The Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) and the National Youth Administration (NYA) undertook crucial preservation work at the Frederick Douglass home (“Cedar Hill”) along the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington DC, where the great abolitionist writer and former slave lived and worked… read more
“This monumental bronze portrait bust, dedicated in 1893, depicts Civil War General Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–1886), and was created by American sculptor James Wilson Alexander MacDonald (1824–1908).” (www.nycgovparks.org) In the 1930s, the bust was restored with federal funding under Karl… read more
For two years, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), under the leadership of University of Texas at Austin archaeologists, excavated an area known as the George C. Davis Site (41CE19). The site yielded artifacts from the Caddoan Mississippian culture that existed… read more
The State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) financed a $25,000 appropriation “which employed 65 research workers out of the Bancroft Library of U.C. Berekey and 56 additional workers put to work in the field to gather the necessary information to provide… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the Giuseppe Verdi Monument during the mid-1930s.
Government House, in Christiansted, St. Croix, was reconstructed and fireproofed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The Annual Report of the Governor of the Virgin Islands for 1941 mentions that the rehabilitation of the Government House in Christiansted… read more
“Outstanding achievements were the completion of the rehabilitation of the Government House and Administration Building in Charlotte Amalie and the Government House in Christiansted, providing modern, comfortable living and office accommodations. (…) This work has been done under the supervision… read more
Governor Wentworth Historic Site is a 96-acre (0.39 km2) protected area in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. The undeveloped property features a plaque and the stone remains of an extensive northern plantation built just before the outbreak of the American Revolution by… read more
Located in front of the Governor’s Mansion in Juneau, the Governor’s Totem Pole was commissioned by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was carved between 1939-1940. Charlie Tagook, a Tlingit carver from Klukwan, began the work, and William N. Brown, a… read more
Gracie Mansion has been the official residence of New York City’s mayor since 1942, Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia and his family moved in. It is located on East 88th Street in Carl Schurz park. The federal style house was built in the 18th century for… read more
“This majestic, gilded-bronze equestrian group statue depicts one of the United States’ best-known generals, William Tecumseh Sherman (1820 – 1891). Dedicated in 1903, it was master sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s (1848 – 1907) last major work, and serves as the centerpiece… read more
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the Pomona statue (also known as the “Lady of the Plaza”) in Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan, during the mid-1930s. The statue tops the Pulitzer Fountain in the plaza’s southern half.
This dramatic arch in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza was created by architect John Hemingway Duncan in 1889-1892. The statuary on the arch was added over the next several years, by several different artists including William Rudolf O’Donovan (men), Thomas Eakins… read more
“This large bronze equestrian statue by William Ordway Partridge (1861-1930) depicts Civil War General and 18th United States President Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-1885). Though Grant’s reputation was tarnished after serving as President amidst one of the most corrupt administrations in… read more
The building was originally constructed in 1832 and many of the rooms portray it as it looked in 1837, the year of Grover Cleveland’s birth. In 1936, laborers for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) restored the building to its original… read more
Hale Pa‘ahao (stuck-in-irons house) was Lahaina’s “new” prison, built in the 1850s during the whaling era. The prison has been restored three times, in the 1930s, 1950s and 1970s. The Lahaina Restoration Foundation reports that: “During the 1930s, County of… read more
Once the home of Bishop William Hanby, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and his son, Benjamin Hanby, a popular composer, in 1937 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) moved the Hanby House to its current location, to save it from… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was present in Death Valley National Monument from 1933 to 1942. The main CCC camp was at Cow Creek, just north of the park headquarters and visitors’ center at Furnace Creek. Among the many… read more
WPA Administrator, Secretary of Commerce, and aide to the president Harry Hopkins lived in this Georgetown house from about 1943 to 1946. A plaque on the building reads, “Harry Hopkins House, 3340 N Street, N.W., c. 1830, Foundation for Preservation… read more
The Federal Writers’ Project wrote: “Whitfield House, on Whitfield St., is one of the earliest stone houses in America and probably the oldest house in Connecticut. … In 1936, under a Works Progress Administration project, which was directed by J…. read more
The City of Richmond, Virginia utilized Civil Works Administration funds to restore the Holden Rhodes House, a ca. 1840 Greek Revival granite house. An inappropriate addition of a two-story wraparound porch was removed and new porches constructed. In addition, handrails… read more
According to a 1937 CCC Yearbook, the Tamworth NH CCC Camp Co.117 was involved in “complete remodeling of house and barn” at the Huckins Estate. After inquiring with a few local historians, Lois Sweeny of the Ossipee Historical Society located… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established the Hydaburg Totem Park in 1939 with the goal of to preserving the art of the Pacific Northwest Coast Haida people and encouraging tourism to the area. The CCC employed native carves and laborers, thus fostering… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) engaged native communities in Hydaburg in collaborative projects seekeing the preservation and restoration of native totem carvings: “In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), supervised by U.S. Forest Service personnel, created Hydaburg Park, and several other similar parks in… read more
“Sites of WPA projects to preserve historic shrines include … Independence Hall.”
The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) restored Haddonfield, New Jersey’s historic Indian King Tavern ca. 1936.
Jackson Barracks was established in the early 19th century. It was transferred from the US Army to the state National Guard in the 1920s. “From 1936 to 1940, Louisiana adjutant general Raymond H. Fleming utilized the federal Works Progress Administration… read more
It appears that the historic Jackson House was restored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the mid 1930s as part of a larger historic rehabilitation project in the Jackson Square area (source #1). The plaque on the building confuses… read more
During the New Deal, the Work Progress Administration (WPA) restored the historic buildings at the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans, forming three sides of Jackson Square: the Upper and Lower Pontalba Buildings, the Cabildo and the Presbytère… read more
“An unusual WPA project involved the relocation of the Kilbourntown house to Estabrook Park. The Greek Revival home was built by pioneer carpenter and master builder Benjamin Church for his family in the early settlement of Kilbourntown near North Fourth… read more
“Kinishba Ruins was constructed by the Pueblo people and occupied as early as 800 until as late as 1400 A.D. Byron Cummings, director of the Arizona State Museum, and his students began excavation and reconstruction of Kinishba in 1931. In… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) developed the Klawock Totem Park on the Prince of Wales Island, between 1938 and 1940. The CCC selected 21 poles out of the approximately 142 Tlingit and Haida totems that were originally located in the village… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Adventures of Raven Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Blackfish and Brown Bear Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Bullhead and the Fight with the Land Otters between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Eagle and Blackfish Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Eagle and Wolf Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved the Flicker Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) restored/recarved the Gonaqadate Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found at the abandoned… read more
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recarved the Kats the Bear Hunter Pole between 1938 and 1940. The restoration was part of a larger U.S. Forest Service program focused on the conservation of totems and Native cultural assets. The pole was originally found… read more