Art Works Sites

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural by Douglas Nicholson, Beginning of a New World, 1941, Egg Tempera on Wall. "A California artist, Nicholson traveled to Washington to complete the mural in person. Approximately 5' x 13' in size, the piece highlights the land and its physical and human resources including lumber, dairying, agriculture and fishing. Section administrators in Washington D.C. were not overly impressed with the mural and encouraged Nicholson to make many changes." (https://depts.washington.edu)

The post office contains a 1941 Section of Fine Arts mural by Samuel F. Hershey entitled "Pride of Cambridge City." Mural showing the agriculture basis of Cambridge City with a man controlling a spirited hose in the center surrounded by workers feeding hogs, cattle, and corn, with machines and manufacturing in the background. Samuel F. Hershey was unusual for an artist in that he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Boston Museum School of Art, and the New Haven Paint and Clay Club, including influences by members Aldro Hibbard and William Lester Stevens. He taught at Harvard...

Seymour Fogel painted this oil on canvas mural, entitled "People of the Soil," in 1940 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the Cambridge post office lobby.   "People of the Soil" is "a Regionalist work in both its subject matter and its perspective. The mural, which depicts a family of Minnesota agriculturalists, does not aim to achieve a journalistic fidelity to reality. Instead, it presents us with the kind of rural idyll we often see in Grant Wood’s paintings; it presents us with an idealized view of rural life in 1930s Minnesota. "In this piece, we...

The Camden post office contains a 1938 Treasury Section of Fine Arts mural by John H. Fyfe entitled "Mail Delivery to Tranquility - The first post office in Benton County."

The historic post office in Camilla, Georgia houses an example of New Deal artwork: a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Theme of the South," painted in 1942 by Laura G. Douglas.

The historic post office building in Canajoharie, New York features a New Deal-funded Section of Fine Arts mural painted by Anatol Shulkin. Titled "Invention of the Paper Bag in Canajoharie," the mural was installed in the post office lobby in 1942.

Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "The Onion Fields" painted in 1942 by Alison Mason Kingsbury. "It was a piece that valorized the work of the local onion workers, many of whom where immigrants from Russia, and was aptly titled The Onion Fields. Its subjects, a male and a female farmer, are a clear departure from the artist's earlier figures, filled out as they were in a stocky body types reminiscent of both Mexican and Soviet art." (https://rmc.library.cornell.edu)

The post office in Canoga Park, CA, is graced by a large oil-on-canvas mural by the artist Maynard Dixon, painted in 1941. The mural was commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts of the Federal Works Agency (which had previously been part of the Treasury Department). Titled "Palomino Ponies," the mural depicts several galloping horses and a rider.  Dixon was one of the most well-known painters of the American West. "Palomino Ponies"—Dixon's last public mural project—is registered as a National Landmark by the National Historical Society. Note: Established in 1939, the Section of Fine Arts succeeded the Treasury Section of Painting and...

The 1937 mural "Beatty's Barns," created for the then-new Canonsburg post office, was painted by Peter Blume for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. In 1937, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the mural's unveiling as "a detailed, realistic piece of down-at-the-heel farmscape which the layman can readily understand. In fact, the mural's popularity is due, probably, to the familiarity of its objects--a ramshackle farmhouse, a broken fence, a disintegrating automobile, and so on." Eleanor Roosevelt admired the original sketch so much that she hung it in the White House.

The post office contains a 1937 Section of Fine Arts mural by Ernest Fiene. The mural "Paul Revere – 1801″ celebrates Paul Revere's copper industry in Canton.

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Winter Landscape" painted by Jessie Hull Mayer in 1940.

The Canyon, Texas post office mural "Strays," painted by Francis Ankrom, was sponsored by the Section of Fine Arts. The mural, which was completed and installed in 1938, went through multiple iterations of subject matter proposals and sketches before "Strays" was finalized. Project folders at the National Archives in College Park, MD show that Ankrom had sketched the following alternative ideas for the Canyon post office mural: "In Defense of the Mail," "Rout in Palo Duro," and "Onward Texas." These alternative visions are presented below.

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Service to the Farmer" painted by Davenport Griffen in 1939.

The historic Caro, Michigan post office contains a Section of Fine Arts tempera mural entitled "Mail on the Farm," painted by David Fredenthal in 1941.

The historic post office in Carrollton, Alabama houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Farm Scene with Senator Bankhead," a mural painted by Stuart R. Purser. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural "Pioneers - Tilling the Soil and Building Log Cabin" painted by Karl Kelpe in 1938.

Medium: Oil on canvas, size: 10' x 5'. "The Fertile Land Remembers", by Louise Emerson Ronnebeck (1901-1980) depicts a determined looking pioneer farming family in a Conestoga wagon pulled by oxen heading toward the viewer. In the background/sky are Indians riding horses chasing buffalo, executed in a translucent cloud-like manner. The Indians and the pioneer farming family were both historically dependent on the land and they are shown being displaced by the new, thriving and growing oil industry. The mural was originally installed in the Worland, Wyoming Post Office. It was later installed into the downtown Casper Wyoming Post Office, located...

The mural "Arrival of the Stage," located in the lobby of the historic Catasauqua post office, was a New Deal work commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural was completed in 1936 and is still visible today.

This mural "Incidents in the History of Catonsville" by Avery Johnson was completed with Section of Fine Arts funds in 1942.

The post office in Center, Texas houses an example of New Deal artwork: the mural "Logging Scene" by Edward Chavez. The work, which was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, was created for the then-new post office in Center in 1941.

The post office contains a 1938 Section of Fine Arts mural by Kenneth Callahan entitled  "Industries of Lewis County." "Callahan, one of the founders of the Northwest School (a Pacific Northwest art movements) served as a curator at the Seattle Art Museum between 1933-1963." (https://depts.washington.edu)

“In all, artwork was commissioned for 19 post offices in the Cleveland area. In 2006, only eight are still operational. In those eight, the artwork from the Depression era was still present, though almost all needed cleaning and modest restoration. These include Clarence Carter’s mural for Ravenna; John Csosz’s mural for Cleveland, University Center (newly restored); Richard Zoellner’s mural Ore Docks and Steel Mills for Cleveland’s Pearlbrook post office; Lloyd R. Ney’s painting New London Facets for New London; W. Bimel Kehm’s plaster relief Citizens for Struthers; Glen Shaw’s two stirring murals Romance of Steel, Old and Romance of Steel,...

The post office contains a mural entitled "Harvest" by Joe Jones. It was created in 1939 with the support of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The mural “Harvest by Joe Jones was done at the height of the artists fame and is a classic subject for Mr. Jones.  It shows the harvest of wheat in a very labor intensive manner showing the cutting of the wheat, gathering it, and stacking it on a wagon.  Wheat dominates the field, though the farmers provide a great deal of motion.  It is all done under a dark cloudy sky. Joe Jones was largely self-taught...

The historic post office in Chatham, Virginia houses an example of New Deal artwork: an oil-on-canvas mural entitled "Harvest Season in Southern Virginia." The Treasury Section of Fine Arts commissioned the work, which was created by Carson Davenport, which was completed and installed in the post office lobby in 1938.

George Fisher painted the mural "The Way of Life" in 1938. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts for the city's historic post office building. The mural was installed in the city's present post office in August 2009. "Painted by George Harold Fisher, the mural, titled 'Way of Life,' depicts a father, mother and child at rest in the foreground, with two apple trees in the background and a grinding stone and a spinning wheel on either side. It was installed in 1938 and commissioned by the secretary of painting and sculpture, Procurement Division of the Treasury...

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Loading the Packet" painted by Fay E. Davis in 1940.

The post office contains a 1941 Section of Fine Arts mural by William Abbott Cheever entitled “The Reverend John Eliot Preaching to the Indians.”

The historic New Deal post office in the Chicopee Falls community in Chicopee, Massachusetts contains a 1938 Section of Fine Arts mural by Ernst Halberstadt entitled "History of Chicopee Falls." Richly detailed vignettes of the history of Chicopee Falls with Indians and Pilgrims on the left with game and initial settlement, progressing to a covered bridge and buildings on the right. The center is dominated by an eagle clasping the banner of US Mail Chicopee Falls. The scale is small with many locations and events pictured. Ernst Halberstadt was born in Germany and immigrated to Boston where he studied at the Massachusetts...

The post contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Rail Roading" painted using egg tempera on gesso in 1942 by Arthur H. Lidov.

The mural "Threshing Barley" was painted by Charles W. Thwaites in 1940. It was a winner of the Treasury Section's 48-State Post Office Mural Competition.

The historic downtown Christiansburg post office houses a 1939 Section of Fine Arts mural, entitled "Great Road," painted John W. de Groot. The mural is a classic example of the “historic valor” series common to many Post Offices built at this time. In this case the mural is a portrayal of the “taming of the Appalachian area frontier by woodsmen, settlers and the army.”

The oil-on-canvas mural "The Mail Arrives in Clare—1871" was painted by Allan Thomas for the historic Clare post office. The work, which was sponsored by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts, was installed in 1937.

In 1937, Milford Zornes (assisted by George Biddle) painted an enormous oil-on-canvas mural, "California Landscape," in the Claremont, CA, post office. The mural was funded by the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP). The 58' x 3'4" mural wraps around all four walls of the lobby. "There are clusters of trees, people walking along a road, a farmer leading two plough horses, and a couple in Mexican finery dancing. Bridges Auditorium, meant to represent Pomona College and the importance of higher education, is also portrayed" (Dunitz, p. 343). Zornes was an Oklahoma-born watercolorist for whom Western landscapes were a favorite subject. He also...

This Section of Fine Arts mural, entitled "Will Rogers," was painted by Randall Davey in 1939. The mural was originally installed in the old (now destroyed) post office in Claremore OK. It has since been restored and is now situated in the Claremore's current main post office.

New Deal mural entitled "Farm Scene" was painted by Paul Faulkner in 1943 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

This 5' x 10' oil-on-canvas mural entitled “How Happy Was the Occasion” was painted by Mary M. Purser in 1939. Her husband, Stuart Purser, painted murals for the Carrolton, AL; Leland, MS; Ferriday & Gretna, LA post offices. "Mary May Purser was commissioned for $470 to create a mural for Clarksville, Arkansas on the basis of competent designs submitted in the Vicksburg, Post Office Competition. Purser visited Clarksville in search of appropriate subject matter and spoke with the local postmaster. The main source of information for the mural came from Ella Molloy Langford's book, History of Johnson County, Arkansas: The first...

This oil-on-campus mural “Texas Longhorn—A Vanishing Breed” was painted by Ila Turner McAfee in 1941 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The historic post office in Clinton, Connecticut houses an example of New Deal artwork: an oil-on-canvas Section of Fine Arts mural entitled “The Post Road in Connecticut,” painted in 1937 by William Meyerowitz.

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Clinton in Winter" painted by Aaron Bohrod in 1939.

The post office contains a 1942 Section of Fine Arts mural "Coon Hunt" painted by Richard Haines in 1942. Richard Haines was born in Iowa in 1906 and chose realistic, contemporary subjects that directly related to the life of the people in the communities where his murals were located.  In Coon Hunt, he portrayed a group of men hunting raccoons at night by lantern with dogs.  The intensity of the hunters and dogs is palpable, though some of the hunters and dogs are looking around, seemingly wondering if the coon has escaped.  The hunter to the far left has a wild-eyed...