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There are 1016 matching records. Displaying matches 151 through 180 .
“On the Night When the Levee Broke”: William Cobb Remembers the 1927 Mississippi Flood
William Cobb/Pete Daniel.
In spring 1927 it started raining in the Upper Midwest and, according to one observer, “it just never did stop.” Torrential rains quickly filled the Mississippi’s dozens of tributaries. On April 21, the supposedly impregnable levee system, maintained since 1879 by the Mississippi River Commission, sprang two leaks, or “crevasses” as they are known. Within days the Mississippi River levee system sustained forty more major crevasses in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, unleashing a natural disaster that had no precedent in the long history of human interaction with the Mississippi River. William Cobb, who, in 1927 was a young boy living on his family’s farm near Pendleton, Arkansas, recalled for historian Pete Daniel the crevasse that opened on April 21 in the levee near his family’s house, a few miles from the Arkansas River.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
William Cobb/Pete Daniel.
In spring 1927 it started raining in the Upper Midwest and, according to one observer, “it just never did stop.” Torrential rains quickly filled the Mississippi’s dozens of tributaries. On April 21, the supposedly impregnable levee system, maintained since 1879 by the Mississippi River Commission, sprang two leaks, or “crevasses” as they are known. Within days the Mississippi River levee system sustained forty more major crevasses in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, unleashing a natural disaster that had no precedent in the long history of human interaction with the Mississippi River. William Cobb, who, in 1927 was a young boy living on his family’s farm near Pendleton, Arkansas, recalled for historian Pete Daniel the crevasse that opened on April 21 in the levee near his family’s house, a few miles from the Arkansas River.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“Seven All Together Went Down”: A Family Disappears in the 1927 Mississippi Flood
Herman Caillouet/Pete Daniel.
The history of settlement around the Mississippi River is often depicted as a struggle of humankind against Nature. Yet the very richness and fertility of the soil in the Midwest and South is the direct result of the regular flooding of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In April 1927, after more than a month of rain, the river overflowed its banks in a flood which inundated more than 16 million acres of land in seven states, destroyed 40,000 buildings, washed away over $100 million in crops, and claimed between 250 and 500 lives. For his book about the flood DeepÌn as it Come, historian Pete Daniel interviewed Herman Caillouet, an Army Corps of Engineers employee who used his twenty-two-foot boat to rescue 175 people stranded by the rising waters. Here Caillouet told of his futile attempt to rescue a family of seven.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Herman Caillouet/Pete Daniel.
The history of settlement around the Mississippi River is often depicted as a struggle of humankind against Nature. Yet the very richness and fertility of the soil in the Midwest and South is the direct result of the regular flooding of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. In April 1927, after more than a month of rain, the river overflowed its banks in a flood which inundated more than 16 million acres of land in seven states, destroyed 40,000 buildings, washed away over $100 million in crops, and claimed between 250 and 500 lives. For his book about the flood DeepÌn as it Come, historian Pete Daniel interviewed Herman Caillouet, an Army Corps of Engineers employee who used his twenty-two-foot boat to rescue 175 people stranded by the rising waters. Here Caillouet told of his futile attempt to rescue a family of seven.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“Defending Greenwood”: A Survivor Recalls the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
W. D. Williams/Scott Ellsworth.
The post-World War I period in the United States saw devastating race riots around the nation: in small cities and in larger ones. But the Tulsa race riot in 1921 was perhaps the worst. Sparked by the supposed sexual assault of a white woman by a young black man, white Tulsa residents went on a twenty-four-hour rampage which resulted in the death of anywhere from 75 to 250 people and the burning of more than 1,000 black homes and businesses. Yet the African-Americans of Tulsa were not passive victims: when armed whites congregated at the Tulsa courthouse planning to lynch the young black imprisoned for the rape they were met by a crowd of equally angry blacks determined to prevent the lynching. In this interview with historian Scott Ellsworth, W. D. Williams proudly remembered the self-assertiveness of local black citizens, including his father, who took up arms to defend home and community.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
W. D. Williams/Scott Ellsworth.
The post-World War I period in the United States saw devastating race riots around the nation: in small cities and in larger ones. But the Tulsa race riot in 1921 was perhaps the worst. Sparked by the supposed sexual assault of a white woman by a young black man, white Tulsa residents went on a twenty-four-hour rampage which resulted in the death of anywhere from 75 to 250 people and the burning of more than 1,000 black homes and businesses. Yet the African-Americans of Tulsa were not passive victims: when armed whites congregated at the Tulsa courthouse planning to lynch the young black imprisoned for the rape they were met by a crowd of equally angry blacks determined to prevent the lynching. In this interview with historian Scott Ellsworth, W. D. Williams proudly remembered the self-assertiveness of local black citizens, including his father, who took up arms to defend home and community.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“I Limited My Own Family”: Memoir of a 1920s Birth Control Activist
Sylvie Thygeson/ Mary Thygeson Shepardson and Sherna Gluck.
Born in Forreston, Illinois, in 1868, Sylvie Thygeson taught and worked as a stenographer and typist before her marriage at the age of twenty-three. She and her husband, a lawyer, lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. An activist for women’s rights, including suffrage and the legalization of contraception, Thygeson felt that birth control was both a crucial part of egalitarian marriage and a major political commitment. In this interview, conducted in 1972 by her daughter Mary Thygeson Shepardson and historian Sherna Gluck, Thygeson described her and her husband’s decision to limit their family, a choice that enabled her to work in the suffrage and birth control movements. Her account offered an intriguing glimpse of how birth control advocates circulated information about contraception at a time when many physicians refused to do so, and when both law and public opinion constrained such practices.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Sylvie Thygeson/ Mary Thygeson Shepardson and Sherna Gluck.
Born in Forreston, Illinois, in 1868, Sylvie Thygeson taught and worked as a stenographer and typist before her marriage at the age of twenty-three. She and her husband, a lawyer, lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. An activist for women’s rights, including suffrage and the legalization of contraception, Thygeson felt that birth control was both a crucial part of egalitarian marriage and a major political commitment. In this interview, conducted in 1972 by her daughter Mary Thygeson Shepardson and historian Sherna Gluck, Thygeson described her and her husband’s decision to limit their family, a choice that enabled her to work in the suffrage and birth control movements. Her account offered an intriguing glimpse of how birth control advocates circulated information about contraception at a time when many physicians refused to do so, and when both law and public opinion constrained such practices.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“The Depression has Changed People’s Outlook”: The Beuschers Remember the Great Depression in Dubuque, Iowa
David Shannon.
Before the Great Depression of the 1930’s the Beuschers—he was a sixty-two-year-old railroad worker; she was the mother of their eleven children—had been fairly prosperous: they owned their home and had several life-insurance policies serving as savings. But by the time the Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviewed them in 1937, their lives had dramatically changed: the father had lost his railroad job and the mother was taking in sewing. This interview summary, published by the WPA, showed how they struggled to make ends meet during The Great Depression.
Resources Available: TEXT.
David Shannon.
Before the Great Depression of the 1930’s the Beuschers—he was a sixty-two-year-old railroad worker; she was the mother of their eleven children—had been fairly prosperous: they owned their home and had several life-insurance policies serving as savings. But by the time the Works Progress Administration (WPA) interviewed them in 1937, their lives had dramatically changed: the father had lost his railroad job and the mother was taking in sewing. This interview summary, published by the WPA, showed how they struggled to make ends meet during The Great Depression.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Losing the Business: The Donners Recall the Great Depression
David Shannon.
Created in 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided hope and employment for millions of unemployed workers and studied the human toll of the depression. One such study—a series of WPA-conducted interviews with Dubuque, Iowa families—found that middle-class Americans particularly felt the sting and shame of unemployment caused by the depression. In this interview, the Donners discussed the closing of their family-owned printing business in Chicago during tough times. Returning to live with Mrs. Donner’s family in Dubuque in 1934, Mr. Donner remained unemployed for over a year before landing a job as a timekeeper on a WPA project, earning less than one-third his previous income.
Resources Available: TEXT.
David Shannon.
Created in 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided hope and employment for millions of unemployed workers and studied the human toll of the depression. One such study—a series of WPA-conducted interviews with Dubuque, Iowa families—found that middle-class Americans particularly felt the sting and shame of unemployment caused by the depression. In this interview, the Donners discussed the closing of their family-owned printing business in Chicago during tough times. Returning to live with Mrs. Donner’s family in Dubuque in 1934, Mr. Donner remained unemployed for over a year before landing a job as a timekeeper on a WPA project, earning less than one-third his previous income.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Deaf and Unemployed in Dubuque: The DiMarcos Remember the Great Depression
David Shannon.
The New Deal launched a series of federal employment programs, including the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which not only provided jobs but also initiated many important studies of the depressionÌs human toll. One such study, published by the WPA Division of Research in 1939, included transcripts of interviews by WPA workers with Dubuque, Iowa, families. The DiMarcos interview revealed that the disabled faced a double challenge during the depression: finding employment while competing for scarce jobs with the able-bodied. The DiMarcos, a deaf couple with a small child, recall in their own words (because they were deaf they had to write responses to the WPA interviewer’s questions), the struggles they endured during six years of unemployment.
Resources Available: TEXT.
David Shannon.
The New Deal launched a series of federal employment programs, including the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which not only provided jobs but also initiated many important studies of the depressionÌs human toll. One such study, published by the WPA Division of Research in 1939, included transcripts of interviews by WPA workers with Dubuque, Iowa, families. The DiMarcos interview revealed that the disabled faced a double challenge during the depression: finding employment while competing for scarce jobs with the able-bodied. The DiMarcos, a deaf couple with a small child, recall in their own words (because they were deaf they had to write responses to the WPA interviewer’s questions), the struggles they endured during six years of unemployment.
Resources Available: TEXT.
“Such Cases of Outrageous Unspeakable Abuse...”: A Puerto Rican Migrant Protests Labor Conditions During World War I
Rafael Marchán .
In 1917 the United States declared the inhabitants of Puerto Rico, a U.S. posession since 1898, to be citizens of the United States—a “gift” that many Puerto Ricans resented. Seeing an untapped source of inexpensive labor, the U.S. Labor Department worked with industry to facilitate the migration of Puerto Rican workers to America. During the First World War the War Department agreed to transport Puerto Rican workers to labor camps in the United States where they would be housed and fed while working on government construction contracts at defense plants and military bases, many of which subjected the new migrants to harsh conditions and even forced labor. Rafael Marchán was one of a group of Puerto Rican workers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina who protested to the commissioner of Puerto Rico over the intolerable conditions in the work camp. He gave this deposition in Washington, D.C., in October 1918.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Rafael Marchán .
In 1917 the United States declared the inhabitants of Puerto Rico, a U.S. posession since 1898, to be citizens of the United States—a “gift” that many Puerto Ricans resented. Seeing an untapped source of inexpensive labor, the U.S. Labor Department worked with industry to facilitate the migration of Puerto Rican workers to America. During the First World War the War Department agreed to transport Puerto Rican workers to labor camps in the United States where they would be housed and fed while working on government construction contracts at defense plants and military bases, many of which subjected the new migrants to harsh conditions and even forced labor. Rafael Marchán was one of a group of Puerto Rican workers at Fort Bragg in North Carolina who protested to the commissioner of Puerto Rico over the intolerable conditions in the work camp. He gave this deposition in Washington, D.C., in October 1918.
Resources Available: TEXT.
“I Was More of a Citizen”: A Puerto Rican Garment Worker Describes Discrimination in the 1920s
Luisa Lopez/Blanca Vazquez.
We generally think of Puerto Rican migration to the U.S. mainland as largely a post-World War II phenomenon, since more than 800,000 Puerto Ricans came to the United States between 1940 and 1969. But immigration actually started much earlier in the century; between 1915 and 1930 more than 50,000 Puerto Rican migrants headed for the United States—especially New York City. The new immigrants faced a mixed reception, particularly from immigrants from other countries. In this interview for the radio program “Nosotros Trabajamos en la Costura”(We Work in the Garment Industry), garment worker Luisa Lopez told how she faced discrimination from European immigrant workers when she went to work in garment factories in the 1920s. Yet sometimes alliances crossed ethnic lines: Lopez found an ally in an Italian-American socialist.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Luisa Lopez/Blanca Vazquez.
We generally think of Puerto Rican migration to the U.S. mainland as largely a post-World War II phenomenon, since more than 800,000 Puerto Ricans came to the United States between 1940 and 1969. But immigration actually started much earlier in the century; between 1915 and 1930 more than 50,000 Puerto Rican migrants headed for the United States—especially New York City. The new immigrants faced a mixed reception, particularly from immigrants from other countries. In this interview for the radio program “Nosotros Trabajamos en la Costura”(We Work in the Garment Industry), garment worker Luisa Lopez told how she faced discrimination from European immigrant workers when she went to work in garment factories in the 1920s. Yet sometimes alliances crossed ethnic lines: Lopez found an ally in an Italian-American socialist.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“The Greatest Thing”: A Kentucky Coal Miner on the 1933 Revival of the United Mine Workers of America
The sudden revival of the United Mine Workers of America in 1933 was a remarkable story. In late 1932 the UMWA was a shambles, yet by the fall of 1933 the miners’ union had won a contract that guaranteed it recognition and stability in the hitherto nonunion southern Appalachian coal fields and was perhaps in the strongest position of its history. There was much debate over who had been the architect of this revival: some miners credited Franklin D. Roosevelt while others felt that the President of the UMWA, John L. Lewis, was the truly instrumental leader. For Buster Ratliff, interviewed by Nyoka Hawkins in 1987, the coming of unionization was the end of “slavery”and the emancipators were both John L. Lewis and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as another UMWA leader, Tom Raney.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
The sudden revival of the United Mine Workers of America in 1933 was a remarkable story. In late 1932 the UMWA was a shambles, yet by the fall of 1933 the miners’ union had won a contract that guaranteed it recognition and stability in the hitherto nonunion southern Appalachian coal fields and was perhaps in the strongest position of its history. There was much debate over who had been the architect of this revival: some miners credited Franklin D. Roosevelt while others felt that the President of the UMWA, John L. Lewis, was the truly instrumental leader. For Buster Ratliff, interviewed by Nyoka Hawkins in 1987, the coming of unionization was the end of “slavery”and the emancipators were both John L. Lewis and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as another UMWA leader, Tom Raney.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“This Is What the Union Done”: The Story of the United Mine Workers of America in Song
Uncle George Jones.
The sudden revival of the United Mine Workers of America in 1933 was a remarkable story. In late 1932 the UMWA was practically defunct, yet by the fall of 1933 it was in the strongest position in its history. Perhaps the best historical narrative of the revival of UMWA was penned in lyrical form by an African-American former coal miner called “Uncle George” Jones. Jones had started working as a miner in 1889 at age seventeen but in 1914 blindness forced him out of the Alabama mines. Long known for his singing in church choirs, down in the mines, and on the picket line. Jones’ “This Is What the Union Done” not only expressed the miners’ sense of the role that Roosevelt and Lewis played in the union revival; it also beautifully captures a sense of the transformation when miners “got the union back again!”
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Uncle George Jones.
The sudden revival of the United Mine Workers of America in 1933 was a remarkable story. In late 1932 the UMWA was practically defunct, yet by the fall of 1933 it was in the strongest position in its history. Perhaps the best historical narrative of the revival of UMWA was penned in lyrical form by an African-American former coal miner called “Uncle George” Jones. Jones had started working as a miner in 1889 at age seventeen but in 1914 blindness forced him out of the Alabama mines. Long known for his singing in church choirs, down in the mines, and on the picket line. Jones’ “This Is What the Union Done” not only expressed the miners’ sense of the role that Roosevelt and Lewis played in the union revival; it also beautifully captures a sense of the transformation when miners “got the union back again!”
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
The Big Strike: A Journalist Describes the 1934 San Francisco Strike
Mike Quin.
On May 9, 1934, International Labor Association (ILA) leaders called a strike of all dockworkers on the West Coast who were joined a few days later by seamen and teamsters, effectively stopping all shipping from San Diego to Seattle. San Francisco would become the scene of the strike’s most dramatic and widely known incidents, aptly described in one headline as “War in San Francisco!” On Bloody Thursday, July 5, 1934, two strikers were killed by the San Francisco police. A mass funeral march of tens of thousands of strikers and sympathizers four days later and the general strike that followed effectively shut down both San Francisco and Oakland (across the bay). Mike Quin, a self-described “rank-and-file journalist,” offered a sympathetic picture of the striking workers actions in The Big Strike, a collection of his published articles. Here, Quin described the events leading up to Bloody Thursday, and what happened in its aftermath.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Mike Quin.
On May 9, 1934, International Labor Association (ILA) leaders called a strike of all dockworkers on the West Coast who were joined a few days later by seamen and teamsters, effectively stopping all shipping from San Diego to Seattle. San Francisco would become the scene of the strike’s most dramatic and widely known incidents, aptly described in one headline as “War in San Francisco!” On Bloody Thursday, July 5, 1934, two strikers were killed by the San Francisco police. A mass funeral march of tens of thousands of strikers and sympathizers four days later and the general strike that followed effectively shut down both San Francisco and Oakland (across the bay). Mike Quin, a self-described “rank-and-file journalist,” offered a sympathetic picture of the striking workers actions in The Big Strike, a collection of his published articles. Here, Quin described the events leading up to Bloody Thursday, and what happened in its aftermath.
Resources Available: TEXT.
“Treated Like Slaves”: Textile Workers Write to Washington in the 1930s and 1940s
The 1934 textile strike failed to bring the transformation in work conditions and social relations that the strikers had hoped to win and was widely considered a devastating defeat for Labor. An important window into the persistence of poor conditions in the mills is the letters that the mill workers (both male and female) wrote to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and other government officials describing their plight. These letters provided compelling evidence of the discontent that lingered after the 1934 strike. Included here are five letters from textile mill communities in Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina, which were written to Washington between 1937 and 1942. The letters testified not only to the difficult work conditions but also to the pervasive fear the workers felt if they tried to organize or complain publicly. One person who signed himself “just a worker” puts it simply: “I will have to be nameless or lose my job.”
Resources Available: TEXT.
The 1934 textile strike failed to bring the transformation in work conditions and social relations that the strikers had hoped to win and was widely considered a devastating defeat for Labor. An important window into the persistence of poor conditions in the mills is the letters that the mill workers (both male and female) wrote to Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and other government officials describing their plight. These letters provided compelling evidence of the discontent that lingered after the 1934 strike. Included here are five letters from textile mill communities in Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina, which were written to Washington between 1937 and 1942. The letters testified not only to the difficult work conditions but also to the pervasive fear the workers felt if they tried to organize or complain publicly. One person who signed himself “just a worker” puts it simply: “I will have to be nameless or lose my job.”
Resources Available: TEXT.
“What He Has Done Is Sickening to Contemplate”: Catholic Liberal John Ryan Denounces Father Charles Coughlin
John Ryan.
Father Charles Coughlin attracted an enormous audience for his radio sermons in the 1930s. Although he initially supported President Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, his speeches turned increasingly strident, conspiratorial, and anti-Semitic over the course of the decade. After 1936, his talks combined harsh attacks on Roosevelt as the tool of international Jewish bankers with praise for the fascist leaders Mussolini and Hitler. The now bitter and delusional tone of his sermons alienated his larger audience and made many of his fellow Catholics nervous. John Ryan, a Catholic priest himself, had long been active as a social reformer and university educator, and became a vocal critic of Coughlin. Ryan published the following missive in the Catholic journal Commonweal in October, 1936.
Resources Available: TEXT.
John Ryan.
Father Charles Coughlin attracted an enormous audience for his radio sermons in the 1930s. Although he initially supported President Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, his speeches turned increasingly strident, conspiratorial, and anti-Semitic over the course of the decade. After 1936, his talks combined harsh attacks on Roosevelt as the tool of international Jewish bankers with praise for the fascist leaders Mussolini and Hitler. The now bitter and delusional tone of his sermons alienated his larger audience and made many of his fellow Catholics nervous. John Ryan, a Catholic priest himself, had long been active as a social reformer and university educator, and became a vocal critic of Coughlin. Ryan published the following missive in the Catholic journal Commonweal in October, 1936.
Resources Available: TEXT.
“Must a Fellow Wait to Die?”: Workers Write to Frances Perkins
Silicosis, a deadly lung disease caused when workers inhale fine particles of silica dust—a mineral found in sand, quartz, and granite—became a national cause célèbre during the Great Depression when it was recognized as a significant disease among lead, zinc, and silver miners, sandblasters, and foundry and tunnel workers. In 1938 the federal government declared silicosis AmericaÌs number one industrial health problem and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins convened a National Silicosis Conference in Washington, D.C. Despite such attempts to deal with the silicosis crisis, workers continued to complain of their plight. Hundreds of letters were sent to federal officials from across the country. The three letters included here (sent to Secretary Perkins) attested to workers’ desperation and to their confidence that the government would agree to investigate.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Silicosis, a deadly lung disease caused when workers inhale fine particles of silica dust—a mineral found in sand, quartz, and granite—became a national cause célèbre during the Great Depression when it was recognized as a significant disease among lead, zinc, and silver miners, sandblasters, and foundry and tunnel workers. In 1938 the federal government declared silicosis AmericaÌs number one industrial health problem and Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins convened a National Silicosis Conference in Washington, D.C. Despite such attempts to deal with the silicosis crisis, workers continued to complain of their plight. Hundreds of letters were sent to federal officials from across the country. The three letters included here (sent to Secretary Perkins) attested to workers’ desperation and to their confidence that the government would agree to investigate.
Resources Available: TEXT.
“What You Really Want Is an Autopsy”: Frances Perkins and the U. S. Government Conference in Joplin, Missouri, 1940
Frances Perkins.
In April 1940 Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins convened a conference in Missouri concerning the silicosis crisis that had emerged in the late 1930s. The differing perspectives on the disease and workers’ health are apparent in these excerpts from the Tristate Silicosis Conference. Evan Just, representing industry, claimed that silicosis is a social, not an industrial, problem. Ex-miner Tony McTeer disputed Just’s analysis, arguing that he, himself, contracted silicosis even though he had worked only in mines that employed the improved “wet drilling” method. The legendary public health advocate Dr. Alice Hamilton, representing the Public Health Service, spoke on the medical aspects of industrial hygiene and showed that, despite industry’s claims, little had improved over the past twenty-five years.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Frances Perkins.
In April 1940 Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins convened a conference in Missouri concerning the silicosis crisis that had emerged in the late 1930s. The differing perspectives on the disease and workers’ health are apparent in these excerpts from the Tristate Silicosis Conference. Evan Just, representing industry, claimed that silicosis is a social, not an industrial, problem. Ex-miner Tony McTeer disputed Just’s analysis, arguing that he, himself, contracted silicosis even though he had worked only in mines that employed the improved “wet drilling” method. The legendary public health advocate Dr. Alice Hamilton, representing the Public Health Service, spoke on the medical aspects of industrial hygiene and showed that, despite industry’s claims, little had improved over the past twenty-five years.
Resources Available: TEXT.
New York Public Library Picture Collection Online
New York Public Library.
This image resource site contains 30,000 digitized images from books and periodicals, as well as original photographs, prints, and postcards, mostly dated before 1923. There are cartoons and illustrations from the well known Harper’s Weekly and Century Magazine, as well as images from the Library of Congress Prints and Photograph division. In addition many of the vibrant images of Native Americans were collected from the Department of War Indian Gallery. Covering more than 12,000 subjects, the site features images of Jamestown settlers, Pocahontas and John Smith, American presidents, 19th-century New York architecture, slave life, American and European women’s costumes, streetcars and trains, and even insects and snakes. Bibliographical information accompanies each image, and users may also save images of interest in their own “gallery” for viewing or purchase. Thumbnail sketches enlarge for full-page viewing. Searchable by keyword or by browsing a variety of indexes, the collection is a useful visual resource for teachers and researchers.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-09.
New York Public Library.
This image resource site contains 30,000 digitized images from books and periodicals, as well as original photographs, prints, and postcards, mostly dated before 1923. There are cartoons and illustrations from the well known Harper’s Weekly and Century Magazine, as well as images from the Library of Congress Prints and Photograph division. In addition many of the vibrant images of Native Americans were collected from the Department of War Indian Gallery. Covering more than 12,000 subjects, the site features images of Jamestown settlers, Pocahontas and John Smith, American presidents, 19th-century New York architecture, slave life, American and European women’s costumes, streetcars and trains, and even insects and snakes. Bibliographical information accompanies each image, and users may also save images of interest in their own “gallery” for viewing or purchase. Thumbnail sketches enlarge for full-page viewing. Searchable by keyword or by browsing a variety of indexes, the collection is a useful visual resource for teachers and researchers.
Resources Available: IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-09.
Dot City: Dorothy Parker’s New York
Dedicated to that bon vivant of the New York 1920s literacy set, the Dorothy Parker’s New York is sponsored by the Dorothy Parker Society of New York. The site is essentially a visual history of Ms. Parkers life in New York during the period and her time as a member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table. Visitors are taken to her different homes, literary hangouts (where she hobnobbed with fellow writers like Robert Benchley), and their favorite speakeasies. As Ms. Parker eventually moved west to write for Hollywood, visitors can also take yet another visual tour of some of the places she lived and frequented. The highlight of this section is an audio archive featuring Ms. Parker reading some of her favorite poems, including Men and One Perfect Rose. Rounding out the site is information on the Society’s activities, including a newsletter and details on the annual Parkerfest, held to celebrate the memory of Dorothy Parker.
Resources Available: .
Website last visited on 2004-06-17.
Dedicated to that bon vivant of the New York 1920s literacy set, the Dorothy Parker’s New York is sponsored by the Dorothy Parker Society of New York. The site is essentially a visual history of Ms. Parkers life in New York during the period and her time as a member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table. Visitors are taken to her different homes, literary hangouts (where she hobnobbed with fellow writers like Robert Benchley), and their favorite speakeasies. As Ms. Parker eventually moved west to write for Hollywood, visitors can also take yet another visual tour of some of the places she lived and frequented. The highlight of this section is an audio archive featuring Ms. Parker reading some of her favorite poems, including Men and One Perfect Rose. Rounding out the site is information on the Society’s activities, including a newsletter and details on the annual Parkerfest, held to celebrate the memory of Dorothy Parker.
Resources Available: .
Website last visited on 2004-06-17.
Selected Works of Henry A. Wallace
Thomas Thurston, Project Director, New Deal Network.
Divided into three main sections—essay, documents, and resources—this small site highlights the interests and thought of one of the most important New Deal supporters, Henry Agade Wallace. These 33 speeches and articles by the Secretary of Agriculture for Franklin D. Roosevelt (and later Progressive Party candidate for President) cover topics from agricultural policy, anti-fascism, civil rights, and public planning. An essay written by Professor David Woolner covers biographical information about Wallace’s life and political career. The resources page provides a bibliography of related titles as well as a list of websites on Wallace.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2003-07-19.
Thomas Thurston, Project Director, New Deal Network.
Divided into three main sections—essay, documents, and resources—this small site highlights the interests and thought of one of the most important New Deal supporters, Henry Agade Wallace. These 33 speeches and articles by the Secretary of Agriculture for Franklin D. Roosevelt (and later Progressive Party candidate for President) cover topics from agricultural policy, anti-fascism, civil rights, and public planning. An essay written by Professor David Woolner covers biographical information about Wallace’s life and political career. The resources page provides a bibliography of related titles as well as a list of websites on Wallace.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2003-07-19.
Monticello: The Home of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
See JAH web review by Jan Lewis.
Reviewed 2004-03-01.
Designed to promote Monticello as a historical site, this exhibit offers a variety of educational and practical information. Materials allow viewers to explore Jefferson’s life at Monticello. Particularly interesting are the Day in the Life of Thomas Jefferson, where visitors can learn about a typical day’s activities for the 3rd president, and the Ask Thomas Jefferson features, where schoolchildren may submit questions to Mr. Jefferson. Researchers respond to questions in Jefferson’s voice, using his writings. By browsing the Day in the Life section, viewers can investigate 11 activities that Jefferson participated in nearly every day, from writing letters to farming. In addition, links within each activity provide further background on Jefferson’s family, his personality, and Monticello. Visitors may also take a virtual tour of Monticello, “visiting” up to 12 rooms in the mansion. The dimensions of the rooms are provided, as well as architectural information, color and design explanations, and a Quicktime panoramic movie. An image gallery contains 65 images, ranging from portraits of Jefferson to photographs of the mansion and grounds at Monticello to depictions of his inventions.
Listen to the audio review:
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-08.
Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
See JAH web review by Jan Lewis.
Reviewed 2004-03-01.
Designed to promote Monticello as a historical site, this exhibit offers a variety of educational and practical information. Materials allow viewers to explore Jefferson’s life at Monticello. Particularly interesting are the Day in the Life of Thomas Jefferson, where visitors can learn about a typical day’s activities for the 3rd president, and the Ask Thomas Jefferson features, where schoolchildren may submit questions to Mr. Jefferson. Researchers respond to questions in Jefferson’s voice, using his writings. By browsing the Day in the Life section, viewers can investigate 11 activities that Jefferson participated in nearly every day, from writing letters to farming. In addition, links within each activity provide further background on Jefferson’s family, his personality, and Monticello. Visitors may also take a virtual tour of Monticello, “visiting” up to 12 rooms in the mansion. The dimensions of the rooms are provided, as well as architectural information, color and design explanations, and a Quicktime panoramic movie. An image gallery contains 65 images, ranging from portraits of Jefferson to photographs of the mansion and grounds at Monticello to depictions of his inventions.
Listen to the audio review:
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2008-10-08.
The Franklin County Publication Archives Index
Barbara Stewart.
This resource was designed for researchers and genealogists interested in Franklin County, Massachusetts, or social history in the late 19th century. It provides more than 12,000 articles from January 1870 to September 1873, organized by a full-text index. Gathered from the Greenfield Courier and Gazette, the articles are searchable by subject, and address topics such as African Americans, birth control, crime, cults, immigration, food, and bicycling. The articles were chosen according to the interests of the site creator and emphasize social history and daily life. Information is also available on local court cases, cosmetics, fashion, and wife abuse. Article lengths vary from a few words to more than 700 words, but most are about 40 words. There are some explanatory comments and links within the text that provide biographical information of individuals and descriptions of 19th-century terminology, celebrations, or illnesses. The articles have been transcribed; original documents are not viewable. A valuable resource.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2008-10-08.
Barbara Stewart.
This resource was designed for researchers and genealogists interested in Franklin County, Massachusetts, or social history in the late 19th century. It provides more than 12,000 articles from January 1870 to September 1873, organized by a full-text index. Gathered from the Greenfield Courier and Gazette, the articles are searchable by subject, and address topics such as African Americans, birth control, crime, cults, immigration, food, and bicycling. The articles were chosen according to the interests of the site creator and emphasize social history and daily life. Information is also available on local court cases, cosmetics, fashion, and wife abuse. Article lengths vary from a few words to more than 700 words, but most are about 40 words. There are some explanatory comments and links within the text that provide biographical information of individuals and descriptions of 19th-century terminology, celebrations, or illnesses. The articles have been transcribed; original documents are not viewable. A valuable resource.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Website last visited on 2008-10-08.
Medicine and Madison Avenue
Ellen Gartrell, National Humanities Center, and Digital Scriptorium, Duke University .
This exhibit is designed to help users better understand the evolution and complexity of health-related marketing in the 20th century. The project contains two different kinds of historical sources: a selection of more than 600 health-related advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines from 1910 to 1960 and supplementary documents. The advertisements have been organized around 6 categories: Household Products (45 items); Over-the-Counter Drugs (194 items); Personal and Oral Hygiene (184 items); Vitamins and Tonics, Food, Nutrition and Diet Aids (157 items); Institutional and Pharmaceutical (43 items); and Cigarette Ads (1 item). The 35 supplementary text documents include scanned images of internal reports from marketing companies, American Medical Association reports and editorials, Federal Trade Commission archival records, transcripts of 1930s radio commercials, and articles from medical journals. The project is designed for teachers and students in secondary schools, universities, and medical and public health programs. There are suggestions for how to use these primary documents in the classroom, including materials for case studies on Fleischmann’s Yeast, Listerine, and Scott Tissue. Users will also find the 85-item bibliography beneficial. This is an essential site for anyone interested in the history of modern advertising and modern medicine.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-09-24.
Ellen Gartrell, National Humanities Center, and Digital Scriptorium, Duke University .
This exhibit is designed to help users better understand the evolution and complexity of health-related marketing in the 20th century. The project contains two different kinds of historical sources: a selection of more than 600 health-related advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines from 1910 to 1960 and supplementary documents. The advertisements have been organized around 6 categories: Household Products (45 items); Over-the-Counter Drugs (194 items); Personal and Oral Hygiene (184 items); Vitamins and Tonics, Food, Nutrition and Diet Aids (157 items); Institutional and Pharmaceutical (43 items); and Cigarette Ads (1 item). The 35 supplementary text documents include scanned images of internal reports from marketing companies, American Medical Association reports and editorials, Federal Trade Commission archival records, transcripts of 1930s radio commercials, and articles from medical journals. The project is designed for teachers and students in secondary schools, universities, and medical and public health programs. There are suggestions for how to use these primary documents in the classroom, including materials for case studies on Fleischmann’s Yeast, Listerine, and Scott Tissue. Users will also find the 85-item bibliography beneficial. This is an essential site for anyone interested in the history of modern advertising and modern medicine.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2007-09-24.
Studs Terkel: Conversations with America
Chicago Historical Society .
See JAH web review by Clifford M. Kuhn.
Reviewed 2004-09-01.
Part of the digital repository, Historical Voices, this site was created in honor of Studs Terkel, the noted oral historian, radio host of “The Studs Terkel Program,” and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Dedicated to making Terkel’s 50 years of work available, it presents material pulled from approximately 5,000 hours of sound recordings. The seven galleries—The Studs Terkel Program; Division Street: America; Hard Times; The Good War; Race; Talking to Myself; and Greatest Hits—center on the extensive interviews Terkel completed for the radio show and his books and contain more than 400 audio clips of interviews. Most of the interviews are about 15 minutes in length and explore diverse subjects, including Chicago architecture, urban landscape, immigrants, street life, the 1929 stock market crash, organized labor, New Deal programs, race relations, and integration. Interviewees include Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright and labor activist Cesar Chavez as well as men and women on a train to Washington D.C. for the 1963 Civil Rights March. Sound recordings are searchable by date, keyword, or author. Complementing this site is an educational section intended to help students and teachers use oral history in the classroom and a 55-minute interview with Terkel. This well-designed site offers a rich history of many influential, as well as lesser-known, personalities living in the second half of the 20th century and is beneficial to anyone interested in the Great Depression, World War II, race relations, and labor issues.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-24.
Chicago Historical Society .
See JAH web review by Clifford M. Kuhn.
Reviewed 2004-09-01.
Part of the digital repository, Historical Voices, this site was created in honor of Studs Terkel, the noted oral historian, radio host of “The Studs Terkel Program,” and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. Dedicated to making Terkel’s 50 years of work available, it presents material pulled from approximately 5,000 hours of sound recordings. The seven galleries—The Studs Terkel Program; Division Street: America; Hard Times; The Good War; Race; Talking to Myself; and Greatest Hits—center on the extensive interviews Terkel completed for the radio show and his books and contain more than 400 audio clips of interviews. Most of the interviews are about 15 minutes in length and explore diverse subjects, including Chicago architecture, urban landscape, immigrants, street life, the 1929 stock market crash, organized labor, New Deal programs, race relations, and integration. Interviewees include Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright and labor activist Cesar Chavez as well as men and women on a train to Washington D.C. for the 1963 Civil Rights March. Sound recordings are searchable by date, keyword, or author. Complementing this site is an educational section intended to help students and teachers use oral history in the classroom and a 55-minute interview with Terkel. This well-designed site offers a rich history of many influential, as well as lesser-known, personalities living in the second half of the 20th century and is beneficial to anyone interested in the Great Depression, World War II, race relations, and labor issues.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO, VIDEO.
Website last visited on 2007-09-24.
The Sonic Memorial Project
Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva.
This is an ambitious project that details the history of the World Trade Centers and September 11th through sound. Originally started by NPR’s Kitchen Sisters who host the radio program “Lost and Found Sound,” this site harnesses the strengths of many organizations involved in image, audio, and video archiving such as Picture Projects and the September 11th Digital Archive. To date they have received more than 1,000 contributions from individuals and organizations that describe not just the thoughts or memories of September 11th survivors, but also narrations of events—such as weddings—that took place in the Towers. The site also contains a section for educators with six curriculum modules of two to three lessons each. In sum, this is an multi-sensory site that engages modern history and its impact on modern America.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2003-07-22.
Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva.
This is an ambitious project that details the history of the World Trade Centers and September 11th through sound. Originally started by NPR’s Kitchen Sisters who host the radio program “Lost and Found Sound,” this site harnesses the strengths of many organizations involved in image, audio, and video archiving such as Picture Projects and the September 11th Digital Archive. To date they have received more than 1,000 contributions from individuals and organizations that describe not just the thoughts or memories of September 11th survivors, but also narrations of events—such as weddings—that took place in the Towers. The site also contains a section for educators with six curriculum modules of two to three lessons each. In sum, this is an multi-sensory site that engages modern history and its impact on modern America.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2003-07-22.
A New Deal for Carbon Hill, Alabama
New Deal Network.
In 1938, William Pryor set out in search of a small town success story that could illustrate the success of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal relief program. Pryor, Chief of the Photographic Section of the Works Progress Administration’s Division of Information Service, initiated a project to document the coal mining community of Carbon Hill, Alabama. This site includes an 1,100 word introduction, a slide show of 43 “story telling photographs” and six documents related to Pryor’s visit to Carbon Hill. Many of the photographs are portraits of Carbon Hill citizens, including an African American preacher, a mother and child, and a gasoline station attendant, each complemented by short quotes from the individuals about the impact of the WPA program on their lives. The six documents include a 400-word press release describing the duties of the Photographic Section of the WFA, a 1,600 word brief prepared by the City of Carbon Hill describing WFA relief projects, and a 1,500 word descriptive essay by Pryor recounting the economic difficulties of the Alabama community. This site documents the impact of the Roosevelt Administration’s national program on a small southern community.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2002-11-26.
New Deal Network.
In 1938, William Pryor set out in search of a small town success story that could illustrate the success of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal relief program. Pryor, Chief of the Photographic Section of the Works Progress Administration’s Division of Information Service, initiated a project to document the coal mining community of Carbon Hill, Alabama. This site includes an 1,100 word introduction, a slide show of 43 “story telling photographs” and six documents related to Pryor’s visit to Carbon Hill. Many of the photographs are portraits of Carbon Hill citizens, including an African American preacher, a mother and child, and a gasoline station attendant, each complemented by short quotes from the individuals about the impact of the WPA program on their lives. The six documents include a 400-word press release describing the duties of the Photographic Section of the WFA, a 1,600 word brief prepared by the City of Carbon Hill describing WFA relief projects, and a 1,500 word descriptive essay by Pryor recounting the economic difficulties of the Alabama community. This site documents the impact of the Roosevelt Administration’s national program on a small southern community.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES.
Website last visited on 2002-11-26.
The Connecticut Historical Society
Connecticut Historical Society.
A non-profit museum, library, and education center, the Connecticut Historical Society offers an abundance of resources through its website. Its collections document the cultural, social, political, economic, and military history of Connecticut. The Costumes and Textile exhibit is worth visiting. Its four galleries highlight several of the earliest pieces in the vast collection, dating from about 1730 to the mid-1830s. Users can examine three garments worn during the American Revolution, three rare articles indicative of 18th-century everyday dress, three dresses, and even undergarments. Within the Graphic Collection, six selected drawings of John Warner Barber and four drawings of Joseph Ropes' extensive mid-nineteenth century collection are available. The Print Collection offers six Daniel Wright Kellogg lithographs. The digital library allows online access to nearly 15,000 additional historic images. In addition to the collections, the site presents 11 online exhibits. The exhibit "Greater Hartford’s West Indians“, documents the history of the British West Indian community in Connecticut. Other online exhibits include ”Early American Tavern and Inn Signs," "Hartford in the 1850s," "Connecticut in the Jazz Age." This well organized website illustrates the changes in the people, events, and environment of Connecticut.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2008-10-09.
Connecticut Historical Society.
A non-profit museum, library, and education center, the Connecticut Historical Society offers an abundance of resources through its website. Its collections document the cultural, social, political, economic, and military history of Connecticut. The Costumes and Textile exhibit is worth visiting. Its four galleries highlight several of the earliest pieces in the vast collection, dating from about 1730 to the mid-1830s. Users can examine three garments worn during the American Revolution, three rare articles indicative of 18th-century everyday dress, three dresses, and even undergarments. Within the Graphic Collection, six selected drawings of John Warner Barber and four drawings of Joseph Ropes' extensive mid-nineteenth century collection are available. The Print Collection offers six Daniel Wright Kellogg lithographs. The digital library allows online access to nearly 15,000 additional historic images. In addition to the collections, the site presents 11 online exhibits. The exhibit "Greater Hartford’s West Indians“, documents the history of the British West Indian community in Connecticut. Other online exhibits include ”Early American Tavern and Inn Signs," "Hartford in the 1850s," "Connecticut in the Jazz Age." This well organized website illustrates the changes in the people, events, and environment of Connecticut.
Resources Available: TEXT, IMAGES, AUDIO.
Website last visited on 2008-10-09.
“Hearty Big Strong Men All Died”: The Lasting Impact of the Silicosis “Plague” in the 1930s
Helen Raymond/Laurie Mercier.
Silicosis, a deadly lung disease caused when workers inhale fine particles of silica dust (found in sand, quartz, and granite), became a national cause célèbre during the Great Depression when it was recognized as a significant disease among lead, zinc, and silver miners, sandblasters, and foundry and tunnel workers. While silicosis was a crisis for the federal government, business, and insurance companies as well as labor organizations, its most devastating effects were on the workers who contracted the disease and the families and communities who watched previously healthy men waste away and die. The lasting impact that the silicosis “plague” had on individual workers’ lives in the 1930s is evident here in Laurie Mercier’s 1981 interview with Helen Raymond, who opened a tavern that catered to miners in Virginia City, Montana, in 1934.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Helen Raymond/Laurie Mercier.
Silicosis, a deadly lung disease caused when workers inhale fine particles of silica dust (found in sand, quartz, and granite), became a national cause célèbre during the Great Depression when it was recognized as a significant disease among lead, zinc, and silver miners, sandblasters, and foundry and tunnel workers. While silicosis was a crisis for the federal government, business, and insurance companies as well as labor organizations, its most devastating effects were on the workers who contracted the disease and the families and communities who watched previously healthy men waste away and die. The lasting impact that the silicosis “plague” had on individual workers’ lives in the 1930s is evident here in Laurie Mercier’s 1981 interview with Helen Raymond, who opened a tavern that catered to miners in Virginia City, Montana, in 1934.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
“Right After That They Walked Out”: Alice Wolfson Recalls the Origins of the CIO
Alice Dodge Wolfson/Charlie Potter and Beth Friend.
John L. Lewis’ dramatic walkout from the October 1935 American Federation of Labor (AFL) convention and the creation of the Committee for Industrial Organization (later the Congress of Industrial Organizations) that soon followed marked a new stage in labor’s drive to organize industrial unions in depression-era America. Here Alice Dodge Wolfson, who was working as a stenographer in 1935, recalled her own contribution to the Lewis walkout and the creation of the CIO. Attending the October 1935 AFL convention in Atlantic City as a delegate from her stenographers local of the United Office and Professional Workers Union (a left-wing New York union aligned with the supporters of industrial unionism around Lewis), Wolfson played a small but decisive role in helping launch the CIO when she rose to challenge an AFL official from the convention floor.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Alice Dodge Wolfson/Charlie Potter and Beth Friend.
John L. Lewis’ dramatic walkout from the October 1935 American Federation of Labor (AFL) convention and the creation of the Committee for Industrial Organization (later the Congress of Industrial Organizations) that soon followed marked a new stage in labor’s drive to organize industrial unions in depression-era America. Here Alice Dodge Wolfson, who was working as a stenographer in 1935, recalled her own contribution to the Lewis walkout and the creation of the CIO. Attending the October 1935 AFL convention in Atlantic City as a delegate from her stenographers local of the United Office and Professional Workers Union (a left-wing New York union aligned with the supporters of industrial unionism around Lewis), Wolfson played a small but decisive role in helping launch the CIO when she rose to challenge an AFL official from the convention floor.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Suspicion of Subversion: Congressional Conservatives Attack the Federal Theater Project
Eric Bentley.
Part of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was one indication of the breadth of that program. Perhaps best known for its trenchant political satire and innovative presentations, the FTP actually represented a much broader range of activity. But the FTP’s mandate proved fragile. When the House Committee on Un-American Activities was established in May 1938, one of its first targets was the FTP, which it labeled a subversive organization. When FTP director Hallie Flanagan testified before HUAC in December 1938, she fought back against these attacks. But the FTP still fell victim to the Congressional cuts.
Resources Available: TEXT.
Eric Bentley.
Part of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was one indication of the breadth of that program. Perhaps best known for its trenchant political satire and innovative presentations, the FTP actually represented a much broader range of activity. But the FTP’s mandate proved fragile. When the House Committee on Un-American Activities was established in May 1938, one of its first targets was the FTP, which it labeled a subversive organization. When FTP director Hallie Flanagan testified before HUAC in December 1938, she fought back against these attacks. But the FTP still fell victim to the Congressional cuts.
Resources Available: TEXT.
“It Was a Wildly Exciting Time”: Milton Meltzer Remembers the New Deal’s Federal Theatre Project
Milton Meltzer/Elizabeth C. Stevens.
Part of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was one indication of the breadth of that program. Governments, including that of the United States, had long been important patrons of the arts, but New Deal support for art was unprecedented in American political life. Like the other New Deal arts projects, the FTP treated creative endeavors as work; it used government funds to hire unemployed actors, stage hands, and playwrights Perhaps best known for its trenchant political satire and innovative presentations, the FTP actually represented a much broader range of activity. Its productions included classics of the dramatic repertoire by such playwrights as Euripides and Shakespeare; foreign-language plays; and contemporary dramas. In an interview done in 1978 by Elizabeth C. Stevens, Milton Meltzer remembered the vibrant, creative energy along with the political controversies that he witnessed during his stint as a publicist for the New York unit of the FTP.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.
Milton Meltzer/Elizabeth C. Stevens.
Part of the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was one indication of the breadth of that program. Governments, including that of the United States, had long been important patrons of the arts, but New Deal support for art was unprecedented in American political life. Like the other New Deal arts projects, the FTP treated creative endeavors as work; it used government funds to hire unemployed actors, stage hands, and playwrights Perhaps best known for its trenchant political satire and innovative presentations, the FTP actually represented a much broader range of activity. Its productions included classics of the dramatic repertoire by such playwrights as Euripides and Shakespeare; foreign-language plays; and contemporary dramas. In an interview done in 1978 by Elizabeth C. Stevens, Milton Meltzer remembered the vibrant, creative energy along with the political controversies that he witnessed during his stint as a publicist for the New York unit of the FTP.
Resources Available: TEXT, AUDIO.