The Lowdown

The Lowdown features articles on the people, projects and achievements of the Living New Deal itself.

• Village of Greenhills, Ohio, Fights Demolition of New Deal Housing

  • January 11, 2018

  Preservationists in the Village of Greenhills, Ohio are working to save the town's New Deal legacy. Located near Mill Creek Valley, the village was one of the three New Deal greenbelt towns built by the Resettlement Administration's Division of Suburban Resettlement. The design of Greenhills resulted from the collaboration of ...
• Public/Private: The Commons Besieged – An Exhibit

  • January 11, 2018

  Together with the Canessa Gallery in San Francisco, the Living New Deal will host an exhibit and conversation about the intersection of the public domain and private interests. The event will discuss efforts to preserve the American Commons, including two local efforts in Berkeley and Point Reyes Station. It will ...
• We’re Now On Instagram!

  • January 11, 2018

  We set up an Instagram feed to share some of our trove of photographs of New Deal public works and public art. It will feature black and white photos from the archives alongside current color photos taken by Living New Deal volunteers. The idea is to share the beauty of ...
• Where in the World is Evan?

  • January 11, 2018

  Evan Kalish, The Living New Deal's Researcher at Large, is often traveling the nation in pursuit of uncovering New Deal treasures. Just in the last year, Evan has motored around New England, the Upper Midwest and the Southeast. A new, recurring eBlast feature will update us on Evan's adventures. He ...
• Finding Your New Deal Ancestry

  • November 11, 2017

  The Living New Deal website now features a new page: Find Your New Deal Ancestry. This page walks you through requisition information and records from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Lous, Missouri, part of the National Archives. While contacting the National Archives may seem daunting, this page ...
• Book of the Month - A Third Term For FDR: The Election Of 1940

  • November 11, 2017

  Brent McKee, The Living New Deal's Project Historian, recently reviewed John W. Jeffries' A Third Term For FDR: The Election Of 1940 (University Press of Kansas, 2017). The book is particularly relevant because the bitterness of the recent 2016 election echoed the tension of the 1940 election between Roosevelt and ...
• Living New Deal Map Reaches a New Benchmark

  • November 11, 2017

  The Living New Deal now has at least 100 sites for every state and territory. With over 13,000 sites in total, some states have far more than 100 sites. However, it has long been our goal to cross the "100" threshold in every state and territory. The milestone represents a ...
• Gray Brechin's Upcoming Talks in the San Francisco Bay Area

  • October 11, 2017

  Gray Brechin, founder and Project Scholar of the Living New Deal, is giving two talks in the Bay Area in early December. First, on December 5 from 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm, he will be the featured speaker at the Exhibition Program for the Victor Arnautoff exhibit at San Francisco ...
• Fight to Save Harlem Post Office

  • October 11, 2017

  The Postal Service announced plans to close and sell the College Station Post Office in Harlem. The College Station Post Office was funded by the Public Works Administration and built by the Treasury Department in 1937. The Postal Service is looking to relocate to a new facility on Striver’s Row ...
• Gray Brechin Speaking in NYC

  • October 11, 2017

  Gray Brechin, the Living New Deal's founder and Project Scholar, will be speaking in New York City at a public program hosted by the National Jobs for All Coalition: "A New 'New Deal' for NYC and the USA." He will join other New Deal scholars and speakers at The New ...