NEW MEXICO | NATIONAL | OTHER

NATIONAL NNDPA ACTIVITIES
2008---NEW DEVELOPMENTS

New Website just for New Deal 75th Anniversary Activities: Go to www.newdeal75.org or www.newdeal75.com to get information about activities as they develop. The purpose of this 75th New Deal anniversary is to honor the participants in the New Deal; provide the opportunity for research, documentation, preservation, and renovation of America’s New Deal heritage, including buildings, sites, the arts, social and economic programs still in place today; recognition of the nation’s 75 year old infrastructure still in use; and include events in all 50 states that educate the public about New Deal programs and their enduring impact on American life.

Previous news:

Feb.21st, 2006--CLEVELAND, OH
The University Center Street Post Office was re-dedicated after being closed for some time due to the roof collapsing. The building and the New Deal murals had been restored and were featured that day. Dallan Wordekemper, board member, was present for the event.

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NNDPA to Colorado
NNDPA were in attendance at the Colorado Preservation Inc.'s Annual Historic Preservation Conference held February 8-10, 2006 in Denver, and many heard more about us and 2008 plans. On May 3 we spoke at a conference in Colorado Springs.

Kathy Flynn, Executive Director, met with key people in Colorado and began making plans for their 2008 celebration of the 75th anniversary. Dana Crawford, "Ms. Denver Preservation", hosted a lunch meeting at the Oxford Hotel. At the meeting the group came up with a compilation of the New Deal treasures they had in their collections and agreed to pursue how they would showcase them either separately or in some unified fashion. Later Flynn spoke with a college class about the history of our national parks and the New Deal.

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NNDPA to Georgia
Chris Breiseth, board member, attended the April 12 annual gathering at Warm Springs, GA. He had a chance to mention our 2008 plans there.

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Meeting with Executive Board of Directors of the NCSHPO
Kathy Flynn met with the Executive Board of Directors of the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers to invite their organization to join us in the 2008 celebration. NNDPA board member Dallan Wordekemper, from the USPS, spoke to the entire group, which represents all states, at the end of February.

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NNDPA to 2006 National Trust Conference, Pennsylvania
Glory Southwind, President, Charles Nuckolls, secretary, Betty Senior, member, and Kathy Flynn attended the 2006 National Trust Conference held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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NNDPA to New Mexico
Kathy Flynn met with the thirteen New Mexico Mainstreet community directors to invite them to develop plans in their communities around the 75th anniversary in 2008. They all agreed to have the existing traveling photo exhibit and other events throughout the year.

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PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY DIRECTORS AND LIBRARIANS
This group met in May and Breiseth and Cynthia Koch, FERI Librarian, brought up the 2008 plans with attendees and encouraged them to also participate.

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“75th Commemoration for 2008” Planning Group Met Mid-May:
Hollywood, MD’s Placid Harbor was the site of a planning group gathering to solidify desired goals for the 75th Commemoration of the New Deal Legacy in 2008. It was a follow up to earlier meetings held Nov. 2005. The theme will be America’s New Deal Heritage and we hope to kick off a variety of events and other commemorative experiences on March 31, 2008 which was the date in 1933 when FDR signed the first legislation to put the first New Deal programs in place. We will encourage any others interested in this segment of our nation’s heritage to also develop their own related activities but the NNDPA is planning to do the following:
*Program Activities:

1. Traveling Photo Exhibits—Reproductions of the New Deal FSA photos will comprise existing photo exhibits that will be available to travel. Let us let us know if you want to have an exhibit come to your local, state or regional public site. They could be a compliment to your own local New Deal treasures to be displayed.
   
   
2. Heritage Tourism Maps of New Deal sites—Most State Historic Preservation Offices have this information and we hope that they will be able to develop their information into map form to be distributed nationwide encouraging tourism across the country.
   
   
3. State Guidebooks- Encourage the republication and updating of those state guidebooks created by the New Deal’s Federal Writers Project in those states where such an activity has not already been done.
   
   
4. National Conference(s) and Symposia—
   
   
   1. Hyde Park, NY—
      1. “The Meaning of the New Deal” –national speakers on this subject as well as the university student spokespersons for the Roosevelt Institution, a New Deal Policy think-tank group in 35 universities nationwide.
         
         
   2. Washington, DC –
      1. National speakers at a conference
      2. Commemoration ceremony at the FDR Memorials—(yes, there are actually two in DC)!
      3. Honor the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) alumni and other living participants of New Deal programs (WPA, NYA, etc.)
      4. Events Highlighting the numerous New Deal structures and archives in DC
      5. National Book Festival possibly at the Library of Congress
      6. National Film Festival—feature films of the 1933-43 Depression Period. This could be done locally as well as in DC.
         
         
5. Professional Annual Conferences—We hope related professional organizations will feature their New Deal history at their annual conferences nationwide in 2008.
   

*Educational Activities:

1. New Website: Check it out as it hopefully becomes a great network of information.
   
   
2. Oral History Projects: Capture the stories of those who participated in the New Deal.
   
   
3. New Deal Curricula and related educational materials—Please let us know of any of these existing educational materials.
   
   
4. Local Planning Handbook—Develop an online guide (PDF) for local participation in the national commemoration including lots of ideas for events; how to develop programming partnerships with other community entities; list of contacts of people will to present public programs (let us know of those you are aware of).
   
   
5. Roosevelt Institution Policy Projects: Student members from 35 universities across the country will work on policy papers on a variety of New Deal subjects that can be presented a later conference and distributed nationwide.
   
   

*Funding Sources Needed:
We are accepting partnership opportunities with corporations, organizations, other non-profits groups, municipalities, public institutions and private citizens who share our goals for this celebration. Contact NNDPA at P. O. Box 602, Santa Fe, NM 87504, Email to newdeal@cybermesa.com, Phone 505) 473-3985 or cell 505) 690-5845.
*Publicity/Media Relations/Outreach: Public awareness avenues will be critical to this commemorative project. Any and all related and responsible donations which could benefit the donor as well as the project will be accepted.

*Publicity/Media Relations/Outreach:
EARLIER PLANNING MEETINGS HELD IN NEW MEXICO, HYDE PARK and WASHINGTON IN 2005 ABOUT THE 75th COMMEMORATION.


EARLIER PLANNING MEETING HELD IN 2005 FOR THE 75TH COMMEMORATION OF THE NEW DEAL-2008

IVERSARY COMCEPT AND ENCOURAGED REP_ &%TH Anniversary comcept and encouraged repres5th Anniversary comcept and encouraged represeth Anniversary comcept and encouraged representatives from different agencies anm Governmor celebration. We then met wit hthe NM Governmor celebration. We then met wit hthe NM Governmor celebration. We then met with the NM Governor and Secretary of State and other state and national agencies within the state. After this meeting, some of the national board members went to Hyde Park and Washington and met with key agency heads and representatives.

NOW... WE ENCOURAGE WEBSITE VIEWERS AND NEW DEAL AFICIANADOS TO JOIN US BY DOING ANY OR ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS WHERE YOU ARE!

1. Help us identify all the Native American artists nationwide that were involved with the New Deal projects. Also any of the artists--no matter whether living or deceased.
2. Help us identify any US Congress persons and Senators that are interested and supportive of the New Deal program---particularly any Republicans that could support the Democrats in plans brought before either/both bodies.
3. Help us develop plans for a nationwide "Night of New Deal Illumination" with lights turned on all over the country in buildings and sites (parks, dams, etc.) created during the New Deal and publicity about this "Night of New Deal Illumination."
4. Help us develop activities in conjunction with National History Day, a program sponsored by state historical societies across the nation. Have students develop papers, documentaries, etc. around the New Deal in 2008 and have their national event also focus on that.
5. Encourage state Humanities Councils to get this on their 2008 agendas.
6. Help us locate professional organizations that have a tie to New Deal, oral histories, art, preservation, literature, theater, music, or any of the New Deal program categories.
   

2007

NNDPA Board Member, Chris Breiseth, has returned to his earlier position as President of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park.  They have a number of Roosevelt activities coming up there and we recommend you check out their website for specifics. On June 15, there was an unveiling of a restored bust of Winston Churchill which was one of the highlights of the Roosevelt-Churchill seminar held at FERI. Reportedly these two great men met at Hyde Park on more than one occasion.

 

Two men have joined the NNDPA National Board.  They are Frankie Mewborn and Harvey Smith.  Mewborn was formerly the director of the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia but now is Regional 2 Director of the Georgia State Parks.  Smith is a teacher of independent studies and alternative school programs in the Oakland Unified School District and a Project Advisor to the Living New Deal Project in Berkeley that is guided by Gray Brechin, another NNDPA board member.

 

James Leslie, retired labor educator, recently resigned from the NNDPA board due to personal setbacks he had not planned on when he retired.  That was a disappointment particularly for him but also NNDPA.

 

Board member, Joseph Plaud, has recently dealt with a major upset in his life when his FDR Museum in Worcester, MA ran into a need to change its plans for the future as the result of the city deciding to use the museum space for another purpose.  The Roosevelt preservationists rallied to help him turn the position around in Worcester but instead he has been offered a most significant space in Chicopee, MA instead.  The museum will therefore be moved to a new town and open again on March 4, 2008 in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the date FDR was inaugurated for his first term. 

 

Presentations by staff and board members at various conferences so far in 2007 include:

            National Council on Public History

            New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance

 

Three New Mexico art conservators, Patricia Morris, Luis Neri-Zagal and Steve Prins, were honored in May at the Historical Society of NM Annual Meeting for their contributions to historic preservation in the state.  All three have for the past years been contracted by our NM chapter of NNDPA to conserve, preserve or restore New Deal art around the state. 

 

To Warm Springs: Early spring found NNDPA board members at Warm Springs, GA for the annual April 12th commemoration of the death of FDR at the Little White House.  Atwood, Brechin, Breiseth, Flynn, Plaud, Smith and Southwind found it to be as memorable an event as has been annually reported by Breiseth and Plaud.  This year there was also an unveiling of a new statue of FDR in the Pine Mountain State Park near Warm Springs. The unique statue of FDR sitting on the backseat of his car and with his leg braces in full view on the outside of his pants was taken directly from Roosevelt's actual Warm Springs life.  He frequently had the Secret Servicemen remove the backseat of his car, place it so he could sit and look over the heavily forested vista below. This seemed to help him be at peace and possibly also to come up with solutions to major problems he was facing. Author Jonathan Alter, Newsweek Senior Editor and author of a recent book about FDR, The Defining Moment, was the guest speaker at the Little White House ceremony.

2006

Members of this organization have recently been on the programs or had an exhibit at the following conferences and events to share about the 2008 event:

• Warm Springs, GA Annual Celebration—Chris Breiseth spoke on FDR.
  
  
• National Trust for Historic Preservation—Portland, OR
  
  
• Southwest Oral History Annual Conference-25th Annual: Albuquerque, NM
  Panel about New Deal Oral Histories and the Federal Writers Project
  
  
• Colorado Preservation Inc. Annual Conference—Denver, CO
  
  
• Colorado Springs, CO Chapter presented about their restoration of two murals in the Civic Auditorium and later won awards from organizations for this accomplishment.
  
  
• NM Heritage Preservation Alliance Annual Conference—Gallup, NM
  
  
• NM Historical Society Annual Conference—Albuquerque, NM
  
  
• Bandelier National Monument 60th Anniversary Events:
  “Women in the New Deal Projects”
  “New Deal and Bandelier”
  
  
• Southwest Art History Conference—Taos, NM
  Colorado Springs, CO Chapter presented about their restoration of two murals in the City Auditorium
  
  
• Roosevelt University-Chicago
  Mid-West Regional Chapter co-sponsored a series of lectures
  
  
• Cleveland, OH - US Postal Service Building
  Dalan Wordekemper, national board member and USPS staff in charge of all USPS murals and art, was present at the re-dedication of the University Center Street Post Office after beign closed for some time due to the roof collapsing. The building and New Deal murals were restored and featured that day.
  
  
• Worcester, MS - FDR American Heritage Center Museum - Numerous New Deal related articles continue to be shared on the internet by this site thanks to boad member, Dr. Joseph Plaud.

If you can help with any of the above queries, please email to newdeal@cybermesa.com or call (505) 690-5845 or 473-3985.