New Deal History: Revisited & Revised

News items that discuss and rethink the New Deal and its impact on America.

• Hot stuff: the WPA on... Mercury?

  • January 25, 2013

  The New Deal put many different kinds of people back to work. Living New Deal researcher Brent McKee -- in the midst of some deep archival work he's doing on Washington DC -- recently found signs of an unusual work site. As he writes in his latest blog post, New Deal ...
• New Deal Archeologies: The Old Los Angeles Zoo

  • December 18, 2012

  The landscapes we walk through every day are laden with New Deal structures; it's not uncommon to "discover" long forgotten New Deal sites hidden from plain sight. One of our friends in Los Angeles was walking through LA's Griffith Park recently and discovered the ruins of the Old Los Angeles ...
• Long-Hidden New Deal Mural May Reappear

  • December 17, 2012

  A “communistic” New Deal mural unseen for over 50 years may soon re-appear. Officials at Roosevelt Alternative High School in Rockford, Illinois, are consulting with an art restorer about uncovering the large painting by local artist Herbert Rosengren, created in 1934 under CWA sponsorship. Upon installation the work was described ...
• New Deal Mosaics Uncovered in Long Beach Airport

  • December 9, 2012

  During a recent restoration of the old terminal at Long Beach Airport, mosaics by artist Grace Clement were discovered under old carpeting.  The floor mosaics were contracted for by the Works Progress Administration in 1941, and are part of larger series of art works by Clements throughout the airport.  The ...
• "Greendale: A Planned Community in the Great Depression"

  • December 6, 2012

  From Living New Deal intern Erin TerBeek comes this nice piece on Greendale, one of the New Deal resettlement towns. Erin wrote the article for the Express Milwaukee where she writes regularly: "Combining city and nature—affordable homes, ample parks and gardens, schools and commercial centers within walking distance—was the idea for Greendale, ...
• Hope and Possibility in a Resettlement Town

  • November 9, 2012

  Originally called Jersey Homesteads and renamed Roosevelt in 1945, the tiny borough was one of 99 towns created under the New Deal’s Resettlement Administration, whose broad mission also included relocating migrant laborers as part of an effort to create employment and social stability.

  Originally called Jersey Homesteads and renamed Roosevelt in 1945, the tiny borough was one of 99 towns created under the New Deal’s Resettlement Administration, whose broad mission also included relocating migrant laborers as part of an effort to create employment and social stability. ...
• Infrastructure and the Dignity of Work

  • October 26, 2012

  Check out Brent McKee's blog New Deal of the Day for a daily dose of WPA achievements like this culvert project.   ...
• "The New Deal Made Us Healthier"

  • October 17, 2012

  From the blog of our Mid-Atlantic research director Brent McKee comes this great reminder that the art of the New Deal took many forms. ...
• Vermont Parks: A Legacy Written in Stone

  • September 26, 2012

  Vermont Public Radio, on uncovering the role of the CCC's 40,000 New Deal employees in that state: "It's hard to comprehend the immensity of the Civilian Conservation Corp's work in Vermont State Parks. At Little River State Park, for example, just below the huge earth-fill dam that creates the Waterbury ...
• Harlem Hospital Murals Rediscovered – And Made Public

  • September 17, 2012

  WPA murals at Harlem Hospital Center had all but disappeared, but were rediscovered during a major renovation in 2004.  The murals in question were among some 500 murals in New York City funded by the Federal Arts Project arm of the Works Progress Administration.  What is more, these were probably ...