Another poster that we've never seen before! This poster is not catalogued in the Library of Congress, so this addition brings our total in the virtual comprehensive archive up to 2269!

"It Can't Happen Here is a 1935 dystopian political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1930s United States, it follows an American politician, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who quickly rises to power to become the country's first outright dictator (in allusion to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany), and Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor who sees Windrip's fascist policies for what they are ahead of time and who becomes Windrip's most ardent critic. The novel was adapted into a play by Lewis and John C. Moffitt in 1936." from Wikipedia entry

The WPA Federal Theatre Project across the country staged this play. There are many posters that have been catalogued because they are in the Library of Congress, but this is new to us and not on record anywhere that we can find.

This brings our comprehensive total poster designs found up to 2268!

This is an important and timeless message, especially now, during the U.S. election season!

We've never seen this WPA poster for music classes from the Federal Music Project in New York City.

It's not catalogued by the Library of Congress. ⁠So, this brings our total on the virtual archive up to 2267!!!⁠
⁠
Help us celebrate by taking a look at this beauty. All of this type would have been done by hand and carefully cut out for #screenprinting⁠

Emily Scott recently interviewed her Grandpa Sidney Schnall for his 94th birthday about his childhood memories of Crotona Park. As a young boy, Sidney spent his summer days at the pool, which was opened in 1936. Crotona Park and all of its recreation areas in the Bronx, NY were built as part of WPA public projects from 1935-1938.

Watch this short for Sidney's memories at "Indian Pond" during Rosh Hashanah. 

As we reconnected to daily life in 2022, we continued to scour for any WPA posters that might be in private or public collections to add to our comprehensive online archive. This year, we found nine posters to add to the public record - bringing our current total up to 2266!

Many of them were gems about books and libraries, - and mostly from the Illinois WPA Art Project in Chicago - these new finds brought to light another new piece by Arlington Gregg that neither we nor his grandson Ed Walker had seen before!

In addition to those uncatalogued pieces, we also came across some exciting images from well-known artists.

Two new items by Dorothy Waugh added to the state and national park posters we have already documented.

We also found record of a poster for National Art Week signed by Boris Artzybasheff, a well-known surrealist best known for his magazine art. We have never seen record of Artzybasheff being a WPA artist in the NY Division, so we are not sure if he was every on the rolls of the WPA or if he was commissioned to do this piece as an already noted artist of the time.

Along with these new finds, was a rare image from the Connecticut WPA Poster Division that we've never seen before and isn't documented in any other public archival records.

We are excited to continue our search in 2023! And don't forget, if you see any posters out there marked "WPA" or "FEDERAL ART PROJECT" please help us document them for the archive. You can send a picture and tell us what you know by submitting to the archive here.

The transition to the job market from the domestic realm is carried along explicitly though building on household skills, which are then augmented with free training opportunities. ​

Another branch of the war effort was focused on combating espionage, and in these posters, a more even handed approach is evident. Women and men are both encouraged not to share information with each other. ​

In the meantime, let us end on a high note with an honorable mention to art and creativity. Many posters celebrate women as artists - and also as muses. I’m reminded of a previous year’s post from Ennis Carter about Celebrating Katherine Milhous, a prolific WPA artist and also the head of the Philadelphia FAP division. ​

Places for the People: WPA Travel Posters at Carpenters' Hall celebrates rare local posters created by the WPA Poster Division to promote tourism in and around Philadelphia. The curated exhibit of original posters from the Free Library's Print & Picture Collection brings to light many that have not been on public display for more than 80 years.

WPA Poster exhibit/talk with Ennis Carter, curator & author of Posters for the People and hands-on "print your own" screenprinting workshop of a newly discovered rare poster of Carpenters' Hall. 

To celebrate its connection to travel and tourism, Carpenters’ Hall will host a temporary exhibit of travel posters featuring iconic Philadelphia and Pennsylvania landmarks, including Carpenters’ Hall, Independence Hall, the Betsy Ross House and others. The posters, on loan from the Free Library of Philadelphia and from Carter's collection, were commissioned in the 1930s by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration and were created by leading graphic illustrators.

The “Places for the People” exhibit will run November 6 to December 20, 2020, at Carpenters’ Hall, 320 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. Admission to Carpenters’ Hall is free, and the exhibit can be viewed during the Hall’s regular public hours, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The Hall is closed to the public on Monday.

“Places for the People” was originally meant to run concurrently with the U.S. Travel Association’s National Travel & Tourism Week (May 3-9). The association’s theme for the week in 2020 is “#TravelWorks,” which emphasizes the significant economic impact and job creation generated by travel and tourism. “Places for the People” supports this theme beautifully since the WPA posters were created to stimulate these same benefits during the Great Depression.

For more information about “Places for the People” and Carpenters’ Hall, contact Michael Norris, Executive Director, at (215) 925-0167 or [email protected].