Posters of the New Deal

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) Poster Collection consists of 907 posters produced from 1936 to 1943 by various branches of the WPA. Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. The posters were designed to publicize exhibits, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programs in seventeen states and the District of    Columbia, with the strongest representation from California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The results of one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts, the posters were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s.


This thematic compilation represents just a part of the U.S. Government’s vast collection of WPA posters.


Also included at the beginning of this book is the 35 minute 1937 U.S. Government Works Progress Administration film, "Work Pays America." In this film we see highways and streets being graded and paved.  A concrete bed is laid for an Atlantic City reservoir. Shows airports at Newark, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Philadelphia under construction. Buildings are razed in slum clearance projects. A sewerage project is completed. Traffic control studies are made. Auto drivers are given fitness tests. Trachoma patients in rural areas are examined by traveling nurses and taken to WPA clinics. Shows supervised play and child care at WPA nursery schools, and adult education classes. Murals are painted at the West Point Military Academy. WPA units present stage shows. WPA units carry out relief projects in flooded areas and in dust-bowl sections. Director Harry Hopkins inspects flooded areas in 1936. Food and medical supplies are delivered to dust storm victims. Dams are constructed to check erosion. It also shows park and playground areas that have been improved by WPA projects. Includes shots of Fort Niagara, restored colonial forts, and Abraham Lincoln landmarks in Springfield, Illinois.