Post Office Mural – Eaton OH

This oil-on-canvas mural “Van Ausdal’s Trading Post” was painted for the Eaton, Ohio post office, in which it was installed in 1939. The mural with federal Treasury Section of Fine Arts funds.

Clinton Federal Building: Lockwood Murals – Washington DC

The Clinton Federal Building (north) was originally the US Post Office Department headquarters, completed under the New Deal in 1934. It contains a wealth of New Deal artworks commissioned and paid for by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts – 25 murals and 22 sculptural elements (12 bas-reliefs, 2 statues, 8 wood medallions) – featuring postal themes.

Ward Lockwood painted two large (6′ x 13.5′) murals for the former Post Office Building: “Opening of the Southwest” and “Consolidation of the West” (1937). These reflect conventional American thinking in the 1930s about the conquest of the west as a peaceful process of settlement. Even though Lockwood lived in the southwest and appreciated Native American culture, his murals still offer stereotypes such as the naked buffalo hunter and Hopi Snake Dance.

The Lockwood mural hang on the 5th floor of the south wing of the building.

The Clinton building is presently occupied by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is not freely open to the public. To arrange for a tour of the New Deal murals, email [email protected].

Clinton Federal Building: Palmer Murals – Washington DC

William C. Palmer painted two large (7′ x 13.5′) murals for the Post Office Building: “Covered Wagon Attacked by Indians” and “Mail Coach Attacked by Bandits” (1937). It must be said that Palmer’s idea of the Wild West was standard popular mythology and the Indians attacking a covered wagon with settlers bears no relation to postal service in the Far West – and is considered offensive by many people for the way it portrays Native Americans.

The Palmer murals are presently on the 7th floor of the north wing of the Clinton building.

The building is presently occupied by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is not freely open to the public. To arrange for a tour of the New Deal murals, email [email protected].

Post Office Mural – Crown Point IN

“From Such Beginnings Sprang the County of Lake, Indiana” is a mural created for the Crown Point, Indiana post office completed by George Melville Smith in 1938. The size of the mural is 11’10” x 4’8″and the medium is oil on canvas.

Post Office Mural – Boonville IN

The Section of Fine Arts-funded mural “Boonville Beginnings” was painted by Ida Ableman and installed in the lobby of the Boonville, Indiana post office in 1941. The size of the mural is 12’7″ x 5’6″ and the medium is casein tempera on canvas.

Terminal Annex Federal Building Murals – Dallas TX

The Terminal Annex Federal Building contains two oil on canvas murals by Peter Hurd: “Pioneer Home Builders” and “Airmail Over Texas.” They were painted in 1940-1941 with funding from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. From an entry on the website Unvisited Dallas by Noah Jeppson:

Soon after the Terminal Annex was completed, three murals were commissioned and a national design competition was held. From an entry field of 149 applicants regionalist painter Peter Hurd — who rose to national fame in the 1930s — won the anonymous competition (the winning designs were displayed with all other entries at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts in 1949).

Hurd was paid $7,200 for the murals and completed them over an 18 month period beginning in 1940. The smallest of the murals was executed first, and a larger wall was painted a year later when building alterations were complete. “Airmail Over Texas” filled the smaller space while “Pioneer Homebuilders” filled a large wall at the north end of the lobby. “East Bound Mail” — a third smaller mural — was never executed due to the termination of the Section of Fine Arts in 1943, before the lobby’s south expansion (and a place for the mural) was complete. (https://www.unvisiteddallas.com/archives/2350)

Redlands Historical Museum Murals – Redlands CA

Arnold Brasz created four wood parquetry murals depicting the “History of Redlands” by theme: “Hispanics,” “Orchard,” “Pioneers” and “Harvesting.” The murals were created in 1940 with funding from the WPA Federal Art Project. They are located in the Redlands Historical Museum.

Post Office Mural – Van Buren AR

The lobby of the historic post office building in Van Buren, Arkansas, possesses a 12′ x 5′ section oil-on-canvas mural entitled “The Chosen Site.” This mural was painted by E. Martin Hennings in 1940.

From the University of Central Arkansas: “E. Martin Hennings was commissioned for $590 to create a mural for Van Buren, Arkansas as a result of an Honorable Mention in a Section of Fine Arts competition. Hennings used his wife and daughter as models for the women in the mural. He later reported that he had used a Mexican as a model for the father and had Americanized his features.

The mural depicts a pioneer family which has been making its way westward along the Arkansas River, facing the unknown with its hazards and dangers. They travel in a covered wagon drawn by a team of oxen, equipped with not much more than hope, courage, and a spirit of adventure. In this mural they are depicted as they have reached their destination. A promising site lies before them and here they will build their home and till the fields. Others will be coming to help make the beginning of the settlement that is to become Van Buren.”

Post Office Mural – Ontario OR

The oil-on-canvas mural “Trail to Oregon” was painted by Edmund J. Fitzgerald in 1938. Fitzgerald also painted murals for the Colville, Washington and Preston, Idaho post offices.

Post Office Mural – Langdon ND

This oil-on-canvas mural entitled “Taking Toll” (a.k.a. “Indians Demanding Wagon Toll”) was painted in 1939 by Leo J. Beaulaurier. The work is installed above the Postmaster’s door at the Langdon, North Dakota post office. According to a local newspaper story, this was the first Federal building artwork to be sponsored by the Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts program in the state; the local Postmaster was quoted as saying that Langdon was the smallest city in the nation to be “granted a mural.” (The source for this information is an un-cited article, dated Oct. 12, 1939, included in the National Archives project folder for this work.)

Beaulaurier also painted murals for the Billings, Montana post office.

“Taking Toll” depicts “a tribe of Indians stopping a wagon train to exact the toll paid by white men for the privilege of crossing their lands.” The work was further influenced by the artist’s “studies of the geology and topography of North Dakota.” His research and planning resulted in Beaulaurier’s initial sketches of the painting being accepted without changes. (Un-cited article, National Archives)

The contract for the work was issued May 12, 1939, and Mr. Beaulaurier was paid $700 for his efforts. Langdon Postmaster R. T. Burke wrote of the newly installed mural in a letter dated October 18, 1939:

“We are pleased with it ‘beyond words’ … The local paper gave us a very fine writeup, and have had just hundreds of people admire it. … It also carries a significant history appeal, which is of much value.”