WHAT DO WE NEED IN 2005 TO CARRY OUT OUR MISSION?

We, like all non-profit organizations, need a variety of things to carry out our mission. We realize there are many of us out there asking for your financial and volunteer support, but we will continue to ask because we believe what we are doing is important to do in relation to preserving a segment of the history of this country that is not well known. Likewise we can learn from this era and apply its lessons to our lives today.
We are looking for the following to help us at the National Office and in local areas:

• Financial support
• Volunteer grant writers
• Volunteer secretarial help with computer skills
• Data entry assistant
• Traveling Photo Exhibit Coordinator (Volunteer)
• Volunteer Newsletter Editor
• Oral History interviewers

Researchers dedicated New Deal interested folks to get NNDPA chapters or groups started all over the nation in order to preserve our New Deal treasures of all kinds.

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED. THANKS!

Midwest Regional in Chicago-
This group has co-sponsored with Roosevelt University a series of New Deal lectures and als osponsored two tours of the home of New Deal artist, Edgar Miller. The restoration of new Deal murals in one of the city's Field Houses was also featured by the group's President, Heather Becker.

Mid West Regional - Illinois: http://www.wpamurals.com/nndpa.htm

One of our most exciting projects has been the discovery of a painted over mural at Hawthorne Option School in Vernon Hills - only months before the building was set for demolition. Thanks to an article on one of our mural projects in a neighboring school district, local preservations were inspired to take "one last look" throughout the building to ensure that nothing was being overlooked - and found a WPA-Era mural (previously considered destroyed) featuring scenes from children's literature hidden behind a dropped ceiling. This mural has now been removed from the school building and is in secure storage awaiting the construction of a new school location. The discovery and preservation of this piece has further inspired the preservation society to remove additional period fixtures to the building prior to its June demolition, which will be reset into place into a newly planned "historic classroom" in the new school building, whose centerpiece will be the rediscovered mural.We are also particularly pleased to announce that work has begun on a two-year joint partnership with the Chicago Park District to restore 52 Progressive- and New Deal-Era murals in 11 Park Field Houses located throughout Chicago. Fundraising for this project has been underway for the past year, and the generous support of sponsors including LaSalle Bank, the Driehaus Foundation, the Chauncey & Marion McCormick Foundation, the Libra Foundation and the Blum-Kovler Foundation, as well as the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, allowed us to begin work on the mural series in most critical condition, the 18 works at Sherman Park Fieldhouse in Englewood. This initial phase of the project - which represents over a quarter of the total project budget -is expected to last until October, when we hope to begin work on two WPA murals at Eugene Park Field House in Ravenswood.

Another exciting project, completed in the spring, was the restoration to full view of a WPA mural series at Gorton Community Center (formerly Gorton Elementary School) in Lake Forest. This set of four murals, "Air" "Water" "Fire" and "Earth" were painted in 1936 by Ralph Henriksen - only to be painted over in the 1960's by the school principal as part of a 'school beautification' effort. Considered destroyed even by the artist himself, they were rediscovered when the director of the then community center, Gail Hodges, was sent a photograph of the murals as they originally appeared in the auditorium and, going to inspect the area, noticed the grain of the mural canvas underneath the wall paint. After a four-year fundraising effort, work began in October of last year to remove the four layers of overpaint obscuring the images, which were fully unveiled in a ceremony marking the project's completion in April.In addition to these projects, work continues with the Chicago Public Schools towards the restoration of their mural collection. Over 400 have been treated to date, with a dozen sites remaining. Our most recent project was the restoration of all three panels of Florian Durzynski's painted-over "Landscape" at Christopher Columbus Elementary School. Originally thought to cover only the back wall of the auditorium stage, during treatment it was found to cover all three stage walls, covered variously by layers of paint, drywall, and combinations of the two. We have also been working actively towards the preservation of the local Post Office Treasury SECTION mural collection, including work on murals at both the Elmhurst and Wilmette Post
Offices.

Colorado Springs, Colorado-
This chapter has been receiving community based awards for the restoration of the two murals in the Civic Auditorium. They are now beginning to do research about the New Deal treasures to be identified in southern Colorado.

New Mexico :

A fresco by Olive Rush in Santa Fe, New Mexico was recently restored at the state's History Library which originally was the city's public library. The restoration of a large triptych by Randall Davey was restored and recently hung in the New Mexico State Capitol along with the restoration of a bronze bust of U.S. Senator Bronson Cutting by Bruce Saville.

Colorado:

Colorado Springs, CO murals:  The Colorado Springs chapter recently had a most interesting program featuring the reading of personal correspondence of muralist, Archie Musick.  Musick was the artist for one of the two New Deal murals in the City Auditorium which were restored in the past two years by the  NNDPA Chapter there..

Reportedly, "the response was great. The letters were funny, some moving and they brought personalities as well as the issues of the time to life," noted the daughter of that muralist. What a great idea for a public gathering to educate about the New Deal and NNDPA!