Links
Resources for online materials about Franklin D. Roosevelt, including biographies, lesson plans, study guides, information on FDR's legacy, and suggested readings on related topics
1800wheelchair.com/news/post/wisdom-from-a-wheelchair-an-fdr-resource-guide.aspx
Black Dome Press
http://www.blackdomepress.com
Information about CCC Camps in Florida from the Florida Parks Department
www.floridastateparks.org/history/ccc.cfm
Richard Marold portrayal of Franklin D. Roosevelt
www.fdrtoday.org
National Park Conservation Association
NPCA.org/
New Deal Art Registry
www.NewDealArtRegistry.org
California's Living New Deal project
http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu
WPA Murals
This site is a repository of information about New Deal public art, with a concentration on art in post offices.
New Deal Projects in East Kentucky
This PDF file includes a report on the effects of the Depression in Kentucky and an extensive catalogue of New Deal construction projects in the eastern part of the state. Published by the Kentucky Heritage Council in 2005.
The New Deal Network
The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (FERI) launched The New Deal
Network (NDN) in October, 1996 as a research and teaching resource on
the World Wide Web devoted to the public works and arts projects of the
New Deal. NDN is now based at the Institute for Learning Technologies (ILT)
at Columbia University.
E-mail: ndn@ilt.columbia.edu.
At the core of the NDN is a database (currently over 20,000 items) of photographs, political cartoons, and texts (speeches, letters, and other historic documents) from the New Deal period. Every few months the staff adds new "Features" which explore New Deal topics. Each feature contains a link to a curriculum kit in the "classroom" area of the site, which is especially designed for middle and high school teachers and students. NDN invites teachers and students to document WPA and CCC projects in their communities and to report their findings by producing their own Web pages linked to NDN. By employing the Internet in this manner, NDN will be creating a national learning community on the history of the New Deal period, which will have both educational and policy-making value.
The NDN staff consists of Thomas Thurston, an historian who serves as the Project Director, and Dick Parsons, a curriculum developer. John Sears, Executive Director of FERI, acts as Executive Producer.
Greenbelt Museum
Greenbelt, Maryland, is a planned community that was designed and built by the
Federal Government during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Under
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the project put many unemployed
people to work building the original town while creating homes for
families of modest income during a severe housing shortage. Greenbelt's
team of prominent planners and architects attempted to create a small
utopia, using the principles of garden city planning. Greenbelt is one
of three federal "greentowns," the others are
Greendale, WI, and Greenhills, OH. In 1997 Greenbelt became a National
Historic landmark.
The Greenbelt Museum includes an original International Style house near the town's center that is restored and furnished with objects from the period of 1936-1946. The home also includes objects associated with the everyday life of a middle-class family during these years such as Fiesta ware and depression glass dishware, kitchen utensils, children's toys, clothes, and linens. The Museum is open Sundays, 1-5 pm and by special request.
The Greenbelt Museum provides interpretive exhibitions in the Art Deco style Community Center at 15 Crescent Road. The Center's outer wall features dramatic friezes depicting the preamble to the Constitution created by New Deal sculptress Lenore Thomas Strauss. Exhibitions explore topics such as domestic arts and Greenbelt's architecture. The Community Center is open daily from 9 am-6 pm.
The Library of Congress has started a new American Memory collection of WPA posters
The collection, which has an official title of "By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943," contains 907 of the approximately 2,000 WPA Federal Art Project Posters that are still in existence. (About 35,000 were around at one time, so it is clear that most of them have been lost.) You can search the collection by keyword, or browse by subject or artist. Each listing has a thumbnail picture of the graphic, with artist and poster information. Clicking on the thumbnail gives you a larger picture with varying options for even larger pictures (like 32MB TIF archivable files!).
Post Office Preservation
Save the Post Office was organized in response to the U.S. Postal Service's plans to close thousands of post offices and mail handling facilities and sell many of the properties. This advocacy site has news on post office closures, including many New Deal structures and facilities with New Deal art in them.
FDR Library places 10,000 Documents Online
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/safe.html
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library & Museum
In an absolute boon to scholars and students, the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library has recently announced the release of some 10,000
digitized documents, 6,000 of which are pages that had been locked in
FDR's White House safe (Safe Files); the remainder come from the Vatican
Files and German Diplomatic Files. The documents are offered as both
digitized originals and text files.
The Safe Files may be browsed by box (of six) and topic. Each topic heading indicates number of items, document types, and topics covered. The Vatican Files may be keyword-searched (all returns display in full-text on a single page) or browsed by box and topic. The German files are browseable by box and topic. While some copies of the original versions were unavailable at the time of initial review, they were accessible on subsequent visits. Additional resources at the FDR Library site include a collection of thousands of copyright-free photos, a K-12 Learning Center, finding aids, and related links, among others. Without a doubt, this is one of the finest online presidential libraries.
The Internet Moving Images Archive
This resource contains high-quality digital video files representing
ephemeral (advertising, educational, industrial, documentary, amateur
and government) films relevant to the study of 20th-century American
culture and society, media and media production, communication,
technology, landscape, urban history, economics, political science,
warfare, the New Deal, and many other subject areas. At present it
contains approximately 360 out of a planned total of 1001 titles, all
from Prelinger Archives. All are available for free downloading and
reuse, with no restrictions other than that the films cannot be resold
or licensed by anyone in their entirety or as stock footage. Our
intention is that these titles should circulate freely as
"open-source" content -- Rick Prelinger, Prelinger Archives footage@panix.com
Please note, these films may not be accessible to Internet users with slower connections.
History of the Dust Bowl
This page on the website of the Cimarron Heritage Center Museum has a short history of the Dust Bowl. The museum site's home page can be reached here. The museum is located in Boise City, OK, telephone 580-544-3479.
JAMES F. JUSTIN CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS MUSEUM
This site has a vast number of resources on the CCC, more than I had time to
review. Includes a history, anecdotes exhibit, CCC biographies
collection, a camp and project histories collection, a document exhibit,
government records collection and links to other CCC related pages. Well
worth the time if you are a CCC scholar or enthusiast.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK
This is the site of the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park in Johnson
City and Stonewall, Texas. The park is dedicated to LBJ's life, particularly
his early political career, when he was the Texas state
director for the National Youth Administration and his early days as a
Congressman during the New Deal. LBJ made enormous contributions to this
part of Texas as a Congressman during the Depression, and this site
provides information about his Depression era career as well as general,
visitor information about the park. Thank you to Sherry Justus for the
background information on LBJ.
Sevier
County, Utah, Remembers the Great Depression In 1997, students at
Richfield High School, in Richfield, Utah, interviewed members of their
community about their experiences during the Great Depression. Part of
the larger Sevier County Oral History Project, directed by Richfield
High School English teacher Judy Busk, and funded by the Utah State
Historical Society, these interviews are now available online on the New
Deal Network. The 24 Sevier County residents interviewed for
this project were children or young adults during the 1930s, but their
memories of the Great Depression are still vivid. While they recount
hard times, they also recall the pleasures of small town and rural life
in central Utah. In addition to the 24 oral history
transcripts, the website includes essays, photographs, and
bibliographical and online resources.
http://newdeal.feri.org/sevier/
WPA Sin Nombre: Hispana and Hispano Artists of the New Deal Era"
Hundreds of Hispana and Hispano artists created art for the various New Deal programs during the 1930's and 1940's under the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Sin Nombre (Without Name) presents the work of these artists, who have been almost completely undocumented during this important period.
During the Great Depression of the 1930's and into the
early years of World War II, the Federal Government sponsored a variety
of art projects to provide work for unemployed artists. This remarkable
effort is presented here with a unique selection of artworks, documents
and photographs provided by the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA). Within this collection, users may view paintings
such as Fishermen's Village by Edmund Lewandowski, History of Southern
Illinois by Paul Kelpe, Years of Dust by Ben Shahn, Mine Rescue by
Fletcher Martin, and many more. Providing an exceptionally diverse
collage of artworks from this particular era, this colorful exhibit is
divided into 5 categories -- rediscovering America, celebrating "the
People", work pays America, activist arts, useful arts.
From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2002.
Kresge Art Museum announces the launch of a redesigned website and virtual walking tour of New Deal art and architecture in East Lansing and Lansing. The WPA tour can be viewed online at www.artmuseum.msu.edu
http://www.artmuseum.msu.edu/ under online exhibitions
(direct link- http://artmuseum.msu.edu/wpa/WPA/default.htm). A printable map of the WPA landmarks on the campus of Michigan State University is also available. The walking tour of the campus takes approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. Michigan State University's campus boasts six buildings, four murals and three sculptures sponsored by the WPA. Additional works are also in Lansing. As part of the 1930's New Deal social plan, various work programs were developed to provide relief to artists by sponsoring public murals and sculptures and also supplementing the construction of many buildings.
Livingston Art Center Online Gallery
The Livingston Arts Center in Mount Morris, NY, houses Livingston County's large collection of WPA paintings. They hang in the New Deal Gallery on a rotating basis. The collection can be viewed online here. The center is a collaborative project of the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts (GVCA) and the county. The Arts Center is staffed and managed by GVCA.
Picturing the 1930s at the Smithsonian Website
The Smithsonian American Art Museum has created an interactive Web site titled Picturing the 1930s. It includes eight on-line exhibitions about the 1930s and a series of interviews called Abstract Artists Describe the 1930s. Visitors can also create their own documentaries and watch documentaries produced by others.
Roosevelt Institute Campus Network
The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, a national student initiative, engages young people in a unique form of progressive activism that empowers them as leaders and promotes their ideas for change. Through communication and coordination with political actors and community members, students identify pressing issues facing their towns, counties and states. Taking advantage of the unique resources on their college campuses, they engage in policy research and writing and then connect the fruits of that research to the political process, delivering sound, progressive proposals to policymakers and advocacy groups. We call our unique model of policy activism Think Impact. Adding policy papers to picket signs, engages young people in activism fueled by innovative, student ideas.
Founded as the "Roosevelt Institution" in the wake of the 2004 election, what is now the "Roosevelt Institute Campus Network" became part of the Roosevelt Institute in 2008. It was formed by college students to strengthen the progressive movement by meaningfully engaging young people in politics. The Campus Network emphasizes that young people can do far more than participate in campaigns; students are asked to take action on their ideas and create an impact in their communities. It encourages them to campaign for the progressive policies that they have written. It gives them an opportunity to reshape their communities. It allows them to experience, first-hand, the power of progressive thought in creating positive change. And the Network empowers students to see themselves as progressive leaders in their own right.
Today, the Campus Network boasts more than 8,500 members organized through more than 80 chapters across the country. Chapters foster debate and dialogue on campus, teach policy courses, engage with local policymakers, generate policy, and promote student ideas through conferences and publications. Since it's founding, Roosevelt members have presented student policies on Capitol Hill, testified to city council, implemented legislation, and worked directly in their communities.
Humanities Resource List
This is a general humanities resource, with links to sources arranged by subject, such as art, literature, anthropology, and so on. It is maintained by the SR Education Group.
New Deal and the Law:
www.supremecourthistory.org
Specific websites relating to WPA Art and Classroom Curricula
Post Office Murals Special Interest Group (SIG)
http://communitydisc.westside66.org/html/colette/muralsSIG/default.html
Post Office Murals in Nebraska
http://communitydisc.westside66.org/html/sigs/osters/listofmurals.html
Texas Post Office Murals
http://communitydisc.westside66org/html/colette/muralsSIG/Texas.html
Curriculum Tie-ins
http://communitydisc.westside66org/html/sigs/posters/waystouse.html
Participating Teachers and Their Plans
(click on a teacher's name to view the unit that he/she has planned utilizing the post office murals.
http://communitydisc.westside66.org/html/sigs/posters/teacherplans.html
The New Deal Art Project--Classroom Connection
Matthew R. Fidler, Rome City School District 112 East Thomas Street, Rome, NY 13440-Ph
315-334-7400 FAX 315-334-7409.
Email mrfidler@syr.edu
http://lsb.syr.edu/projects/newdeal/classroom.php
Arkansas Post Office Mural Project
http://www.uca-edu/divisions/academic/art/murals/homepage2.htm
AHPP Education
Program (Arkansas Historic
Preservation Project)
http://www.arkansaspreservation.org/preservation/youth_education.asp
FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt: American Visionaries www.cr.nps.gov/museum
Lesson Plan & Activity
Museum of New Mexico Statewide Programs and Education - Mural Painting Throughout Timehttp://www.museumeducation.org/curricula_activity_frescoes.html
EDSitement: Dust Bowl Days
Teach students about the Great Depression era through the ballads of Woody Guthrie, the novels of John Steinbeck, and Works Progress Administration (WPA) photographshttp://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=300
Ellis Wilson: A High School Art Lesson
This model of an activity in which students create an original painting in response to the documentary about African American WPA artist "Ellis Wilson-So Much to Paint," by Kentucky Educational Televisionhttp://www.ket.org/content/elliswilson/hscurriculum.htm
Historic Art and Architecture in Highland Park Schools
A comprehensive site describing lesson plans linked to art in the Highland Park, IL schools.http://www.highlandpark.org/historic/art_hist_web
The Great Depression and the Arts
A Unit of Study for Grades 8-12http://www.newdeal.feri.org/nchs/index.htm
Using WPA Posters In the Classroom
This blog entry gives ideas on how to use the Library of Congress' online collection of WPA posters in lesson plans.
http://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2011/08/wpa-posters-colorful-messages-in-dark-economic-times
NEW DEAL NETWORK http://newdeal.feri.org
LABOR
Department of Labor home page www.dol.govHistory at the Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/history/main.htm
H-Labor home page: http://www.h-net.org/~labor/
Labor Hall of Fame: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/laborhall/about.htm
Labor Education: www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/workers
FARM SECURITY ADMINISTRATION PHOTOGRAPHY
http://memory.loc.gov/ (Library of Congress website-search for FSA or the Prints and Photographic Division).
http://www.metmuseum.org The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/more.php?id=788 0 6 0, Farm Labor in the 1930's, University of California-Davis, Davis, Ca.
http://oberlin.edu/library/papers/honorshistory/2001-Gorman/FSA/default.html, Oberlin College, Lorain, OH
http://chnm.gmu.edu/fsa, George Mason University, Arlington, VA
http://studentweb.providence.edu/!praub/fsaphotos.htm, Providence College, Providence, RI
http://www.freedomvoices.org/pholist.htm Freedom Voices, San Francisco, CA
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html Library of Congress FSA Collection
Sprague, Roger. Migrant Mother:The story as told by her grandson. http://www.migrantgrandson.com
Dorothea Lange Archive, (www.museumca.org), Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA 94607
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=dorothea+lange+photos&btnG=Search, Google.com website, Dorothea Lange.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/awhhtml/awpnp6/migrant_mother.html
American Memories section, Library of Congress.
Electronic edition of one of the WPA Guides,
this one on the Commonwealth of Virginia:
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/VAGuide/frame.html
This is one element of a much larger project on the 1930s from the American Studies Programs at The University of Virginia. Lots of resources for students and teachers.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/front.html
General Search Suggestions
The following New Deal related subjects could be used with the Internet search engines such as Yahoo! and Google to find a wealth of information about the various New Deal projects/programs. Once there you will find numerous links to New Deal materials and sites. Listed below are subjects you can reference:
Agricultural Adjustment Act
American Art
American Guide Series
Architecture
Art History
Benton Thomas Hart
Biddle, George
Bruce, Edward
CCC and C.C.C.
Civilian Conservation Corps
C.W.A. and
CWA
Civil Works Administration
Cahill, Holger
Center for New Deal Studies
Coit Tower History
Conservation
Dust Bowl
Eleanor Roosevelt
F.A. P. and FAP
Federal Arts
Federal Art Project
F.D. R. and FDR
F.E.R.A.
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
F.W.A. and FWA
Fair Labor Standards Act
Farm Security Administration (FSA)
Federal Graphics Projects
Federal Housing Administration
Federal Project Number One
Federal Poster Project
Federal Maritime Commission
Federal Music Project and FWP
Federal Theatre Project and FTP
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and
FERI
George Mason University - Federal Theatre
Project
Government Sponsored Art
Great Depression
Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS)
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)
Historic Records Survey
Index of American Design
Indian Reorganization Act
Indian New Deal
Music History 1930 - 1940
National Commission of Fine Arts
National Recovery Act (NRA)
New Deal
New Deal Art History
Oral History - Writers' Project
PWA and P.W.A.
PWAP and P.W.A.P.
Portfolio of Spanish Colonial Design
Preservation
Public Works of Art Program
Public Buildings Administration
Public Works Administration
Relief Programs
Roosevelt
Roosevelt University
Roosevelt Study Centers
Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
Shahn, Ben
Social Realism
Social Security Administration
Socialist Policy
State Guide Books
T.R.A.P. or TRAP or Treasury Relief Art Project
The Thirties
Theatre
Timberline Lodge
Treasury "Section" of Painting and Sculpture
Tugwell, Rex
Works Progress Administration
Works Projects Administration
WPA or W.P.A.
Writers' Guide Books
Writing
MORE NEW DEAL TOWNS:
Greenhills, Ohio
Greenbelt, MD
Greendale, WS
Arthurdale, WV
Roosevelt, NJ
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES: (not completed list)
Presidential Libraries
Library of Congress
Smithsonian Institution
U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Department of Interior
U.S. Postal Service
National Trust for Historic Preservation
U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
National Park Service
General Services Administration
National Museum of American Art
Fine Arts Program
National Gallery of Art
U.S. Forest Service
Rural Electric Association
National Buildings Museum