Editing Works Progress Administration (section)

==Establishment==
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| caption1  = FDR prepares to speak about the establishment of the work relief program and [[Social Security Act|Social Security]] at his [[Fireside chats|fireside chat]] of [[s:Roosevelt's Fireside Chat, 28 April 1935|April 28, 1935]].
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| caption2  = [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration|FERA]] administrator and WPA head [[Harry Hopkins]] speaking to reporters (November 1935)}}

On May 6, 1935, FDR issued [[executive order]] 7034, establishing the Works Progress Administration.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4 |title=Records of the Work Projects Administration and Its Predecessors |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-28}}</ref><ref name="FDR Creating WPA">{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15053 |title=Executive Order 7034 – Creating Machinery for the Works Progress Administration |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |date=May 6, 1935 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley |access-date=2016-02-27 |archive-date=2016-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306025340/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15053 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The WPA superseded the work of the [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]], which was dissolved. Direct relief assistance was permanently replaced by a national work relief program—a major [[public works]] program directed by the WPA.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Deeben |first=John P. |date=Fall 2012 |title=Family Experiences and New Deal Relief: The Correspondence Files of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, 1933–1936 |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/fall/fera.html |magazine=Prologue Magazine |volume=44 |issue=2 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27 }}</ref>

The WPA was largely shaped by [[Harry Hopkins]], supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and close adviser to Roosevelt. Both Roosevelt and Hopkins believed that the route to economic recovery and the lessened importance of the dole would be in employment programs such as the WPA.<ref name="Leighninger Long Range"/>{{Rp|56–57}} [[Hallie Flanagan]], national director of the [[Federal Theatre Project]], wrote that "for the first time in the relief experiments of this country the preservation of the skill of the worker, and hence the preservation of his self-respect, became important."<ref name="Arena">{{cite book |last=Flanagan |first=Hallie |author-link=Hallie Flanagan |date=1965 |title=Arena: The History of the Federal Theatre |location=New York |publisher=Benjamin Blom, reprint edition [1940] |oclc=855945294}}</ref>{{Rp|17}}

The WPA was organized into the following divisions:

* The Division of Engineering and Construction, which planned and supervised construction projects including airports, dams, highways and sanitation systems.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.4 |title=Records of the Division of Engineering and Construction |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Professional and Service Projects (called the Division of Women's and Professional Projects in 1937), which was responsible for [[white-collar worker|white-collar]] projects including education programs, recreation programs, and the arts projects. It was later named the Division of Community Service Programs and the Service Division.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.5 |title=Records of the Division of Professional and Service Projects |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Finance.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.7 |title=Records of the Division of Finance |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Information.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.3 |title=Records of the Division of Information |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Investigation, which succeeded a comparable division at FERA and investigated fraud, misappropriation of funds and disloyalty.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.6 |title=Records of the Division of Investigation |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Statistics, also known as the Division of Social Research.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.8 |title=Records of the Division of Statistics |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Project Control Division, which processed project applications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.9 |title=Records of the Project Control Divisions |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* Other divisions including the Employment, Management, Safety, Supply, and Training and Reemployment.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.10 |title=Records of Other WPA Divisions |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>