New and Old Methods of Transportation," was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. From Art Daily, on the occasion of the announcement of its restoration: During the Great Depression, jobs were scarce and rural inhabitants were struggling to come to terms with the explosion of new industries and new forms of transportation. Mineola residents, who at the time were mostly farmers, were trying to catch up with their country, which was rapidly changing from being an agricultural...

The Mission Historical Museum (formerly post office) houses an example of New Deal artwork: "West Texas Landscape," an oil-on-canvas mural by Xavier Gonzalez. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and was completed in 1942.

The 4' x 15' mural "San Rafael Creek—1851" was completed in 1937, commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural is housed in San Rafael's historic Mission Rafael post office.

Two New Deal murals by Stevan Dohanos: "New Deal mural entitled "Mining Village" painte by Stevan Dohanos in 1939. The mural was slated to be installed in the Huntingdon post office but the locals deemed it too depressing. It was then offered to the Logan, WV post office but declined. It finally was placed in the Forestry Building in Elkins. A second mural depicting a forest tower was painted as a compromise... New Deal mural entitled "Forestry Service" painted by Stevan Dohanos in 1939. This mural was painted as part of a compromise for the "Mining Villge" mural to be placed in...

This oil on canvas mural, entitled "Romance of Monroe," was completed by Ralf Henricksen in 1938 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural is currently displayed in the lobby of the Monroe Historical Museum, located in the old post office, which dates to 1910. From the New Deal Art Registry: "In 1972, the mural was moved to the Monroe Community College library when a new post office was built. The mural has since been moved back to the original building it was painted for but not the original location over the Postmaster's door."

This mural "Grizzly Bear and Cubs" was originally commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for Monrovia's Ivy Avenue Post Office in 1940. "Helen Katherine Forbes, a California artist, was awarded a contract to paint a mural for the post office in Monrovia, California in 1940. She painted two murals for the lobby of the old Monrovia Post Office which hung there until 1964 when the post office underwent extensive renovation. The mural of the four cubs was rolled up and stored in the post office basement. Sadly, recent efforts to locate the other mural have been fruitless, and its...

The Kansas City Municipal Auditorium facade is decorated with three bas relief carved medallions depicting classic themes. The medallions were created by Albert Stewart in 1934 as part of the PWA construction project. Albert Stewart was born in Kensington, England, immigrated to the United States in 1908 and was orphaned soon after arriving. He studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the Art Students League of New York as a result of the support of Edwin Bechtel. He was an assistant to Paul Manship after WWI. He taught at Scripps College, moving to California where he lived until his...

The oil-on-canvas mural "From Timber to Agriculture" was painted for the historic Heber Springs post office, now municipal building. "Louis Freund was commissioned for $660 to create a mural for Heber Springs, Arkansas. He visited the town and decided to construct a scene that extolled the early, pioneer life of the community. He experienced a significant degree of difficulty modeling the oxen, being forced to revise them three times before the Section approved of their rendering. Further difficulties arose concerning the angle of the axe in the man's hand, claims that it appeared limp forced Freund to revise the figure a...

""Pre-Settlement Days" is a mural painted in 1939 by Ila Turner McAfee. It is an oil painting on canvas. It hung in the lobby of the Edmond Post Office for decades. It shows the open prairie before it was opened for settlement. Buffalo and antelope graze and roam on the plains, just like we sing about in the well-known song “Home on the Range”. When the post office closed and this building was remodeled to house the Edmond Municipal Courts, the new lobby did not have a location suitable for this mural. It was moved to the City Council Chambers...

The El Viejo Building in Modesto, California, features a splendid series of murals painted by Roy Boynton.  This was originally the downtown post office and Federal Building, and the murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) and mounted in 1936. The murals are arrayed high on the walls of the lobby. Boynton and several assistants painted a series of thirteen tempera murals depicting agricultural scenes in the Central Valley. Ten are lunettes and three are placed on the end wall to make a single, large mural. As one local reporter explained: "These are the scenes of the Central...

This mural "Unloading a River Barge" was painted by Ruth Grotenrath for the Hudson, WI post office with support from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. When a new post office was built in Hudson, the mural found a new home at the Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend.  

Edward Buk Ulreich painted two murals for the Columbia, Missouri, post office in 1937: "Indians Watching Stagecoach in the Distance" and "Pony Express." He was paid $1,580 for his murals, commissioned by the Department of the Treasury's Section of Painting and Sculpture. After the post office moved to a new location, the murals were moved to city offices where they stayed from 1967-2004. In 2010, they were installed at the National Archives at Kansas City, located in Missouri.

The exterior of the National Archives is graced by sculptures, bas-reliefs and inscriptions. The building above ground was completed under the New Deal by the Treasury Department Office of Procurement, including the sculptures. Congress originally approved a new home for the National Archives in 1928, but construction did not start until late 1931. The foundation was laid and the cornerstone placed by President Herbert Hoover during his last weeks in office. Construction above ground began under President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 and the exterior was completed in late 1935; an addition with more stacks was finished in 1937. The architect of the...

William Zorach was commissioned by the New Deal’s Treasury Section of Fine Arts to create the statue “Benjamin Franklin.” The statue was made out of marble, and Zorach was paid $8,000 for the job. This artwork was created for the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office Department—today’s Clinton Federal Building—and now resides in the National Postal Museum (and the museum itself served as the main post office—not to be confused with the headquarters building—for Washington, DC from 1914-1986). The Treasury Section of Fine Arts existed from 1934 to 1943. It was initially called the “Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture”; then...

The New Deal years 1933 to 1941 were arguably the best years in the history of the National Zoo, thanks to the many projects undertaken by the Roosevelt Administration.  Labor was provided by work-relief programs — the Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA) — and construction was funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) and, later, the Federal Works Agency (FWA). New Deal agencies built or improved virtually every aspect of the zoo.  The PWA paid for a new elephant house and small mammal house and an addition to the bird house.  It funded...

Erwin Springweiler’s bronze statue, “Great Anteater,” was mounted at the National Zoo in 1938.  It stands in front of the Small Mammal House. Springweiler was able to work from a live anteater at the zoo and from skeletons and furs at the American Museum of Natural History.  The statue is six feet long and three feet high. It was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The anteater statue was unveiled at the zoo on March 25, 1938, with a formal presentation to Dr. William M. Mann, director of the Zoo, and a speech by T. Edward Rowan, superintendent of painting and sculpture...

Heinz Warneke created a red granite sculpture for the National Zoo, entitled "Tumbling Bears," in 1938.  It sits at the bottom of a hill near the Large Cat area.  A plaque on the sculpture calls it Tumbling Bears, but it is also known as the "Wrestling Bear Cubs" and "Wrestling Bears." Though the date at the base of the sculpture reads "1935," it seems that this work was not finished until 1938.  The Evening Star (1938) reported that the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture submitted to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts "a sculptural group by Heinz Warneke of East Haddam,...

The four panels that make up "TVA Power" by Minna Citron were produced with the help of Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds and were moved from the old Post Office to the Museum in the 1970s.

The post office contains several Section of Fine Arts tempera murals painted by George Harding in 1939. The murals depict "Mail Delivery," "City," "Country," "Northern Coast," "Office," "Home," "Tropics," and "History of Mail Transportation by Water.

The historic Northgate Station post office housed an example of New Deal artwork: "Good Technique – Good Harvest," an oil-on-canvas mural by Victor Arnautoff. The work, which was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, was completed and installed in the post office lobby in 1938. Unfortunately, the mural is now missing.

The historic Old Chelsea Station post office houses examples of New Deal artwork: two sculptures, titled "Deer" and "Bears," by Paul Fiene, housed just inside the public entrance on 18th Street. Made of "cast stone with silver leaf finish," the works were commissioned by  the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1938.

The historic former Palmer Square post office in Princeton, New Jersey houses an example of New Deal artwork: a large mural, entitled "Columbia under the Palm," painted by Karl Free in 1939. The mural remains in place despite USPS having sold the building to private interests and the building undergoing multiple transformations since that time. "One of the distinctive features of the post office building is a controversial 1939 mural depicting Native Americans kneeling at the arrival of European colonists, a scene that some have denounced as racist."   (https://www.nj.com)

The former Parcel Post Building in Richmond, Virginia housed multiple examples of New Deal artwork: murals by Paul Cadmus and Jared French, respectively, which were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Paul Cadmus's work was a mural with respective titles: "Pocahontas Saving the Life of Captain John Smith," "Walter Raleigh," and "William Byrd." Believed to be removed from the Parcel Post Building in the 1960s, the mural was found rolled up in storage in Philadelphia. Since restored, the work is now housed in the library at the Lewis F. Powell Jr. United States Courthouse, which is next door to...

The former Parcel Post Building in Richmond, Virginia housed multiple examples of New Deal artwork: murals by Paul Cadmus and Jared French, respectively, which were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Gerard French’s work was a mural: "Stuart’s Raiders at the Swollen Ford," featuring companion portraits of Jeb Stuart, and John Pelham “in wings attached to either end of the scene.” Believed to be removed from the Parcel Post Building in the 1960s, the mural was found rolled up in storage in Philadelphia. Since restored, the work is now housed in the library at the Lewis F. Powell Jr. United...

Cleveland's historic Pearlbrook Station post office houses one of many examples of New Deal artwork commissioned for northeast Ohio post offices by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural, "Ore Docks and Steel Mills," was completed by Richard Zoellner in 1938.

"In addition to its architectural importance, the contains a noteworthy relief sculpture entitled Speed by Wheeler Williams that was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture in 1936. This was one of the New Deal art programs during the 1930’s which created murals and other public art for public buildings. Williams emphasizes the speed of communication by mail with his sculpted image of Mercury, the messenger and god of commerce and travel. The Penataquit Station Post Office was entered in the National Register of Historic Places on November 17, 1988." (www.bayshorecommerce.com)

"The Economic Activities of the Narragansett Planters" is a Treasury Section of Fine Arts mural, painted by Ernest Hamlin Baker, that was originally installed in the Wakefield, Rhode Island post office. The mural was relocated in 1999 and currently resides at the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society. Medium: oil on canvas Size: 98 sq. ft.

"Chesapeake Fishermen" This mural was originally proposed for the Eutaw, Alabama post office. Since it depicts nothing in the Eutaw area, the Section reassigned it to Phoebus, Virginia. Note: Phoebus was a separate incorporated town during the 1930s. It was consolidated into Hampton, VA in 1952. Medium: fresco

The mural "Ranchers of the Panhandle Fighting Prairie Fire with Skinned Steer," painted by Frank Mechau in 1940, was created for what was then the post office in Brownfield, Texas. The building now (2014) serves as the Brownfield Police Station. Mechau described his mural as follows: "The prairie fire was a demon of the Panhandle. Sixty square miles of range could be destroyed in a day's time. Once the flame began to spread there were few efficient ways to combat it.  Plowing a line was too slow. Backfiring too dangerous. Cowboys would fight the fire with wet sacks or kill a...

The two panels of the New Deal mural "Development of St. Johns" were commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for the St. John's Station post office. The building served as the St. John's Station Post Office and is currently the Portland Baha'i Center. These wall murals, located in the entryway, "depict the history and industrial development of the St. Johns area." (portlandbahai.org)

"Discovery of Ore" by Betty Carney. This mural in the Chisholm Post Office was completed with the help of New Deal funds.

Two murals by the Italian born American artists Peppino Mangravite were painted for this post office with funding from the Section of Fine Arts in 1939. "Youth" and "Family Recreations" together show more than 130 figures participating in a range of seaside activities. "What Mangravite depicted was the busy, carefree image of middle-class America enjoying a vacation at the shore before the Depression. It taps into the period of time when Atlantic City was the 'Queen of Resorts'... (https://wasahockey.github.io). The post office containing the murals has been demolished. According to a website devoted to Peppino Mangravite, murals have been restored by Parma Conservation...

The historic post office building in Fairport, New York housed a example of New Deal artwork inside: a Treasury Section of Fine Arts-commissioned bronze relief entitled "The Harvest." Henry Van Wolf completed the work in 1939, and it was installed in the post office lobby. The present whereabouts of the work is unknown to Living New Deal.

The Transylvania County Administration building at 101 South Broad Street in Brevard, North Carolina was originally constructed as a New Deal post office. The post office was one of several similar Federal/Greek Revival-style facilities in western North Carolina. Per The Transylvania Times: "On Aug. 3, 1938 bids were received on 10 sites available in the downtown Brevard. A lot on the corner of Broad and Morgan streets was purchased from Mrs. Beulah Zachary for $4,000 on May 5, 1939. Groundbreaking took place on May 6, 1940. The Post Office began operating from the building in January 1941." "The building served as the...

The historic former post office building in Morrisville, Pennsylvania houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Canal Era," a mural by Yngve Soderberg. The work was completed and installed in 1939.

Constructed in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the former Post Office in Osceola, Arkansas is typical of the type of small post offices that were built during the New Deal for rural towns. The $55,000 project probably begun during the tenure of Postmaster Arch Smith in 1935 but was finished and dedicated during that of Clement Bowen who served as Osceola’s postmaster until 1942. This split-level building has a fully usable basement, which allowed the Postal Service three floors of functioning space. The building originally had four entrances; with the main entrance through two sets of tall double...

This former post office building was constructed by the Treasury in 1937. It is now privately owned. The post office originally contained a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "A Massachusetts Countryside" painted by Jean Watson in 1940. "The mural was removed from the old post office in 1986 when a new one was completed. It hung in the town hall until 1990 but during renovations of the town hall was actually placed in the trash by the contractors. The president of the historical society saved the mural from the trash and has stored the mural in the attic of his shop...