The WPA and America
Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration in 1935 as part of his New Deal, an effort to rebuild the economy of the U.S. Between 1935 and 1943, the year it ended, the WPA employed over 8.5 million Americans. But what exactly did the WPA accomplish? According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, "WPA's building program included the construction of 116,000 buildings, 78,000 bridges, and 651,000 miles (1,047,000 km) of road and the improvement of 800 airports."
The New Deal and the WPA: General Web Resources
A concise explanation of the WPA is available in The American Experience - Surviving the Dust Bowl: the Works Progress Administration. The article points out that "for an average salary of $41.57 a month, WPA employees built bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks and airports."
EH.Net's Works Progress Administration
An economics professor offers an interesting and objective analysis of the WPA.
Final Report on the WPA Program
Published in 1946 and running more than 150 pages, here is the report assessing the achievements of the WPA. Among its most impressive outcomes was the employment of more than 3 million people in 1939.
Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History - the WPA: Antidote to the Great Depression?
Nick Taylor is the author of American Made: the Enduring Legacy of the WPA: when FDR Put the Nation to Work (New York: Bantam, 2008). In this article, he offers an overall assessment of the WPA.
The Library of Congress has made available a number of outstanding photographs in The Great Depression and the New Deal, part of its American Memory project.
How Stuff Works: 12 WPA Projects that Still Exist focuses on some enduring accomplishments of the WPA. Among them are the American Guide Series, LaGuardia Airport, Camp David, and Jackson Pollock's Male and Female.
Kenner, Louisiana, 1936; WPA night school for African Americans, Courtesy of the WPA |
Sponsored by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, the New Deal Network offers documents, photographs, and lesson plans. Check out "The Magpie Sings the Great Depression: Selections from DeWitt Clinton High School's Literary Magazine, 1929 - 1942."
For serious researchers, the National Archives and Records Administration has compiled the Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) as a finding aid to its holdings.
Works Progress Administration is NationMaster's evaluation of the WPA. Topics discussed include types of projects, worker profiles, relief for African Americans, employment, and criticism.
Find out how the WPA was significant for African Americans at WPA: the African-American Mosaic.
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WPA Federal Art Project
WPA Federal Music Project
WPA Federal Theatre Project
WPA Federal Writers' Project
The WPA and Maryland
Ask Us
If you would like more information, e-mail us, or contact us through mail or phone:
Social Science and History Department
Enoch Pratt Free Library
Central Library/State Library Resource Center
400 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Telephone: (410) 396-5321
Fax: (410) 396-1431