Federal Writers' Project
Online Materials | Manuscript
Collections | Educational Materials | Exhibitions
The Federal Writers' Project was created in 1935 as part
of the United States Work Progress Administration to provide
employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians,
and other white-collar workers. Originally, the purpose of
the project was to produce a series of sectional guide books
under the name American Guide, focusing on the scenic, historical,
cultural, and economic resources of the United States. Eventually
new programs were developed and projects begun under the
Federal Emergency Relief Administration were absorbed by
the Writers' Project. From its inception in 1935 through
late 1939, the Federal Writers' Project was directed by Henry
Alsberg.
American
Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project,
1936 - 1940
These interviews or "life histories," were compiled
and transcribed by the staff of the Folklore Project of the
Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later
Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-40. The Library
of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing
the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. More...
Born
in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers'
Project, 1936-1938
This collection contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts
of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former
slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part
of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration
(WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United
States from Interviews with Former Slaves.
Related Collections
The Zora Neale Hurston Plays at the Library of Congress
A selection of ten plays written by Hurston
(1891-1960), author, anthropologist, and folklorist. Deposited
in the United States Copyright Office between 1925 and 1944,
most of the plays remained unpublished and unproduced until
they were rediscovered in the Copyright Deposit Drama Collection
in 1997. The plays reflect Hurston's life experience, travels,
and research, especially her study of folklore in the African-American
South. Totaling 1,068 hundred images, the scripts are housed
in the Library's Manuscript, Music, and Rare Books and Special
Collections Divisions. Hurston's work was influenced, in
part, by her experience
working for the Florida Federal Writers' Project.
Manuscript Collections
Library of Congress
The Federal Writers' Project materials in the Library of
Congress Manuscript Division are part of a larger collection
titled, United
States Work Projects Administration: A Register of Its Records in
The Library of Congress. This collection also contains
the records of the Historical Records
Survey and the Research Library of the United
States Work Projects Administration. Please contact the
Manuscript Division Reading Room for further information.
Scope and Content Note
Federal Writers' Project of the United States Work
Projects Administration
The records of the Federal Writers' Project of the
United States Work Projects Administration span the years 1524-1947,
with the bulk of the items created from 1935 to 1942. They
are comprised of correspondence, memoranda, field reports,
notes, drafts of essays, lists, drawings, maps, graphs, newspaper
clippings, transcripts of documents, oral testimony in the
form of life histories, folklore material, inventories, statements,
critical appraisals, speeches, administrative records, instructions,
scripts, plays, and surveys. Material prior to 1935 consists
mostly of transcripts made or copied for references purposes
or for preservation. The files of the Federal Writers' Project
are arranged in the following series: Administrative File,
American Guide File, Folklore Project, Social-Ethnic Studies,
Special Studies and Projects, Negro Studies Project, Slave
Narrative Project, Miscellaneous Records, Miscellany and Printed
Matter. A small Addition was made to the records in 1998.
The Federal Writers' Project was created in 1935 as part
of the United States Work Progress Administration to provide
employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians,
and other white-collar workers. Originally, the purpose of
the project was to produce a series of sectional guide books
under the name American Guide, focusing on the scenic, historical,
cultural, and economic resources of the United States. Eventually
the new programs developed and projects begun under the Federal
Emergency Relief Administration were absorbed by the writers'
project.
From its inception in 1935 through late 1939, the Federal
Writers' Project was directed by Henry Alsberg, a former
lawyer who became interested in the theater as a writer and
as a director of off-Broadway productions. His correspondence
makes up the bulk of letters in the collection. Associates
who also appear as project correspondents include Merle Colby,
George Cronin, Joseph Gaer, Reed Harris, and Claire Laning.
Among the folklorists represented are Benjamin Botkin and
John A. Lomax. Poets and writers whose works appear in the
records include, Nelson Algren, Sterling Brown, Jack Conroy,
and Richard Wright.
The Administrative File contains correspondence of Alsberg,
dated mostly from 1939, and instructional matter reflecting
the operation of the program. It supplements the Federal
Writers' Project administrative records held by the National
Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 69. A preliminary
inventory, the Records of the Federal Writers' Project Work
Projects Administration, 1935-44, was compiled by Katherine
H. Davidson, in 1953.
The American Guide File, the largest series, includes research
data and drafts of writings which went into producing state
guide books. The records reflect topics such as local history,
folklore, economic development, scenic areas, places of interest,
local lore, facts, and tours. The books were initiated to
stimulate travel to bolster the economy during the Great
Depression.
Other series in the Federal Writers' Project Records reflect
areas of interest developed by the project: rural and urban
folklore, including individual narratives and life histories;
studies of customs of social and ethnic groups; source materials
regarding African Americans; testimony of ex-slaves and slave-related
material including copies of purchase agreements and sale
advertisements; and a compilation of printed matter now on
microfilm.
 External
Collections
Many of the administrative records of the Federal Writers'
Project are held by the National
Archives and Records Administration in Records
of the Federal Writers' Project [FWP], a
subgroup of Records
of the Work Projects Administration [WPA],
Record Group 69, as are the administrative records of the
Historical Records Survey, which may be found in the subgroup Records
of the Historical Records Survey.
Note: The Federal Writers' Project was administered
at multiple levels--from the central office in Washington,
D.C., and also from regional, state, and district offices.
Related materials may often be found in state archives, libraries
and historical societies.
Educational Materials/Guides
Collection Connections
These guides
provide activity ideas for teachers
for using materials from the collections to develop
critical thinking skills.
Introduction
to the WPA Slave Narratives by Norman R.Yetman
Voices
from the Thirties: Life Histories from the Federal Writers'
Project
A brief introdiction to the FWP Life Histories
collection by Ann Banks.
Exhibitions
From: The
African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource
Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture
An online exhibit marking the publication of The
African-American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide
for the Study of Black History and Culture.
American
Treasures: America Eats
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