New Deal History: Revisited & Revised

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

• Indiana’s PWA Housing Projects Featured at Preservation Conference April 9-12

  • April 7, 2019

      Indiana’s annual historic preservation conference, Preserving Historic Places, takes place April 9-12 this year in Evansville on the Ohio River.  Among the educational sessions on the first full day (April 10) will be The New Deal Gardens of Lockefield and Lincoln, a presentation on two PWA housing projects in Indiana, which was ...
• WPA-Built Inland Naval Armory Becomes Charter High School, by Glory-June Greiff

  • April 3, 2019

  Featured in Art Deco in Indianapolis (Greiff 1980), the stunning WPA-built Naval Armory, the work of architect Ben H. Bacon, has graced the bank of the non-navigable White River since before its dedication in October 1938.  At the time of that first publication, the glorious Art Moderne building still somewhat served ...
• Exhibit: “New Deal Picture Stories” - The Photography of Arthur Rothstein

  • November 17, 2018

  “New Deal Picture Stories” - The Photography of Arthur Rothstein will be hosted by the Canessa Gallery, located at 708 Montgomery St. San Francisco, CA.Opening Reception: Friday, December 7, 2018. 6:00pm–9:00 pm. Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985) is recognized as one of America’s premier photojournalists. Rothstein became the first photographer for the newly established Resettlement Administration in 1935, and ...
• The FDR Memorial, Sculptor George Segal, and WPA Artist Leon Bibel

  • November 7, 2018

  By Phyllis Wrynn ___________________________________ The first of the five bronze figures in George Segal’s “Depression Breadline” sculpture at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial depicts Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist Leon Bibel—a lifelong friend of Segal’s. Many notable American artists relied on New Deal employment during the Great Depression. Leon Bibel was one ...
• Historic Roosevelt Hospital Built with New Deal Funds Reopens as Senior Housing

  • July 26, 2018

  The former Roosevelt Hospital has recently reopened its doors as a senior housing complex. The facility was originally constructed in 1937 as a tuberculosis sanitarium and funded by the Public Works Administration. According to the Edison-Metuchen Sentinel and the American Planning Association, "The new project will provide more than $4.4 million in ongoing economic ...
• Design for Bernard Zakheim’s Coit Tower Mural Discovered

  • June 22, 2018

  Bernard Zakheim’s family has recently discovered the original, 10 feet high charcoal sketch drawings for his mural, The Library, located at the Coit Tower in San Francisco. Painted by Zakheim in 1934, the mural became the center of political controversy. Several of his works show figures representing people in the artist's ...
• Book review - A Third Term for FDR: The Election of 1940

  • November 19, 2017

  Brent McKee, The Living New Deal's Project Historian, reviewed John W. Jeffries' A Third Term for FDR: The Election of 1940 (University Press of Kansas, 2017): Anyone who thought the 2016 presidential race was uniquely bizarre and nasty should check out John Jeffries’ new book, A Third Term for FDR: The Election of ...
• Restoration of Eleanor Roosevelt's Childhood Home

  • September 22, 2017

  An effort is underway to restore Eleanor Roosevelt's childhood home in Clermont, New York.  Eleanor Roosevelt's grandfather built the home in 1872 and she spent much of her youth there.  After decades of neglect, Van Lamprou, a co-founder of Dolce Vita Footwear, purchased the property and is leading its restoration. ...
• Thanks to Local Efforts, A New Deal Mural Is Saved

  • June 15, 2017

  Since its completion in 1942, “Modern Education/School Activities” experienced the wear and tear and water damage that come with the decades. But who knew that this 16’ x 40’ oil-on-canvas mural, Painted by Frank Talles Chamberlain through the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), and hung in Pasadena’s McKinley School ...
• A Window into New Deal Administration

  • April 18, 2017

  Recently, Living New Deal Research Associate Andrew Laverdiere discovered a yearbook chronicling the work of the Maine Emergency Relief Administration (MERA) in 1934. Loaded with detailed breakdowns of how relief was administered, the structural organization of the Emergency Relief Administration, and expenditures and returns, Reviewing the ERA in Maine sheds light on ...