Federal Project Number One

Image 13 of "Federal Writers' Project, New York," ca. 1936; Federal Theatre Project, Library of Congress

FEDERAL PROJECT NUMBER ONE: A Truly National Arts Program is Funded!

On August 26, 1935, President Roosevelt sent a letter to his Cabinet and select Federal administrators in charge of New Deal agencies. His tone was direct and conveyed a sense of urgency about public spending on employment and social programs. Specifically, he wrote:

Dear Sir:

I am writing to inform you that all applications for allocation of funds from the $4,880,000,000 appropriation under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 [emphasis added], approved April 8, 1935, must be in the hands of the Division of Applications and Information of the National Emergency Council not later than Thursday, September 12, 1935, in such form that they can be presented to the Advisory Committee on Allotments for final action at its meeting of September 17, 1935. No applications for allocation of funds will be received or considered thereafter.

It is planned that all allocations recommended by the Advisory Committee on Allotments up to and including September 17, 1935, and approved by me will have been acted upon by the Secretary of the Treasury and by the Comptroller General prior to September 24, 935. It is therefore directed that all governmental agencies, Federal, State, municipal, etc., be prepared on or before October 22, 1935, either to ask for bids for construction work or begin operations by direct labor (force account) on the project. Where projects are to be carried on under contracts, such contracts must be awarded and signed on or before December 15, 1935.

Very sincerely yours.

President Roosevelt's Appointment Calendar, 08-26-1935

FDR Presidential Library & Museum; National Archives & Records Administration

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FEDERAL PROJECT NUMBER ONE: A National Arts Program for All!

Of the nearly $4.9 billion allocated, the President directed $27 million to the employment of artists, actors, musicians, and writers via the WPA's Federal Project Number One ("The Project"). On a much grander scale than the three previous government arts programs--the Public Works of Art Program, the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture ("The Fine Arts Program"), and the Treasury Relief Art Program--The Project sought employment for actors, theater workers, musicians, writers, graphic artists, muralists, etc., whose livelihood had been shattered by the Great Depression. The Project operated on the very Rooseveltian notion that:

1) in time of need the government must provide employment at public expense for the artist, as is would for any laborer, and

2) art stood on equal footing with agriculture, business, and labor in terms of the needs of the nation.

In the "Preface" of his 1973 book, The New Deal for Artists (Princeton University Press), Richard D. McKinzie details Roosevelt's affinity for art, a passion that went beyond filling employment rolls:

"Franklin D. Roosevelt frequently spoke of his desire for Americans to have 'a more abundant life.' Most people assumed the depression President's phrase meant greater material abundance and its obvious by-products, and to a large extent it did. . . . It meant improvement in lifestyle which was cerebral as well as physical. . . . As President, Roosevelt was willing to do the noble thing, and support painting, theater, and other creative arts in the same way he supported them as the 'lord' of Hyde Park manor."

Untitled ["New York City Movie Theatre - All Seats 25¢"], March 1933

Photo courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica (Download here)

Untitled ["FDR Art Collection Within His Private Study at the White House"], undated

FDR Presidential Library & Museum; National Archives & Records Administration (Download here)

FEDERAL PROJECT NUMBER ONE: The Project Divisions

Upon its inception, The Project had four divisions: 1) the Federal Music Project (FMP), 2) the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), 3) the Federal Writers' Project (FWP), and 4) the Federal Art Project (FAP). A fifth division, the Historical Records Survey (HRS), was later created from the FWP. Each Division had a national Director who managed operations via a vast network of state and local offices. The overarching goal of The Project was to make art more accessible to the American public, in part by the creation of new civic organizations dedicated to the arts. Artists and artistic output would connect with "regular Joes" and transform the way art was produced, enjoyed, and discussed. Just as importantly, The Project sought to increase public involvement with the arts: free drawing classes, music lessons, writing courses, etc. represented a core component of local initiatives.

In 1938, efforts to make The Project a permanent Federal agency failed, for many reasons. Republicans loathed the size and expense of the New Deal; many still questioned the merit of subsidizing the arts during a time of widespread unemployment; others saw The Project as a mass propaganda vehicle for Roosevelt and the Democrats, one tinged with socialism and radical political thought. In 1938 and 1939, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (aka the House Un-American Activities Committee) investigated The Project for alleged ties to Communism, targeting the majority of is attention upon the Federal Theatre Project.

Following a separate investigation by the House Committee on Appropriations, funding for Project One and the Federal Theatre Project ended on June 30, 1939. During its height, The Project employed 40,0000 members of the arts community. With the exception of the Federal Theatre Project, the remaining divisions continued operations until 1943 and the expiration of the WPA. See below for an overview of the FMP, the FTP, the FWP, and the HRA; access the FAP page here.

Dick Rose, photographer, ["Police Officer in Front of Crowd for FTP Performance, Central Park, NY]," 1935 - 1939

Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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Dick Rose, photographer, "Federal Theatre Project Presents the World's Greatest Circus," 1935 - 1939

Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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THE FEDERAL MUSIC PROJECT

"Four Evening Programs of Ludwig van Beethoven" (poster), ca. 1936

Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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FEDERAL MUSIC PROJECT (FMP)

Dr. Nikolai Sokoloff, conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1919 - 1933, served as the FMP Director; he appointed a staff of five Regional Directors and 23 State Directors. The FMP sought to employ musicians from across the country to bring music to the masses in every conceivable venue: opera stages, concert halls, elementary and high schools, community centers, local parks, county parades, etc. The majority of the concerts were free or at nominal prices (50 cents and below). Audiences revelled to the sounds of Brahms, Beethoven, and Stravinsky and danced along with local swing orchestras and country bands. FMP workers also: 1) composed and arranged music of all genres, 2) copied musical scores for schools and universities to use, 3) cataloged and recorded local and regional music, and 4) provided music lessons to hundreds of thousands of adults and children.

At its height, the FMP employed about 16,000 musicians and provided entertainment and musical education to millions of Americans. Sokoloff resigned in May 1939 in objection to budget cuts and his stated preference for a more European-centric (classical music) vision for the FMP. Later that year the FMP was recast as the WPA Music Program; the program and the WPA would end in June 1943.

"Take Your Choice, Columbia Theatre, San Francisco" (poster), 1935 - 1939

Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT

"Federal Ballet, Blackstone Theatre" (poster), 1935 - 1939

Performing Arts Encyclopedia, Library of Congress

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FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT (FTP)

The playwright and theatrical producer, Hallie Flanagan, served as the Director for the FTP; she intended to make theater “so excellent in quality, so low in cost and so vital to the communities involved” that it would sustain without Federal subsidy. It sought both new audiences and new venues: hospitals, schools, prisons, deserted theaters, unoccupied warehouses, etc. The FTP produced everything from classic dramas (Shakespeare) to children's plays to vaudeville to dinner theater. In addition, listeners enjoyed radio productions via The Federal Theatre of the Air.

The FTP's Living Newspaper initiative garnered much acclaim and attention: writers presented the news of the day via plays that combined cultural and social criticism with audience interaction. However, certain play subjects--fascism, civil rights, Marxist theory, the anti-war movement--stirred ire in the halls of Congress. Due in part to such controversy, the FTP was defunded and abolished in 1939.

During its four year run the FTP provided employment to over 12,000 actors, directors, playwrights, designers, artists, promoters, stage hands, etc. It also staged over 1,200 plays, boasting future luminaries such as Orson Welles, John Houseman, Burt Lancaster, Joseph Cotten and E.G. Marshall.

"Day is Darkness, The Famous Anti-Nazi Play by Adolph Freeman" (poster), 1935 - 1939

Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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THE FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT

"American Guide Week WPA Writers Projects Describe America to Americans" (poster), 1941

Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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FEDERAL WRITERS' PROJECT (FWP)

Henry Alsberg, a playwright and author, served as the first Director of the FWP; John D. Newson replaced Alsberg in 1939 upon his firing. Most notably, the target audience for FWP employment was anyone who thought they could write, including unemployed novelists, poets, journalists, teachers, college students, librarians, etc. Much of the output focused on non-fiction work since major research projects could take years to complete and produce.

A quartet of FWP programs best represent its output and contributions to American culture and literature, specifically: 1) its 1937 publication, American Stuff: An Anthology of Prose and Verse, 2) the American Guide series that prepared engaging, informative, and oftentimes humorous travel guides of states, cities, and historic sites, 3) the Life in America series that chronicled American folklore and rural communities, and 4) the Slave Narrative Project that captured the oral histories of over 2,000 former slaves.

From 1935 to its close in early 1943, the FWP produced more than 1,200 works, ranging from pamphlets to short stories to magazine articles to books to voluminous handbooks. It employed about 5,000 people on average and at its peak had 6,000 people on its roster. Writers from the ranks of the FWP included John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Studs Terkel, Eudora Welty, and Zora Neal Hurston.

Slave Narrative Project 6, Kansas, Holbert - Williams, 1936 -1938

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

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HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY

"Inventory of the County Archives, Henry County, MI [cover]," 1940

Digital Archives, University of Missouri

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HISTORICAL RECORDS SURVEY (HRS)

Originally part of the FWP and under the direction of Dr. Luther H Evans, the HRS was transferred to the WPA and established as a stand-alone division in July 1939 (via the Reorganization Act of 1939). The Survey was organized at the state level; a state supervisor assigned and managed the workload.

The Survey of County Records represented the Survey's largest program; it entailed the location, identification, arrangement and description of an immense volume of public records in county archives. Other significant efforts included the Survey of Federal Archives (performed in conjunction with the National Archives), the Survey of Church Records, the American Imprints Inventory, and the Microfilming of Public Records Survey (of county and state records).

Over the course of its operations, the HRS employed close to 10,000 workers. It ended in February 1943, yet another New Deal agency that fell victim to the war effort. However, historians, archivists, genealogists and family historians enjoy the fruits of HRS efforts to this very day.