- City:
- Preston, ID
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Murals
- New Deal Agencies:
- Arts Programs, Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)
- Artist:
- Edmond J. Fitzgerald
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Post Office in Preston, Idaho, features a New Deal mural painted by Edmond J. Fitzgerald.
The oil-on-canvas mural is entitled “The Battle of Bear River”. It memorializes a notorious massacre of Shoshone people by a group of “California Volunteers” in Franklin County in 1863.
The mural was commissioned by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts and hung in the post office in 1941.
Fitzgerald also painted murals for the Ontario Oregon and Colville Washington post offices.
The post office has a helpful information sheet on the mural and New Deal work in the town of Preston.
Source notes
https://www.wpamurals.org/idaho.htm
https://www.williampsmith.com/massac.html
Site originally submitted by Barbara Bernstein on March 17, 2012.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker.
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