WPA Vintage Posters

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WPA Vintage Posters,

The varied history of the WPA, or Works Progress Administration, is chronicled through a wide array of vintage WPA posters.  From advertisement to education, concert and theater announcements to travel suggestions, these vintage posters, produced by artists in the 1930s, are snapshots taken from daily life in the United States as it struggled to free itself from the thrall of the Great Depression.  The approximately fifty WPA vintage posters offered in our collection range widely in subject matter as well as artistic style.  

The WPA was launched in 1935 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Second New Deal”. The depression of the 1930’s as well as the advent of the phonograph, radio and movie industries left millions unemployed. Inspired by the Mexican muralists of the 1920’s, new progressive educational theories as well as a variety of other factors, the WPA sought to hire these unemployed workers in jobs that would aid the public good as well as utilize their skills. The WPA divided into five different divisions. These divisions were the Federal Art Project (FAP), the Federal Music Project (FMP), the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), the Federal Writer’s Project (FWP) and the Historical Records Survey (HRS).  The WPA vintage posters offered here were produced under the FAP program, and many of them served as advertisements for projects of the other divisions.     

During the height of the Federal Art Project in 1936, the administration employed 5,300 visual artists. These artists created murals, easel paintings, sculptures and posters that were displayed throughout the country at parks, hospitals, post offices and other public places. The FAP also employed art teachers at settlement homes and community centers who taught classes for children as well as adults. Many well-known artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Moses Soyer began their careers as workers in the FAP. 

Like the FAP, the Federal Music Project employed thousands of workers during its peak. The FMP created orchestras, choral and chamber groups, military and dance troupes as well as theatre orchestras. These groups performed 5,000 shows to approximately 3 million people each week. Most of the performances had local cosponsors (schools, colleges or local civic groups) that would charge a nominal admission fee to help cover the cost of the performances. Besides providing quality musical performances throughout the country, the FMP also created music classes in rural and urban areas.  The memory of events such as these is preserved in the colorful WPA vintage posters found here.  

The Federal Theatre Project, which provided wide access to theatre productions, was comprised of state units in 31 of the then 48 states.  Over the course of the agency’s history, the FTP produced 1,200 plays as well as introduced 100 new playwrights. Orson Welles, John Houseman, Burt Lancaster along with many others worked for the FTP.

The Federal Writer’s Project is most known for their American Guide Series, which produced in depth guidebooks for every state. The FWP also collected a priceless oral archive of former slaves and their experiences. Writers for the FWP included Ralph Ellison, Margaret Walker and Zora Neale Hurston.  The much smaller Historical Records Survey employed archivists to collect historical documents and records throughout the United States.

Although the WPA created a variety of jobs as well as opened cultural programs to the public, the program did suffer from significant flaws including internal problems, political intervention and censorship. The WPA became an easy target for both Republican and Democratic New Deal critics and in 1939 the House Appropriations Committee banned future use of WPA funds to support theater programs. The WPA  was also renamed the Works Projects Administration. The program continued beyond 1939, but was significantly transformed by the ensuing controversy. World War II stopped all federal subsidized artwork except for that which specifically related to the war effort. The WPA was formally ended by presidential proclamation in 1942.

Charlsie Medellin, 2004