In preparing for the special exhibit at Peters Valley School of Craft we researched WPA-era arts and craft programs. We quickly learned about the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, one of the most remarkable of the period, which broke gender and color barriers during the Great Depression and employed thousands of working women producing handmade crafts.

That research led to a discovery new to the public record of posters made under the WPA: a hand blockprinted paper poster advertising an exhibition of work from the Milwaukee Handicraft Project itself. The newly documented piece brings the total number of posters recovered and preserved in the Posters for the People digital archive to 2,293.

Posters for the People: Art of the WPA exhibit opens at Peters Valley this weekend  Sept 19th and runs through October 25th, 2026. 

Want to donate by check?
Please make checks payable to “Fractured Atlas” and put “Posters for the People” in the memo of the check, then mail to:
Posters for the People: Art of the WPA
c/o Social Impact Studios
725 Bainbridge Street
1st Floor, Suite E
Philadelphia, PA 19147

Posters for the People: Art of the WPA is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Posters for the People: Art of the WPA must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

by Emily Scott, Sr. Publicity Activator, Social Impact Studios

​It’s the 90th Anniversary of the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project and we’re celebrating with a poster exhibit at Act II Playhouse – our long-time creative partner for which we designs production promotional material.

See the “Theatre for the People” poster exhibit in the lobby of Act II Playhouse. Celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the WPA Federal Theatre Project.
 
 WHEN: Aug 8th – Sept 7th, 2025
 HOURS: Mon-Sat 2pm – 6pm
 WHERE: Act II Playhouse, 56 E. Butler Ave. Ambler, PA 19002

THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT
Launched in August 1935 as part of FDR’s New Deal, the Federal Theatre Project (FTP) put thousands of theatre artists back to work during the Great Depression. For four years, the FTP produced affordable performances for over 30 million people across the U.S.—tackling urgent issues such as poverty, labor rights, and racism.

​While the program lasted only four years, its impact was profound. It democratized the arts and laid the groundwork for future public investment in culture. Many alumni went on to shape American theater, film, and television for decades to come, including Orson Welles, John Houseman, Eugene O’Neill, and Mary Chase.

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!!!⁠
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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