Statue of Liberty
Description
The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from France in 1886. It was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War. In 1937, FDR proclaimed the entire island a National Monument administered by the National Park Service. From 1937-1941, the WPA and PWA carried out extensive renovations of the statue and Bedloe (now Liberty) island.
In his history of the Statue of Liberty, Berenson (2012) elaborates on the federal government’s role: “the NPS devised an ambitious plan to remove all structures save for the statue itself, shore up the island with a new seawall and landfill, build a new dock, add walkways around the monument, and finally repair or replace badly rusted parts of Liberty’s skeleton. The Park Service didn’t possess the $1.5 million needed to do this work, so it relied on New Deal institutions designed to alleviate unemployment and bolster the economy by dispatching people to public works projects. Between 1937 and 1941, the Public Works Administration (PWA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) sent hundreds of laborers to Bedloe’s Island to fulfill the NPS’s plans. They removed Liberty’s rays one by one to clean out the rusted innards that threatened to collapse them into the sea; began work on the corroded, unsafe cast-iron stairway to the top of the pedestal; replaced the dangerous steps that led up to the statue’s base; sealed Liberty’s footings with a copper apron designed to keep seawater and rainwater out; remodeled the administration building; and built a visitor’s center.”
The WPA Guide to New York City further described the WPA’s role in landscaping all of Bedloe Island and “providing a more attractive approach to the statue.”
Ellis Island was added to the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965.
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“This painter is burning the paint from the inside of the lady’s nose. The right nostril is seen just below the woman’s face; the left nostril is partly behind the rivetted steel upright. Just below and beyond the torch is the upper lip. The painter is braced against the inside of the cheek. Statue of Liberty.”
Statue of Liberty Restoration
"This painter is burning the paint from the inside of the lady's nose. The right nostril is seen just below the woman's face; the left nostril is partly behind the rivetted steel upright. Just below and beyond the torch is the upper lip. The painter is braced against the inside of the cheek. Statue of Liberty."
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“Highest point of the flame of the torch held aloft in Liberty’s right hand. This flame is a modern substitution composed of 250 pieces of bent glass held togethe by copper strips and was designed by Gutzon Borglum. It replaced the original flame constructed of copper sheets with holes through which the light shone and which offered too much metal surface and too little opening for effective lighting. The engineer is examining one of the several openings from which the glass has broken out. Replacing this specially shaped glass in one of the tests assumed by the WPA.”
Highest point of the flame of the torch
"Highest point of the flame of the torch held aloft in Liberty's right hand. This flame is a modern substitution composed of 250 pieces of bent glass held togethe by copper strips and was designed by Gutzon Borglum. It replaced the original flame constructed of copper sheets with holes through which the light shone and which offered too much metal surface and too little opening for effective lighting. The engineer is examining one of the several openings from which the glass has broken out. Replacing this specially shaped glass in one of the tests assumed by the WPA."
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Statue of Liberty with WPA Scaffolding
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WPA Laborer Working on the Statue of Liberty
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Liberty's Toes
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Statue of Liberty Restoration
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Liberty Island Visitor's Center
Source notes
The WPA Guide to New York City: The Federal Writers' Project Guide to 1930s New York. New York: Pantheon Books, 1982. 413. Berenson, E. (2012). The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story. Yale University Press.
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