Editing Works Progress Administration (section)

==Projects==
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WPA projects were administered by the Division of Engineering and Construction and the Division of Professional and Service Projects. Most projects were initiated, planned and sponsored by states, counties or cities. Nationwide projects were sponsored until 1939.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.5 |title=Records of WPA Projects |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-25}}</ref>

The WPA built traditional infrastructure of the [[New Deal]] such as roads, bridges, schools, libraries, courthouses, hospitals, sidewalks, waterworks, and post-offices, but also constructed museums, swimming pools, parks, community centers, playgrounds, coliseums, markets, fairgrounds, tennis courts, zoos, botanical gardens, auditoriums, waterfronts, city halls, gyms, and university unions. Most of these are still in use today.<ref name="Leighninger Cultural Infrastructure">{{cite journal |last=Leighninger |first=Robert D. |date=May 1996 |title=Cultural Infrastructure: The Legacy of New Deal Public Space |journal=[[Journal of Architectural Education]] |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=226–236 |doi= 10.1080/10464883.1996.10734689|jstor=1425295 }}</ref>{{Rp|226}} The amount of infrastructure projects of the WPA included 40,000 new and 85,000 improved buildings. These new buildings included 5,900 new schools; 9,300 new auditoriums, gyms, and recreational buildings; 1,000 new libraries; 7,000 new dormitories; and 900 new armories. In addition, infrastructure projects included 2,302 stadiums, grandstands, and bleachers; 52 fairgrounds and rodeo grounds; 1,686 parks covering 75,152 acres; 3,185 playgrounds; 3,026 athletic fields; 805 swimming pools; 1,817 handball courts; 10,070 tennis courts; 2,261 horseshoe pits; 1,101 ice-skating areas; 138 outdoor theatres; 254 golf courses; and 65 ski jumps.<ref name="Leighninger Cultural Infrastructure"/>{{Rp|227}} Total expenditures on WPA projects through June 1941 totaled approximately $11.4&nbsp;billion—the equivalent of ${{Inflation|US-GDP|11.4|1941}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}.{{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}} Over $4&nbsp;billion was spent on highway, road, and street projects; more than $1&nbsp;billion on public buildings, including the [[Dock Street Theatre]] in Charleston, the [[Griffith Observatory]] in Los Angeles, and [[Timberline Lodge]] in Oregon's [[Mount Hood National Forest]].<ref>
{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=David M. |author-link=David M. Kennedy (historian) |date=1999 |title=Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 |location=New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195038347|title-link=Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 }}</ref>{{Rp|252–253}}

More than $1&nbsp;billion—${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1000000000|1941}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}—was spent on publicly owned or operated utilities; and another $1&nbsp;billion on welfare projects, including sewing projects for women, the distribution of surplus commodities, and school lunch projects.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|129}} One construction project was the [[Merritt Parkway]] in Connecticut, the bridges of which were each designed as architecturally unique.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.past-inc.org/historic-bridges/merrittpkwybridges.html |title=Website on Merritt Parkway Bridges |publisher=Past-inc.org |access-date=2012-04-20}}</ref> In its eight-year run, the WPA built 325 firehouses and renovated 2,384 of them across the United States. The {{convert|20000|mi|km}} of water mains, installed by their hand as well, contributed to increased fire protection across the country.<ref name="Leighninger Long Range"/>{{Rp|69}}

The direct focus of the WPA projects changed with need. In 1935 priority projects were to improve infrastructure; roads, extension of electricity to rural areas, water conservation, sanitation and flood control. In 1936, as outlined in that year's [[Emergency Relief Appropriations Act]], public facilities became a focus; parks and associated facilities, public buildings, utilities, airports, and transportation projects were funded. The following year saw the introduction of agricultural improvements, such as the production of marl fertilizer and the eradication of fungus pests. As the Second World War approached, and then eventually began, WPA projects became increasingly defense related.<ref name="Leighninger Long Range"/>{{Rp|70}}

One project of the WPA was funding state-level library service demonstration projects, to create new areas of library service to underserved populations and to extend rural service.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newdeal.feri.org/ala/al38703.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991002160702/http://newdeal.feri.org/ala/al38703.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1999-10-02 |title=WPA and Rural Libraries |publisher=Newdeal.feri.org |access-date=2012-04-20 }}</ref> Another project was the [[Household Service Demonstration Project]], which trained 30,000 women for domestic employment. [[South Carolina]] had one of the larger statewide library service demonstration projects. At the end of the project in 1943, South Carolina had twelve publicly funded county libraries, one regional library, and a funded state library agency.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~landc/fulltext/LandC_32_4_Gorman.pdf |title=Blazing the Way: The WPA Library Service Demonstration Project in South Carolina by Robert M. Gorman |access-date=2012-04-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415002011/http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~landc/fulltext/LandC_32_4_Gorman.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-15 }}</ref>

===Federal Project Number One===
A significant aspect of the Works Progress Administration was the [[Federal Project Number One]], which had five different parts: the [[Federal Art Project]], the [[Federal Music Project]], the [[Federal Theatre Project]], the [[Federal Writers' Project]], and the [[Historical Records Survey]]. The government wanted to provide new federal cultural support instead of just providing direct grants to private institutions. After only one year, over 40,000 artists and other talented workers had been employed through this project in the United States.<ref name="Adams 1995">{{cite web |url=http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html |title=New Deal Cultural Programs: Experiments in Cultural Democracy |last1=Adams |first1=Don |last2=Goldbard |first2=Arlene |date=1995 |website=Webster's World of Cultural Democracy |access-date=2016-02-24}}</ref> Cedric Larson stated that "The impact made by the five major cultural projects of the WPA upon the national consciousness is probably greater in total than anyone readily realizes. As channels of communication between the administration and the country at large, both directly and indirectly, the importance of these projects cannot be overestimated, for they all carry a tremendous appeal to the eye, the ear, or the intellect—or all three."<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|491}}

====Federal Art Project====
{{main|Federal Art Project}}
This project was directed by [[Holger Cahill]], and in 1936 employment peaked at over 5,300 artists. The Arts Service Division created illustrations and posters for the WPA writers, musicians, and theaters. The Exhibition Division had public exhibitions of artwork from the WPA, and artists from the Art Teaching Division were employed in settlement houses and community centers to give classes to an estimated 50,000 children and adults. They set up over 100 art centers around the country that served an estimated eight&nbsp;million individuals.<ref name="Adams 1995"/>

====Federal Music Project====
[[File:WPABandLafayetteSquareNOLA.jpg|thumb|Noon-hour WPA band concert in [[Lafayette Square (New Orleans)|Lafayette Square]], [[New Orleans]] (1940)]]
{{main|Federal Music Project}}
Directed by [[Nikolai Sokoloff]], former principal conductor of the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], the [[Federal Music Project]] employed over 16,000 musicians at its peak. Its purpose was to create jobs for unemployed musicians, It established new ensembles such as chamber groups, orchestras, choral units, opera units, concert bands, military bands, dance bands, and theater orchestras. They gave 131,000 performances and programs to 92&nbsp;million people each week.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> The Federal Music Project performed plays and dances, as well as radio dramas.<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939">{{cite journal |last=Larson |first=Cedric |date=July 1939 |title=The Cultural Projects of the WPA |journal=[[Public Opinion Quarterly]] |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=491–496 |doi= 10.1086/265324|jstor=2744973 }}</ref>{{Rp|494}} In addition, the Federal Music Project gave music classes to an estimated 132,000 children and adults every week, recorded folk music, served as copyists, arrangers, and librarians to expand the availability of music, and experimented in music therapy.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> Sokoloff stated, "Music can serve no useful purpose unless it is heard, but these totals on the listeners' side are more eloquent than statistics as they show that in this country there is a great hunger and eagerness for music."<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|494}}

====Federal Theatre Project====
{{main|Federal Theatre Project}}
In 1929, Broadway alone had employed upwards of 25,000 workers, onstage and backstage; in 1933, only 4,000 still had jobs. The Actors' Dinner Club and the Actors' Betterment Association were giving out free meals every day.  Every theatrical district in the country suffered as audiences dwindled.  The New Deal project was directed by playwright [[Hallie Flanagan]], and employed 12,700 performers and staff at its peak. They presented more than 1,000 performances each month to almost one&nbsp;million people, produced 1,200 plays in the four years it was established, and introduced 100 new playwrights. Many performers later became successful in Hollywood including [[Orson Welles]], [[John Houseman]], [[Burt Lancaster]], [[Joseph Cotten]], [[Canada Lee]], [[Will Geer]], [[Joseph Losey]], [[Virgil Thomson]], [[Nicholas Ray]], [[E.G. Marshall]] and [[Sidney Lumet]]. The Federal Theatre Project was the first project to end; it was terminated in June 1939 after Congress zeroed out the funding.<ref name="Adams 1995" /><ref>Susan Quinn, ''The Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times'' (2008) pp. 62, 280.</ref>

====Federal Writers' Project====
{{main|Federal Writers' Project}}
This project was directed by [[Henry Alsberg]] and employed 6,686 writers at its peak in 1936.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> The FWP created the [[American Guide Series]] which, when completed, consisted of 378 books and pamphlets providing a thorough analysis of the history, social life and culture for every state, city and village in the United States including descriptions of towns, waterways, historic sites, oral histories, photographs, and artwork.<ref name="Adams 1995"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Mosse |first=George |date=2024 |title=Confronting the Nation |location= |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |pages=36-37 |isbn=978-0-299-34644-7}}</ref> An association or group that put up the cost of publication sponsored each book, the cost was anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000. In almost all cases, the book sales were able to reimburse their sponsors.<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|494}} Additionally, another important part of this project was to record oral histories to create archives such as the [[Slave Narrative]]s and collections of folklore. These writers also participated in research and editorial services to other government agencies.<ref name="Adams 1995"/>

====Historical Records Survey====
{{main|Historical Records Survey}}
This project was the smallest of Federal Project Number One and served to identify, collect, and conserve United States' historical records.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> It is one of the biggest bibliographical efforts and was directed by Luther H. Evans. At its peak, this project employed more than 4,400 workers.<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|494}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
File:Little Miss Muffet 1940 poster.jpg|1940 WPA poster using ''[[Little Miss Muffet]]'' to promote reading among children
File:WPA-Cancer-Poster-Herzog.jpg|WPA health education poster about cancer, {{Circa|1936}}–1938
File:The nickel and dime store, WPA poster, ca. 1941.jpg|Poster for the WPA shows various items that can be purchased at the [[Variety store|5 & 10¢]] store
File:Art classes for children LCCN98510141.jpg|WPA poster advertising art classes for children
File:WPA_Zoo_Poster-Elephant.jpg|WPA poster promoting the zoo as a place to visit, showing an elephant
File:WPA_Theatre_Poster-Abraham_Lincoln.jpg|1936 WPA Poster for Federal Theatre Project presentation
File:WPA-Work-Pays-America-Poster.jpg|WPA poster encouraging laborers to work for America
</gallery>

=== Library Services Program ===
Before the Great Depression, it was estimated that one-third of the population in the United States did not have reasonable access to public library services.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=December 1995|title=Library|journal=MRS Bulletin|volume=20|issue=12|pages=52–53|doi=10.1557/s0883769400045929|issn=0883-7694|doi-access=free}}</ref> Understanding the need, not only to maintain existing facilities but to expand library services, led to the establishment of the WPA's Library Projects.  With the onset of the Depression, local governments facing declining revenues were unable to maintain social services, including libraries. This lack of revenue exacerbated problems of library access that were already widespread. 

In 1934, only two states, Massachusetts and Delaware, provided their total population access to public libraries.<ref name=swain>{{Cite journal|last=Swain|first=Martha H.|date=1995|title=A New Deal in Libraries: Federal Relief Work and Library Service, 1933–1943|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25542771|journal=Libraries & Culture|volume=30|issue=3|pages=265–283|jstor=25542771|issn=0894-8631}}</ref> In many rural areas, there were no libraries, and where they did exist, reading opportunities were minimal. Sixty-six percent of the South's population did not have access to any public library. Libraries that existed circulated one book per capita.<ref name=swain /> The early emphasis of these programs was on extending library services to rural populations, by creating libraries in areas that lacked facilities. The WPA library program also greatly augmented reader services in metropolitan and urban centers.  

By 1938, the WPA Library Services Project had established 2,300 new libraries, 3,400 reading rooms in existing libraries, and 53 traveling libraries for sparsely settled areas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dp.la/exhibitions/history-us-public-libraries/libraries-on-the-move/wpa-library-programs|title=WPA Library Programs|work=Digital Public Library of America}}</ref> Federal money for these projects could only be spent on worker wages, therefore local municipalities would have to provide upkeep on properties and purchase equipment and materials. At the local level, WPA libraries relied on funding from county or city officials or funds raised by local community organizations such as women's clubs. Due to limited funding, many WPA libraries were "little more than book distribution stations: tables of materials under temporary tents, a tenant home to which nearby readers came for their books, a school superintendents' home, or a crossroads general store."<ref name=swain /> The public response to the WPA libraries was extremely positive. For many, "the WPA had become 'the breadline of the spirit.'"<ref name=swain />

At its height in 1938, there were 38,324 people, primarily women, employed in library services programs, while 25,625 were employed in library services and 12,696 were employed in bookbinding and repair.  

Because book repair was an activity that could be taught to unskilled workers and once trained, could be conducted with little supervision, repair and mending became the main activity of the WPA Library Project. The basic rationale for this change was that the mending and repair projects saved public libraries and school libraries thousands of dollars in acquisition costs while employing needy women who were often heads of households.<ref name=swain />  

By 1940, the WPA Library Project, now the Library Services Program, began to shift its focus as the entire WPA began to move operations towards goals of national defense. WPA Library Programs served those goals in two ways: 1.) existing WPA libraries could distribute materials to the public on the nature of an imminent national defense emergency and the need for national defense preparation, and 2.) the project could provide supplementary library services to military camps and defense impacted communities.

By December 1941, the number of people employed in WPA library work was only 16,717. In May of the following year, all statewide Library Projects were reorganized as WPA War Information Services Programs. By early 1943, the work of closing war information centers had begun. The last week of service for remaining WPA library workers was March 15, 1943.<ref name=swain />

While it is difficult to quantify the success or failure of WPA Library Projects relative to other WPA programs, "what is incontestable is the fact that the library projects provided much-needed employment for mostly female workers, recruited many to librarianship in at least semiprofessional jobs, and retained librarians who may have left the profession for other work had employment not come through federal relief...the WPA subsidized several new ventures in readership services such as the widespread use of bookmobiles and supervised reading rooms{{snd}}services that became permanent in post-depression and postwar American libraries."<ref name=swain />  

In extending library services to people who lost their libraries (or never had a library to begin with), WPA Library Services Projects achieved phenomenal success, made significant permanent gains, and had a profound impact on library life in America.<ref name=swain />