State News

California

Presentation on New Deal Public Art
Barbara Bernstein will give an illustrated presentation on New Deal art in public spaces on Jan. 22 in San Francisco. Click here for more details.

 

Venice Post Office Gets Reprieve
Dec. 1, 2011
The U.S. Postal Service's plan to sell the Venice post office (see story below) was put on hold Dec. 1. Click here for more details.

 

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Speaking Out for Threatened New Deal Post Office
Nov. 5, 2011

NNDPA Board President Harvey Smith (right) spoke at a rally Nov. 5, 2011, in defense of the Venice post office, a New Deal edifice threatened with closure and sale by the U.S. Postal Service.

The lobby features a mural of Venice history painted by Edward Biberman in 1941 (below).

The plight of the post office was the subject of this Los Angeles Times column.

 

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Board Members Hit the Speaking Circuit
By Kathy Flynn, NNDPA Executive Director
July 19, 2011
NNDPA Board Members Harvey Smith and Gray Brechin have been busy on the New Deal speaking circuit this month of July. On July 7 both were part of a forum at the Berkeley City College Auditorium which was sponsored by the Berkeley City College Social Science Department. The forum was titled “The Unremitting War on Labor Art and History: The Trial of Refregier's Murals at Rincon Annex to the Censorship of the Maine Murals Today?” The event included a live video of the muralist and the issues around the attempts to destroy the mural in the Maine's Labor Department building by the state's new governor and the attempt by the Congress to destroy New Deal murals in the Rincon Annex Post Office in San Francisco.

On July 9 Harvey conducted a WPA Berkeley Walk, which gave participants the opportunity to explore the "New Deal nexus" in Berkeley including the High School, the Community Theater, Civic Center Park, Post Office public art and the old Farm Credit Building.

On July 16 the pair of “new New Dealers,” Brechin and Smith, were a part of the annual Laborfest celebrations as they have done in the past. They conducted a bus tour (which was sold out) to travel around town to see the historic sites built in Berkeley by unionized labor. Folks learned about the major contribution workers made during the Depression Era of the New Deal programs. Both men discussed 75 years of WPA history in this nation and California.

 

WPA Model of San Francisco Needs a Home

The San Francisco Chronicle printed this editorial Feb. 26, 2011:

A 71-year-old lode of San Francisco history is looking for a home.

It's a three-dimensional scale model of San Francisco , built of wood by the Works Progress Administration and presented to the city in 1940. It was an extraordinary freeze-frame of what San Francisco looked like just before World War II, and it measured 41 by 37 feet when it resided at City Hall.

The relief map depicts in miniature the city's Deco skyscrapers, now-vanished industrial zones, sand dunes and two brand-new bridges. Construction of the model demonstrated what the federal government could do to put dozens of men and women to work during the Great Depression.

UC historical geographer Gray Brechin, who discovered it last fall, says the model was presented to the city for use as a planning tool after New Deal public works such as the Bay Bridge, Caldecott Tunnel, the Bay Area's airports, Treasure Island and the East Shore highway revolutionized Bay Area space during a few years of economic crisis greater than today's.

Much of the model now lies in pieces in 17 wooden crates at a UC warehouse in Richmond. The university needs the space for its huge anthropology collection, and Brechin worries that the model might meet the fate of other vanished relief maps when it should be accorded a place of honor such as that given a WPA model of the New York water supply at the Queens Museum.

Professor Peter Bosselman, who has used a section for planning studies at UC Berkeley, would like to see the entire model reassembled and made available to the public again.

Building the original map required 1,200 man-months of labor and cost today's equivalent of $1.5 million. The price of giving it a good home now? Moving expenses and dusting.

It would be a shame to lose this historic treasure instead of giving the public a chance to see a city our grandparents knew.

 

Florida

 

In Memoriam: Stetson Kennedy 1916-2011
By Al Stein
Stetson Kennedy died at 9:25 a.m., August 27, 2011.  He was 94.  A true New Dealer and friend to labor, folkore and to the oral history movement, Stetson will truly be missed.  His memory lives on in the Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi (“Voice of the People”) Annual Award dedicated to promoting social justice work among oral historians. The award is presented by the Stetson Kennedy Foundation and the Oral History Association (OHA).

www.oralhistory.org/award/stetson-kennedy-vox-populi-award/

A pioneering folklorist, oral historian, and environmentalist, Stetson Kennedy learned how to document folklore from "Po' Folkist" Zora Neale Hurston while on the Federal Writers' Project in Florida. He went on to write “Palmetto Country,” “Southern Exposure,” “The Jim Crow Guide,” “The Klan Unmasked,” “After Appomattox,” and “Grits & Grunts: Folkloric Key West.” “The Jim Crow Guide” was published in Paris by Jean Paul Sartre after Kennedy could not find any interested American publisher. After World War II, Kennedy infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan and while undercover provided information, including secret code words and details of Klan rituals to writers of the “Superman” radio program, resulting in a series of four episodes in which Superman battles the KKK. Woody Guthrie composed his campaign song when Stetson ran for Governor of Florida in 1952. Kennedy was a recipient of the Florida Folk Heritage Award, the Florida Governor's Heartland Award, an honorary doctorate from the University of North Florida, and the NAACP Freedom Award. He is featured in the recent Smithsonian HD documentary film, “Soul of a People,” about the WPA Federal Writers' Project.  Kennedy’s Klan-busting exploits were also featured in the book “Freakonomics” and on NPR's “This American Life” with Ira Glass.

Stetson presented the first Vox Populi Award at the 2010 OHA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, where he was the honored speaker at the opening event, a panel on “Soul of a People”. He was also a featured speaker in the plenary session at Pittsburgh (2008), on the Federal Writers' Project and on the OHA Anniversary Program at Little Rock (2006) presenting on the Florida Writers’ Project as he knew it, with Dr. Peggy Bulger, Director of the American Folkife Center.

A service is planned to honor and celebrate his life at his beloved Beluthahatchee Park and home in St. Johns County, Florida on October 1, 2011.  The Stetson Kennedy residence is a National Literary Landmark, as recognized by the Friends of the US Library. For further information see:

http://bartramscenichighway.com/experiences/recreational/parks/beluthahatchee-park/

For more information on the Vox Populi Award see: http://news.unm.edu/2010/10/dunaway-to-receive-first-%E2%80%98voice-of-the-people%E2%80%99-award/

For more information on Soul of A People and Smithsonian see:

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=135396

Illinois

 

Herrin Post Office Mural Returned To Its Home
By Dallan Wordekemper, NNDPA Board Member
May 26, 2011
The mural in the photo above, titled “George Rogers Clark Confers with the Indians Near Herrin, Illinois” was painted by Gustaf Dalstrom and installed in the Herrin post office originally on May 27, 1940.  It was rededicated May 26, 2011, after a 47-year absence. In 1964 the lobby was renovated, and the mural was noted as being destroyed during the project.  The assistant postmaster at the time, Paul Popham (now deceased), salvaged the mural from the dumpster, however.  As there seemed to be little community interest in the mural, Paul's son, Tom Popham, took the mural with him when he moved from Herrin.  The mural eventually found it way to Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1983.  In 2005 the Southern Illinoisan published an article titled: "Missing Post Office Mural Provides Local Mystery."  Tom Popham found the article online and immediately issued a press release indicating the mystery had been solved. He still had the mural in storage after all of these years. On October 14, 2008, Tom and his wife drove the mural from Oklahoma to Parma Conservation in Chicago.  The mural was faced with Japanese tissue and Beva 371 consolidating adhesive to maintain the fragile condition of the oil painting image as we planned its future.  The goal was to return the mural to Herrin in the best possible state of conservation.

Over the years, the Postal Service has been actively seeking grants to assist in the restoration and return of this mural to the community.  In June 2010, at my request, Dr. Mary Emma Thompson, author and friend, made a trip to Herrin to visit with the mayor, Vic Ritter, the Ladies Group and other interested groups.  The Ladies Group accepted the challenge of this project and were successful in collecting donations that made the rededication possible.  The restoration award was given to Parma Conservation in November 2010.  The mural was delivered by Parma Conservation a few hours before the May 26 dedication, closing the case of the missing mural.

 

Geneva Post Office Mural Slated For Reinstallation
The mural in the Geneva, IL, post office will be removed for restoration. The plan is for the mural to be reinstalled once new retail space in the building is completed in late 2011.

(Submitted by Dallan Wordekemper, December, 2010)

 

Indiana

 

“Labor,” by Manuel Silberger, 1936, lithograph

Indiana State University Offers WPA Art and Lectures

Indiana State University has a collection of WPA art, and some of it will be on view from Aug. 22–Sept. 24, 2011 in the University Art Gallery. Two lectures are also scheduled. On Sept. 8, Glory-June Greiff, Indianapolis Public Historian, will speak on “What a Deal for Indiana: The WPA, PWA, and CCC Around the State”. Jim Zimmer, the director of the Lockport Gallery in the Illinois State Museum, will speak Sept. 22. His lecture is titled “Work·People·Art: Federal Art Projects and the Great Depression.”

For more details, visit the Indiana activities page.

 

Iowa

Smithsonian's New Deal Art Show Set for 2013
The Smithsonian American Art Museum show “1934: A New Deal for Artists,” will be touring the nation for the next few years. The Figge Art Museum in Davenport will be showing the exhibit Sept. 28, 2013–Jan. 5, 2014.

 

Maine

Labor Mural Included Some New Deal History
Gov. Paul LePage of Maine stirred up a controversy in March, 2011, when he ordered a mural of scenes in Maine's labor history removed from the lobby of the state Department of Labor office. The mural was removed and taken to an unknown location. One panel commemorates the 1937 shoe mill strike in Lewiston-Auburn. Strikers seeking better wages and safer working conditions closed 19 factories. Another panel depicted Frances Perkins, secretary of labor under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Her parents were natives of Maine.

On April 8, a legal challenge to the removal was filed in federal court. For the story, click here.

Images of the mural can be viewed on the artist's website.

 

Smithsonian's New Deal Art Show Set for 2014
The Smithsonian American Art Museum show “1934: A New Deal for Artists,” will be touring the nation for the next few years. The Portland Museum of Art will be showing the exhibit Jan. 30–May 11, 2014.

 

Maryland

New Deal Town Will Celebrate 75th Anniversary Through 2012
Greenbelt, one of the planned communities built during the New Deal, will celebrate its 75th anniversary with several events throughout the year. More information and a preliminary schedule for the entire year are available in the Greenbelt 75th anniversary brochure. Details about events will be posted here as we get more information.

 

Michigan

Smithsonian's New Deal Art Show Set for 2012
The Smithsonian American Art Museum show “1934: A New Deal for Artists,” will be touring the nation for the next few years. The Muskegon Museum of Art will be showing the exhibit Feb. 16–May 6, 2012.

 

Minnesota

Smithsonian's New Deal Art Show Set for 2012
The Smithsonian American Art Museum show “1934: A New Deal for Artists,” will be touring the nation for the next few years. The Minnesota Historical Society will be showing the exhibit in St. Paul June 2–Sept. 22, 2012.

 

New Mexico

Long Mural Restoration at NM Highlands University Complete
By Kathy Flynn, NNDPA Executive Director
Sept. 13, 2011
We are happy to report that the conservation work on the seven murals in Ilfeld Auditorium at New Mexico Highlands University is done. Steve Prins, a Santa Fe art conservator, started this project some years back and first had to remove 5-6 coats of white paint that entirely covered the murals. After that was completed, the murals needed to be conserved (repaired, touched up, etc.), and that has been done thanks to funding from the Stockman Family Foundation. An eighth mural is missing from its original site and we hope someone will come forward with it some day, but in the meantime we are talking with the university about having a contest among art students to select a replacement image for that site.

 

Update on NNDPA Art Conservation in New Mexico
The New Mexico Chapter of the National New Deal Preservation Association is featuring its preservation accomplishments during this year's celebration of National Heritage Preservation Month during May 2011. From 1996 through 2010, 153 pieces have been preserved, and they are all over the state with some just completed in December 2010. The earlier conserved pieces, large and small, were preserved between 1996 thru 2009 and most had been identified as in poor or fair condition by professional art conservators. The funding for these projects (approximately $500,000) came primarily from the state legislature, the Stockman Family Foundation, annual dues and donations. In most locations, other New Deal public art is also on view.

1. ALAMOGORDO
   
   • ALAMOGORDO WOMEN'S CLUB
     This is a New Deal building. Three paintings by J. R. Willis
2. ALBUQUERQUE
   
   • CARRIE TINGLEY HOSPITAL CLINIC
     Two large Gisella Loeffler paintings in Dining Room
     Note: There are eleven other New Deal paintings on the first floor which have had conservation attention
     done by a donation to the hospital.
   • CITY/COUNTY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
     An Ila McAfee painting of bisons owned by Carrie Tingley Hospital is on loan to this site.
   • UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO FINE ARTS
     Five paintings restored, one by Willard Nash.
3. BANDELIER
   
   • VISITOR CENTER
     This is a New Deal building that has been remodeled. NNDPA provided matching funds to this national monument for preservation of its Pablita Velarde and Helmuth Naumer New Deal artwork.
4. CLAYTON
   
   • HIGH SCHOOL—WPA MUSEUM
     This is a New Deal building as well as the original landscaping and surrounding wall.
     Twenty-one paintings by various New Mexico artists.
5. CONCHAS DAM
   
   • VISITOR CENTER
     This is a New Deal building as well as the dam and camping areas.
     One large Odon Hullenkramer painting featuring the construction of the dam. A sister painting is also on view but was not preserved by NNDPA.
6. EL RITO
   
   • NORTHERN NEW MEXICO COLLEGE—Bronson Cutting Auditorium
     A three-piece mural (triptych) by D. Paul Jones features the founding of San Juan, the capitol of New Spain near this area of the state.
7. FT. STANTON
   
   • FT. STANTON MUSEUM
     Nineteen watercolors by Eastern and Midwest American artists. Originally there were 80 paintings sent here to cheer up the sailors there but the other 61 paintings have disappeared. The Museum and NNDPA hope some day they will be returned.
8. GALLUP
   
   • McKINLEY COUNTY COURTHOUSE—Courtroom
     The older portion of this building is a New Deal building. All four walls of this courtroom are covered with Lloyd Moylan murals depicting the history of this county. County assisted with the funding of this project.
9. LAS CRUCES
   
   • HIGH SCHOOL
     One Bakos painting
   • NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY BIOLOGY BUILDING—Entry Area
     Olive Rush did fresco murals on the walls and ceilings of this entryway which was later covered with enamel paint. The enamel paint layer was removed and original fresco was restored. Primarily agricultural activities of the area along with microbes as they appear under a telescope can be viewed if you look up to the ceiling. NMSU assisted with the funding of this project.
10. LAS VEGAS
    
    • NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS UNIVERSITY—Ilfeld Auditorium
      Seven murals by Brooks Willis had been covered with 5-6 coats of white paint for many years which NNDPA and the University paid to have removed. There were originally eight murals but one is missing. Two of the remaining seven have been conserved and hopefully NNDPA will receive funds in the near future to conserve the remaining five murals—each depicting activities of some of the school's departments.
      While at this university, viewers should go next door to the Administration building (another New Deal building) and see the immense Lloyd Moylan mural that is in the central stairwell and all over the second floor. It is in fairly good condition and has not been conserved.
11. LORDSBURG
    
    • PUBLIC LIBRARY
      A Joseph Fleck painting titled "Landscape from Talpa" has hung in this library since the Great Depression era.
12. LOS LUNAS
    
    • LOS LUNAS MUSEUM AND ART CENTER
      A large Charles Berninghaus painting which for many years was at the Los Lunas Hospital and Training School can be viewed at this New Deal building.
13. MELROSE
    
    • PUBLIC SCHOOL
      Seven paintings from this large New Deal collection have been conserved. Most can be found in the school library and others in the Superintendent's office.
14. PORTALES
    
    • EASTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
      Another Lloyd Moylan mural encompasses the central stairwell of this New Deal building. It has a unique subject for a state building: the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes. There is an interesting story about how that came about. Further down the hall, a large Raymond Jonson abstract mural can be seen.
    • ENMU—ROOSEVELT COUNTY MUSEUM
      Recently three Gene Kloss etchings and a Kenneth Adams lithograph were conserved by NNDPA. This building is also a New Deal building.
    • ENMU—GOLDEN LIBRARY
      Another Raymond Jonson abstract painting can be seen here and was conserved at the same time the one in the Administration building was done. Other New Deal paintings are at this site but have not been conserved.
15. RATON
    
    • ARTHUR JOHNSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY
      Twelve New Deal paintings, etchings, and lithographs from this collection, all by New Mexico artists.
16. ROSWELL
    
    • ROSWELL ART CENTER AND MUSEUM
      The core portion of this building is New Deal and is one of the many New Deal Federal Art Centers built nationwide and is one of two remaining that have never had to close its doors since opening in 1937. NNDPA conserved the first piece of artwork acquired by the new museum—a watercolor by Olive Rush.
17. SANTA FE
    
    • PALACE OF THE GOVERNORS
      Five New Deal santos by Juan Sanchez.
    • STATE CAPITOL
      1. A Randall Davey triptych. Three large murals are on long-term loan from the New Mexico National Guard and are situated in the passageway between the Capitol and the Capitol Annex next door.
      2. A Joseph Fleck oil painting which was most likely the cartoon or model for a large mural which may or may not have been completed. It is not known to be anywhere in a New Mexico public building.
      3. A Boris J.O. Nordfeldt lithograph of Canyon Road still has its original brass plaque on its frame identifying it as a piece of New Deal art work. It is on loan from a private owner.
      4. A bronze bust of Sen. Bronson Cutting can be found on the east promenade into the building. It is not a New Deal piece but was originally paid for by friends (including a member of President Roosevelt's staff) at the time of Cutting's untimely death in a plane crash. The bust had been outside for over 60 years and had completely lost its patina and was in a location where it was rarely noticed thus the need for its improvements. Cutting had been supportive of the New Deal projects while in the U.S. Senate, so we felt it was imperative to include it in our restoration program.
      5. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) lifesize bronze statue on the west side grounds of the Capitol. This is a new piece and was purchased by NNDPA, the legislature and private donors and placed there in 2009 in commemoration of all the 56,000 "boys" who did a variety of services for this state during the New Deal. It faces the Bataan Veterans Memorial which is most appropriate since most all of those boys went into WWII and continued to serve their nation. There are very few of them left today but they are very proud of this statue. It is one of over 50 such statues around the nation and another one exists at Elephant Butte Dam site.
18. SILVER CITY
    
    • GRANT COUNTY COURTHOUSE
      Two large murals by Theodore Van Soelen continue to share their messages about the two major industries in this area—mining and ranching.
19. SOCORRO
    
    • NEW MEXICO TECH UNIVERSITY—SKEEN LIBRARY
      A colorful Mexican Hat Dance painting created by folk artist Gisella Loeffler was conserved and during that process a second painting was found on the back side of the painting. It features a chicken pull race. Two Gene Kloss etchings have also been conserved from this site just recently.
    • NMTU-COURTYARD in Front of WORKMAN CENTER
      A sandstone statue called "The Desert Maiden" was created by Eugenie Shonnard initially for Sandia Prep School in Albuquerque but later when school was closed during WWII, the piece was transferred to this university. It is made up of three pieces and possibly six border pieces etched with playful animals of all kinds. At some point the school agreed to loan it to the revived Sandia Prep on a short term basis. During this time NNDPA assisted Sandia in the funding of its restoration. In 2008 it returned to NMTU and was finally placed near its original site.
20. TAOS
    
    • TAOS HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY and ADMINISTRATION OFFICE
      Seventeen paintings, etchings and lithographs from this large collection have been conserved by NNDPA. The school helped with funding some of this project.

The New Mexico Chapter of the NNDPA has spent close to $500,000 to cover the costs of the planning for this ongoing project, having professional art conservators survey and prioritize each known New Deal public art piece and then hiring art conservators to carry out the conservation or preservation or restoration of these 153 pieces to date. We have also hired art conservators to present workshops at various locations of the state to inform state and federal employees on the care and treatment of the public art in their collections. We plan to continue these preservation activities.

 

New York

New Deal Art Collection in Mount Morris
The Livingston Arts Center in Mount Morris houses Livingston County's collection of about 220 WPA paintings, along with murals and cast concrete animals. The paintings hang in the New Deal Gallery on a rotating basis. If you can't travel to Mount Morris, 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.

 

Smithsonian's New Deal Art Show Set for 2013
The Smithsonian American Art Museum show “1934: A New Deal for Artists,” will be touring the nation for the next few years. The New York State Museum in Albany will be showing the exhibit Oct. 19–Jan. 20, 2013.

 

Pennsylvania

Post Office Art Exhibit
“Common Canvas,” an exhibit that features reproductions of all the Pennsylvania post office murals that were created during the New Deal era is now traveling around the state. NNDPA Board Member David Lembeck is working with Erin Bronstein, an instructor of 11th grade advanced American history, to use the murals in a program to teach the New Deal. After this pilot program, they hope to develop curriculum materials which could be shared.

(Submitted by David Lembeck, December, 2010)

 

Wisconsin

New Deal Greentown Greendale Designated a Preserve America Community
Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, recently designated the Village of Greendale a Preserve America Community. The designation recognizes the Village of Greendale's efforts regarding historic preservation initiatives. The Village received a letter and will receive a certificate of designation signed by Mrs. Obama announcing that the Village of Greendale is now a Preserve America Community. The Greendale Historical Society prepared the application for Greendale to be considered as a Preserve America Community.

Communities designated through the program have received the national recognition for their accomplishments in preserving special places and telling our nation's story. Communities are selected based on their protection and celebration of heritage, use of historic assets for economic development and encouragement to involve citizens in the preserved story. Over 840 communities throughout the nation have received the designation, with 20 in Wisconsin.

Benefits include the use of the Preserve America logo on educational and promotional materials, unique signage referencing the designation, and other support.

The Preserve America Community program recognizes a select group of communities that use their heritage resources to share the myriad benefits of historic preservation with residents and visitors. The program began in 2003, and Preserve America Communities, great places to visit and explore, are now located in all 50 states and many overseas U.S. territories. Preserve America is administered by the ACHP with assistance from the U.S. Department of the Interior. For more information see preserveamerica.gov and achp.gov.

 

Smithsonian's New Deal Art Show Set for 2013
The Smithsonian American Art Museum show “1934: A New Deal for Artists,” will be touring the nation for the next few years. The Chazen Museum of Art in Madison will be showing the exhibit Feb. 16–April 28, 2013.