AN OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL NEW DEAL PRESERVATION ASSOCIATION’S 2010 ACTIVITIES
The New Deal is currently a popular subject. The following information covers some of the activities that focused on this era in this past year. It is not a complete report but gives you an idea of the variety of things that have happened--many of them sponsored by NNDPA or affiliated groups.
1. NNDPA BOARD RETREAT and NEW GOAL: Most of the board gathered in Santa Fe for a Retreat/Planning session. It was agreed that our next BIG goal is to find funding for the creation of a national inventory of all New Deal accomplishments. This could be monumental and board member, Gray Brechin, has kicked off fund raising, but needs everyone’s help in order to make this become a reality. He can be reached at gbrechin@berkeley.edu or 510-847-7441 if you want to support the project with funds and/or information.
2. NATIONWIDE TRAVELING EXHIBITS were sponsored by the Humanities Councils nationwide through
A. The New Harmonies Federal Music Program. It featured interpretive panels and programs in both large and small locations. In New Mexico it was in Folsom, Los Lunas, Red River, Ruidoso, Santa Rosa and Truth or Consequences. NNDPA partnered with these programs by providing complimentary exhibits and programs in NM.
B. The Soul of A People: Voices from the Writers’ Project-- an award-winning documentary primarily sponsored by the American Library Association, Nat. Endowment for the Humanities and Smithsonian HD Channel. Showing in thirty-one libraries with companion programs, it brought a major focus to the nation about the accomplishments of the Federal Writers’ Project…a New Deal Program. It is still available for distribution. Contact Spark Media at andrea@sparkmedia.org or the ALA.
3. BUS TOURS---The New Deal “Green Towns” go together and sponsored a bus tour starting in Greendale, WS then to Greenhills, OH and finally to Greenbelt, MD. Each of these communities was built “from scratch” as New Deal projects and thrives today. A recently completed documentary about Greenhills, OH by board member, Glory Southwind was also featured.
4. CCC ALUMNI GATHERINGS--These were held all over the country, but their annual gathering was held in Branson, MO in Sept. Our board member, Walter Atwood, also former national president of the CCC Legacy organization, probably attended most of the gatherings journeying from his home in Florida to fulfill his self-proclaimed “CCC Gypsy” role. More CCC Worker Statues were dedicated at some of these gatherings. For more information about the CCC Legacy group for any CCC alumni and/or friends or family, contact them at P. O. Box 341, Edinburg, VA 22824 or ccc@ccclegacy.org.
5. LOST POST OFFICE MURAL FOUND--A mural that has been missing from the Herrin, IL post office was found and is being restored, and another known one is being restored in Geneva, IL by the USPS with our board member, Dallan Wordekemper, responsible for these project and others related to all the USPS murals across the country.
6. NEW BOOKS--Every year more books are written about the New Deal. Our own board member, Chris Breiseth, joined with Kirsten Downey to give us more information about Social Security and its first leader, Frances Perkins. It is titled A Promise to All Generations: Stories and Essays about Social Security and Frances Perkins. It can be purchased through the Frances Perkins Center for $19.95 and otherwise.
7. ARIZONA ACTIVITIES: Our chapter there has received an award for its outstanding ND map and was included in a recent article in the Phoenix magazine. Board member Price Fishback has given lectures on New Deal economic issues all over the nation and British Columbia and Africa. New journal articles and book chapters on these subjects are also scheduled to be forthcoming in 2011.
8. CALIFORNIA ACTIVITIES: Our NNDPA president and vice president (both in Berkeley) were VERY busy sharing the New Deal message of HOPE. They were again involved in the annual Laborfest in July with programs on Social Security, a bur tour of WPA sites in San Francisco, a presentation on the ND and Public Education and a WPA film festival at Berkeley City College. From April through August, Harvey Smith (president) organized an exhibit of historic photographs and objects related to the many structures and art works of the WPA with the Berkeley Historical Society. On Aug. 14th he spoke in San Francisco at a rally celebrating the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Social Security. He wrapped up his activities for the year by collaborating on a large art exhibit with the Bedford Gallery at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. Over 160 art pieces from the New Deal era programs were on loan from various public and private museums and repositories in San Francisco.
Vice-President Gray Brechin’s Living New Deal Project sponsored a one-day conference “New Deal/No Deal? The Age of Obama and the Lesson of the1930’s” held at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Among his many other lectures, Gray was also on a program at the FDR Presidential Library in Hyde Park, NY.
9. COLORADO ACTIVITIES--This summer the chapter in Colorado Springs partnered the town’s Fine Art Center had a program given by Richard Marold about the New Deal Programs in the Pikes Peak Region and Pat Musick, daughter of one of their New Deal artists, presented a reading of letters written by her father at the time. Later in the year, Marold did his FDR program at the Pioneer Museum and Jim Sawtzki Palmer spoke about his short films on artists of the area. Other programs are being planned for next year.
10. ILLINOIS ACTIVITIES--The work of member Jason Pablondo, master photographer,was ‘in focus” at Roosevelt University’s Center for New Deal Studies on Oct. 7th. It featured New Deal Utopias: Photographing the Resettlement Administration’s Greenbelt Town Program. The Chicago Cultural Center at Columbia College-Chicago followed on Oct. 18 with a panel presentation on “The New Deal Inheritance: Reflections on the 75th Anniversary of the WPA & RA.”
11. NEW MEXICO ACTIVITIES:
A. Fireside Chats--These well attended programs have featured information by family members of New Dealers like Dorothea Lange, John Collier, Jr., Joe Danysh, Jan Marfyak and others. These have been held primarily at the Nat. Park Service building in Santa Fe--a unique adobe structure built by CCC and WPA.
B. Traveling Photo Exhibits--These exhibits feature New Deal public art around New Mexico and also FSA photos from New Mexico. They have been in eight communities in museums, senior centers, schools and programs were also provided at each site. This will continue in 2011 as well as other programs for NM Historical Society conferences,clubs and other groups. They are particularly good exhibits for small museums since they are easily transportable, inexpensive to rent and don’t require special lighting and environmental controls.
C. FDR: An Affair of the Heart is an outstanding Chautauqua program put on by Richard Marold of Colorado Springs, CO, and Mary Jane Bradbury. They portray FDR, Eleanor, Lucy Mercer and Daisy Suckley based on correspondence and other historical documents about these people and their relationships. It was performed in Santa Fe and Albuquerque and has also been done in several other states. For information about it contact Richard at P. O. Box 38332, Colorado Springs, CO 80937, or click here to visit his Web site.
D. Eighth Antique and Rare Book Sale: These have been held twice a year and bring in some people who are hearing about the New Deal for the first time. NNDPA-NM Chapter has items for sale along with many vendors that sell items from that era.
E. New Deal maps of NM--Thanks to a grant from the NM Humanities Council we have been able to update our maps that identify and guide folks to the various New Deal treasures around NM. There is so much here that the material is spread out on three maps--north, central and southern portions of the state.
F. Centennial Plans--NM along with AZ will turn 100 in 2012 so the chapter here is making plans for making sure the New Deal is included in the state’s centennial activities.
G. Conservation of Art--A grant from the Stockman Family Foundation has enabled the NM Chapter to continue its art conservation activities. We have worked with local sites to replace the acid mats on nearly 30 etchings and lithographs with non-acid mats. This is something most museums and schools would not be able to fund themselves and means the works of art will be preserved for many more years.
Likewise we continue to try and locate funding to complete the conservation of five murals at NM Highlands University’s auditorium that were earlier covered up with six coats of white paint. Donors are encouraged to assist us with this final stage of the project particularly those who are Highlands alumni.
H. Walking Tours and a Possible Bus Tour--NM Chapter has continued holding walking tours in Santa Fe and hope to sponsor a bus trip in 2011 to the different parts of the state to view New Deal treasures. If interested in such tours, contact us at newdeal@cybermesa.com or 505-690-5845.
I. Networking/Clearing House Activities --From our main NNDPA office in Santa Fe, we are daily networking with various individuals and groups interested in learning more about the New Deal to help with their research, or their family member’s participation in the projects, or preserving a building or mural like one in Portland, ME,being researched by a state senator or a member discovering and sharing archival documents about the WPA’s involvement in the restoration of the Rossborough Inn, the first stagecoach stop between Washington and Baltimore. The building is now part of the Univeristy of Maryland. It is a challenging activity and so rewarding. Board members and other members help with this.
12. NEW YORK ACTIVITIES--WPA scholar and NNDPA board member, Nick Taylor,shared his wisdom on the subject at Hyde Park twice and Pueblo, CO, Auburn University, Comer Library at Sylacauga, Alabama and New Haven, CT schools. Our other board member, Chris Breiseth, was in process of change from Executive in Hyde Park to retired scholar/author in Ticonderoga. He did manage to get a book written and most likely a horde of other things too.
13. OHIO ACTIVITIES--Charles Nuckolls, long-time board member in Cincinnati, has developed some wonderful classes on the New Deal in that area and former board member, Peg Lohstroh, continues with her oral history activities of both CCC and veterans.
14. OREGON--Our group there is closely aligned with the Friends of Timberline and at their annual meeting, our board member, Sarah Munro, noted the accomplishments of the WPA were reviewed as relates to that magnificent facility and environs.
15. PENNSYLVANIA ACTIVITIES--Last year an outstanding exhibit about this state’s post office murals was featured at their University Museum. Board member, Dave Lembeck, reports that since then a portion of the exhibit went to Mercyhurst College in Erie and some of images relating to steel and coal industries in southwestern PA went to the Rivers of Steel Heritage Center in Homestead, PA. He gave programs at both of these venues and is now working to develop other sites for the exhibit and working on an American History curriculum for advanced high school students using the exhibit.
16. TEXAS ACTIVITIES--Honoring the CCC accomplishments at Palo Duro Canyon Park near Amarillo was one of those rewarding times for us and Texas State Parks staff. They went all out with a great program getting some of the CCC boys that had worked there or elsewhere to come. One proud fellow came with his entire family and only weeks later died but his story was now part of the family’s history. We are also aware that this state’s historical societies have been featuring programs about the New Deal in Texas at their conferences.
UPCOMING CONFERENCE PLANS--Texas is working with NM to hold a Southwest New Deal conference in Santa Fe hopefully this summer in Santa Fe. We already have speakers from TX, NM and AZ and will be happy to include any scholars from any of the southwest states that are interested in presenting a paper on a New Deal subject. If interested, please contact us.
17. OTHER CONFERENCES--Board member, Al Stein, alerts us that the Oral History Assoc. conference is scheduled for Oct. 12-13 in Denver. Those interested in submitting proposed papers should do so by Jan. 17 to www.dickson.edu/oha. At this year’s conference, Al was the recipient of their Oral History Article Award based on his article on Oral History, Folklore and Hurricane Katrina. Al was also closely involved with The Soul of A People project mentioned earlier. We would like other New Deal related groups to consider New Deal topics at their upcoming conferences also. Let us know if we can help.
IT’S BEEN AN ACTIVE YEAR AND WE HOPE YOU GOT TO EXPERIENCE SOME OF THESE FINE EVENTS. MORE COMING FOR 2011. LET US KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING by emailing to newdeal@cybermesa.com.