Murals Sites

The post office contains a 1939 Section of Fine Arts mural by Raymond Redell entitled "Early Middlebury Mail." The mural depicts early mail delivery in the form of the stagecoach speeding past a farm family waving at the coach with passengers returning their waves. There is a lot of motion in the work with the theme being quite common in PO murals. Raymond Redell worked principally in Wisconsin with little known work otherwise.

The post office contains a mural by Marianne Appel entitled "Rural Highway" and painted in 1941. Appel won the commission in a competition held by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.  

An oil-on-canvas mural entitled “Lumberman Log-Rolling” was painted for the Milford, New Hampshire post office in 1940 by Philip Von Saltza.  Mr. Von Saltza received $700 for his efforts according to the project's contract dated April 15, 1940.  The mural was completed and installed by the end of August.

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural "An Incident in the King Philip War, 1670" was painted by Joe Lasker and installed in 1941 and was "revivified" in 1991.

New Deal mural entitled "Logging in the Maine Woods" painted by John Beauchamp in 1942.

The post office contains a 1939 Section of Fine Arts mural by Elizabeth Tracy entitled "The Suffolk Resolves--Oppression and Revolt in the Colonies."

This oil-on-canvas mural entitled "1848, Fort Kearny, Protectorate on the Overland Trail, 1871" was painted by William E.L. Bunn, 1939. "Minden has the distinction of having perhaps the most ambitious and thoroughly researched of all of the post office murals in Nebraska. The mural, entitled "1848, Fort Kearny, Protectorate on the Overland Trail, 1871", depicts the history of Fort Kearney and the many people who passed through it. When the mural was commissioned, historic Fort Kearny was no longer in existence. Therefore, Bunn recreated a scene of fort buildings and representations of the travelers who passed by the fort through historic photographs,...

This Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Iowa Fair" was painted by Francis Robert White in 1938.

The oil-on-canvas mural entitled "Return from the Fields" was painted by Elof Wedin in 1938. Wedin also completed a post office mural in Litchfield, Minnesota. "If a picture is worth a thousand words, the six-foot by 12-foot oil on canvas mural on the north wall of the lobby of the Mobridge Post Office, “Return From The Fields” by Elof Wedin, speaks volumes. Dakota bluffs comprise the backdrop, and the muted images transport us back in time to a gentler era. You can hear the muffled footfalls of the big roan draft horse and the jangle of the harness as he is...

"Located at the Moline post office is a mural entitled "Ploughshare Manufacturing" by Edward Millman. Created in 1937, this mural is an “egg tempera on gesso” ... Born in Chicago in 1907, Edward Millman attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and later became the chief illustrator for the Chicago Evening American. He is regarded as one the most productive Depression-era muralists in Illinois, creating post office murals in Decatur, Moline, and Chicago. The mural located in Moline--“Ploughshare Manufacturing”—has been described as “depict laborers…in a dramatic and dynamic scene where workers and machines almost struggle with each other”"

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Products of Missouri" painted by James McCreery in 1939. McCreery painted a luminous painting of local farm products including fruits, vegetables and chickens. The whole work is multiple vignettes painted almost as isolated still-lifes, but which work well as a whole. The railroad tracks and wheel in the background emphasized the importance of railroads for the local economy. Little is known about James McCreery, unfortunately given the quality of this work. He was born in Berkeley, CA in 1901 and died in Brooklyn, NY in 1970.

The Section of Fine Arts oil-on-canvas mural entitled "Harvesting" depicts a farmer using a three-mule team to pull a threshing machine across a wheat field. Painted for the Monroeville post office by Arthur Leroy Bairnsfather in 1939, it was restored in 1985 by John Bertalan, a native of Birmingham. Bainsfather won an open competition conducted by the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture under contract to WPA.  He was paid $680. “A.L. Bairnsfather, of Birmingham, submitted three initial sketches to the Section after his invitation to do the Monroeville mural. The Section chose a harvesting scene even though Bairnsfather suggested to...

A Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Early Settlers Weighing Cotton" was painted in 1938 by William S. McCall. The work is installed in the historic post office in Montevallo, Alabama. "McCall, at the time from Jacksonville, Florida, received the invitation to do the Montevallo mural in 1938 on the basis of designs he had submitted for a competition in Miami. He immediately visited Montevallo and chose the theme of cotton and settlement of the region because,in his words, "Montevallo was a very important little town to the cotton industry of the State in the early days." The postmaster, in the...

William C. Palmer painted a three panel mural entitled "Iowa Landscape" for the Monticello post office in 1939-1940. He was given this commission based on his entries in a big ($29,000) St. Louis competition. The postman's creed is in the left panel, the Iowa state motto in the center, and the state song of Iowa in the right.

The historic post office in Monticello, Indiana a 1942 Section of Fine Arts mural by Marguerite Zorach entitled "Hay Making." The scene is that of an extended family “Making Hay”, loading cut and dried hay into the horse drawn cart with children playing in the foreground on either side, a young woman working alongside the men. The scene is completed by the farmland in the background. Although the scene is hard farm labor, the artist included a woman in the center of the work and 3 of the 4 children are girls, a female artist tending to include more women in...

The Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Harvest, the Annal of America" was painted by Leonard Ahneman and installed in the then-new Montpelier, Ohio post office in 1941.

Bert Mullins painted this mural, entitled "Rural Free Delivery," in 1939 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the lobby.

"Gager's Trading Post on the Wadsworth Trail" is a Treasury Section of Fine Arts mural that was installed at the post office in Morris, Minnesota in 1943. The tempera-on-canvas mural was painted by Alfred Sessler.

New Deal mural entitled "The Corn Parade" painted by Orr C. Fisher in 1941.

The historic Mount Hope post office houses an example of New Deal artwork: the mural "Mining", painted by Michael Lenson in 1942. The work was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The post office contains a Section of Fine Arts mural entitled "Spring Pastoral" painted by Joseph Meert in 1940. A beautiful spring day outside Mount Vernon with farmers working in a strawberry field, the dairy cows to the left, barn in background and a tractor plowing on the right. In the far background, there is a town, Mount Vernon being the home of a large TB sanitarium. The scene is idyllic and is similar in this regard to other murals from the state. Joseph Meert was born in Brussels, Belgium and immigrated to Kansas City in 1910. He trained at the Kansas...

The mural "Rural Scenes—Wakurusa Valley" was painted in 1941 by Irene Bianucci as a Section of Fine Arts-funded work. Itwas installed in the lobby of the historic Mount Carroll post office.

This oil-on-canvas painting "Pioneering to Progress." by Julius Wyhof. was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1938. The work hangs in the lobby of the historic Mt. Gilead post office.

The mural "The Growth of Mount Morris" was completed with New Deal funds in 1939.

This mural, "Early Settlers Entering Mt. Pleasant" was completed with New Deal funds in 1942.

Henry Bernstein completed this tempera-on-plaster mural, entitled "The Covered Bridge," in 1941 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. It is viewable in the Mt. Sterling post office lobby.

Medium: oil on canvas A 1938 Section of Fine Arts-funded oil painting titled "Rachel Silverthorne’s Ride" was painted by John W. Beauchamp and hangs in the post office lobby.

"George Martin's Home Overlooking Old Naper Hill," a mural painted by Rainey Bennett in 1941, was funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and was installed in what is now Naperville's Washington Street post office (and a bank). The mural has since been relocated to what Naperville's new main post office.

The post office contains a 1938 Section of Fine Arts mural by Grant Christian entitled "Waiting for the Mail." Wistful scene of a young woman waiting for the mail at her front gate with her faithful dog with her. The trees are large and encompass the scene lending to the sense of protection. An older woman is looking at her possibly with concern in the background stopping her chore of sweeping, probably her mother. Edward Rowan with the Treasury Section evidently suggested that the dog be included to break up the long blank fence(Park and Markowitz). Little is known about Grant Christian,...

John T. Robertson painted this 11'11" w X 5'2" h oil on canvas mural, "Peach Growing" for the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1939. From the University of Central Arkansas: "John Robertson was commissioned for $660 to create a mural for Nashville, Arkansas as a result of competent designs submitted in the Interior Department Competition. The figure kneeling on the left of the composition is a portrait of Mr. Bert Johnson, who is considered by Nashville residents to be the father of the peach industry in Arkansas. Nashville's mural is the only Arkansas mural that included a portrait of an Arkansas...

This Section of Fine Arts mural the "Barn Yard" was created by artist Zoltan Sepeshy in 1942. It is a tempera painting on wall board. A recent local article (pictured below) describes the mural: "The next time you visit the Nashville Post Office to mail a letter or get a stamp, lift up your head and look at the mural on the west wall above the post office boxes... The local mural, entitled, 'Barnyard.' depicts this area's agricultural heritage. Painted in 1941 by Zoltan Sepeshy, the mural is of significant historical value."

The historic post office building in Natick, MA contains a Section of Fine Arts-funded tempera mural titled "John Eliot Speaks to the Natick Indians." It was painted by Hollis Holbrook in 1937. The mural was restored in 2007.

The mural "Cement Industry" was completed with Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds in 1938. It resides in the historic Nazareth, PA post office to this day.

Tempera mural entitled "The Choosing of the County Seat" painted in 1940 by John Van Koert.

New Deal mural "Neodesha's First Inhabitants" painted by Bernard J. Steffen in 1938

The historic post office in downtown New Castle, Delaware houses an example of New Deal artwork: the mural "William Penn Welcomed at New Castle," painted in 1938 by J. Scott Williams, was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The historic post office building in New Concord, Ohio houses an example of New Deal artwork: "Skaters," an oil-on-canvas painting sponsored by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. The work was painted in 1940 by Clyde Singer.

New Deal mural entitled "Breaking the Colt" painted by Tom Savage in 1939 with funds provided by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

The mural "Great Men Came From the Hills," created for the historic New Lexington post office was sponsored by the federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts and completed in 1938.

The historic New London post office houses magnificent examples of New Deal artwork. Tom La Farge painted a six-panel mural for the lobby of the New London post office. Sources suggest that the work was initially commissioned by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and later installed under the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP). NHRP nomination: Murals painted in 1933 and installed in 1938 depict scenes typical of early whaling, and are integrated well into the lobby design. The murals were commissioned as part of the Public Works of Art Program and painted by Thomas Sergeant Lafarge of New York, an...