View source for Works Progress Administration

{{short description|U.S. government program of the 1930s and 1940s}}
{{distinguish|Public Works Administration|Works Progress Administration (band)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox government agency
|agency_name     = Works Progress Administration
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|formed          = {{Start date|1935|05|06}}
|preceding1      = [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]]
|preceding2      =
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|dissolved       = June 30, 1943
|superseding     =
|jurisdiction    =
|headquarters    = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|NY]], U.S.
|coordinates     =
|employees       = 8.5&nbsp;million 1935–1943<br>3.3&nbsp;million in November 1938 (peak)
|budget          = $1.3&nbsp;billion (1935)
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|keydocument1    = [[Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935]]
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The '''Works Progress Administration''' ('''WPA'''; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the '''Work Projects Administration''' from 1939 to 1943) was an American [[New Deal agency]] that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally [[educated]]) to carry out [[public works]] projects,<ref name="arnesen">{{cite book |last=Arnesen |first=Eric |date=2007 |title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Labor and Working-Class History |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |page=1540 |isbn=9780415968263}}</ref> including the construction of public buildings and roads. It was set up on May 6, 1935, by presidential order, as a key part of the [[Second New Deal]].

The WPA's first appropriation in 1935 was $4.9&nbsp;billion (about $15 per person in the U.S., around 6.7 percent of the 1935 GDP).<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Jason Scott |date=2006 |title=Building New Deal Liberalism: The Political Economy of Public Works, 1933–1956 |location=New York |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=87 |isbn=9780521828055}}</ref> Headed by [[Harry Hopkins]], the WPA supplied paid jobs to the unemployed during the [[Great Depression in the United States]], while building up the public infrastructure of the US, such as parks, schools, roads, and drains. Most of the jobs were in construction, building more than {{convert|620000|mi|km}} of streets and over 10,000 bridges, in addition to many airports and much housing. In 1942, the WPA played a key role in both building and staffing [[Internment of Japanese Americans|internment camps to incarcerate Japanese Americans]].

At its peak in 1938, it supplied paid jobs for three&nbsp;million unemployed men and women, as well as youth in a separate division, the [[National Youth Administration]]. Between 1935 and 1943, the WPA employed 8.5&nbsp;million people (about half the population of New York).<ref>{{cite news |date=July 1, 1943 |title=WPA Pays Up and Quits |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9800E2D6123CEE3BBC4953DFB1668388659EDE |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2016-02-24 }}</ref>  Hourly wages were typically kept well below industry standards.<ref name="Neumann et al. 2010">{{cite journal |last=Neumann |first=Todd C. |date=2010 |title=The Dynamics of Relief Spending and the Private Urban Labor Market During the New Deal |journal=[[The Journal of Economic History]] |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=195–220|doi=10.1017/S0022050710000100 |s2cid=154809769 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w13692.pdf }}</ref>{{Rp|196}} Full employment, which was reached in 1942 and appeared as a long-term national goal around 1944, was not the goal of the WPA; rather, it tried to supply one paid job for all families in which the [[Breadwinner model|breadwinner]] suffered long-term unemployment.<ref name="Leighninger Long Range">{{cite book |last=Leighninger |first=Robert D. |date=2007 |title=Long-Range Public Investment: The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal |location=Columbia, S.C. |publisher=[[University of South Carolina Press]] |isbn=9781570036637 }}</ref>{{Rp|64, 184}}

In one of its most famous projects, [[Federal Project Number One]], the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.<ref name="arnesen"/> The five projects dedicated to these were the [[Federal Writers' Project]] (FWP), the [[Historical Records Survey]] (HRS), the [[Federal Theatre Project]] (FTP), the [[Federal Music Project]] (FMP), and the [[Federal Art Project]] (FAP). In the Historical Records Survey, for instance, many former slaves in the South were interviewed; these documents are of immense importance to American history. Theater and music groups toured throughout the United States and gave more than 225,000 performances. Archaeological investigations under the WPA were influential in the rediscovery of pre-Columbian Native American cultures, and the development of professional archaeology in the US.

The WPA was a [[Federal government of the United States|federal]] program that ran its own projects in cooperation with [[State governments of the United States|state]] and [[Local government in the United States|local]] governments, which supplied 10–30% of the costs. Usually, the local sponsor provided land and often trucks and supplies, with the WPA responsible for wages (and for the salaries of supervisors, who were not on relief). WPA sometimes took over state and local relief programs that had originated in the [[Reconstruction Finance Corporation]] (RFC) or [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] programs (FERA).<ref name="Leighninger Long Range"/>{{Rp|63}} It was liquidated on June 30, 1943, because of low unemployment during World War II. Robert D. Leininger asserted: "millions of people needed subsistence incomes. Work relief was preferred over public assistance (the dole) because it maintained self-respect, reinforced the work ethic, and kept skills sharp."<ref name="Leighninger Cultural Infrastructure"/>{{Rp|228}}

==Establishment==
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| image1    = FDR-April-28-1935-side.jpg
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| caption1  = FDR prepares to speak about the establishment of the work relief program and [[Social Security Act|Social Security]] at his [[Fireside chats|fireside chat]] of [[s:Roosevelt's Fireside Chat, 28 April 1935|April 28, 1935]].
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| image2    =Harry-Hopkins-WPA-November-1935.jpg
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| caption2  = [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration|FERA]] administrator and WPA head [[Harry Hopkins]] speaking to reporters (November 1935)}}

On May 6, 1935, FDR issued [[executive order]] 7034, establishing the Works Progress Administration.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4 |title=Records of the Work Projects Administration and Its Predecessors |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-28}}</ref><ref name="FDR Creating WPA">{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15053 |title=Executive Order 7034 – Creating Machinery for the Works Progress Administration |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |date=May 6, 1935 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley |access-date=2016-02-27 |archive-date=2016-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306025340/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=15053 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The WPA superseded the work of the [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]], which was dissolved. Direct relief assistance was permanently replaced by a national work relief program—a major [[public works]] program directed by the WPA.<ref>{{cite magazine |last= Deeben |first=John P. |date=Fall 2012 |title=Family Experiences and New Deal Relief: The Correspondence Files of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, 1933–1936 |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/fall/fera.html |magazine=Prologue Magazine |volume=44 |issue=2 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27 }}</ref>

The WPA was largely shaped by [[Harry Hopkins]], supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and close adviser to Roosevelt. Both Roosevelt and Hopkins believed that the route to economic recovery and the lessened importance of the dole would be in employment programs such as the WPA.<ref name="Leighninger Long Range"/>{{Rp|56–57}} [[Hallie Flanagan]], national director of the [[Federal Theatre Project]], wrote that "for the first time in the relief experiments of this country the preservation of the skill of the worker, and hence the preservation of his self-respect, became important."<ref name="Arena">{{cite book |last=Flanagan |first=Hallie |author-link=Hallie Flanagan |date=1965 |title=Arena: The History of the Federal Theatre |location=New York |publisher=Benjamin Blom, reprint edition [1940] |oclc=855945294}}</ref>{{Rp|17}}

The WPA was organized into the following divisions:

* The Division of Engineering and Construction, which planned and supervised construction projects including airports, dams, highways and sanitation systems.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.4 |title=Records of the Division of Engineering and Construction |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Professional and Service Projects (called the Division of Women's and Professional Projects in 1937), which was responsible for [[white-collar worker|white-collar]] projects including education programs, recreation programs, and the arts projects. It was later named the Division of Community Service Programs and the Service Division.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.5 |title=Records of the Division of Professional and Service Projects |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Finance.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.7 |title=Records of the Division of Finance |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Information.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.3 |title=Records of the Division of Information |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Investigation, which succeeded a comparable division at FERA and investigated fraud, misappropriation of funds and disloyalty.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.6 |title=Records of the Division of Investigation |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Division of Statistics, also known as the Division of Social Research.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.8 |title=Records of the Division of Statistics |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* The Project Control Division, which processed project applications.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.9 |title=Records of the Project Control Divisions |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>
* Other divisions including the Employment, Management, Safety, Supply, and Training and Reemployment.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.4.10 |title=Records of Other WPA Divisions |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-27}}</ref>

==Employment==
[[File:WPA-Road-Development.jpg|thumb|left|WPA road development project]]

{{blockquote|These ordinary men and women proved to be extraordinary beyond all expectation. They were golden threads woven in the national fabric. In this, they shamed the political philosophy that discounted their value and rewarded the one that placed its faith in them, thus fulfilling the founding vision of a government by and for its people. All its people.|Nick Taylor, ''American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA''<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Nick |date=2008 |title=American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA, When FDR Put the Nation to Work |location=New York |publisher=[[Bantam Books]] |isbn=9780553802351}}</ref>{{Rp|530}}}}

The goal of the WPA was to employ most of the unemployed people on relief until the economy recovered. [[Harry Hopkins]] testified to Congress in January 1935 why he set the number at 3.5&nbsp;million, using [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] data. Estimating costs at $1,200 per worker per year ({{Inflation|US|1200|1935|fmt=eq|r=-3}}), he asked for and received $4&nbsp;billion (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|4|1935}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation/year|US}}). Many women were employed, but they were few compared to men.

In 1935 there were 20&nbsp;million people on relief in the United States. Of these, 8.3&nbsp;million were children under 16 years of age; 3.8&nbsp;million were persons between the ages of 16 and 65 who were not working or seeking work. These included housewives, students in school, and incapacitated persons. Another 750,000 were person age 65 or over.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|562}} Thus, of the total of 20&nbsp;million persons then receiving relief, 13&nbsp;million were not considered eligible for employment. This left a total of 7&nbsp;million presumably employable persons between the ages of 16 and 65 inclusive. Of these, however, 1.65&nbsp;million were said to be farm operators or persons who had some non-relief employment, while another 350,000 were, despite the fact that they were already employed or seeking work, considered incapacitated. Deducting this 2&nbsp;million from the total of 7.15&nbsp;million, there remained 5.15&nbsp;million persons age 16 to 65, unemployed, looking for work, and able to work.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|562}}

[[File:FDR-Hopkins-September-1938.jpg|thumb|right|FDR and Hopkins (September 1938)]]
Because of the assumption that only one worker per family would be permitted to work under the proposed program, this total of 5.15&nbsp;million was further reduced by 1.6&nbsp;million—the estimated number of workers who were members of families with two or more employable people. Thus, there remained a net total of 3.55&nbsp;million workers in as many households for whom jobs were to be provided.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|562}}

The WPA reached its peak employment of 3,334,594 people in November 1938.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|547}} To be eligible for WPA employment, an individual had to be an American citizen, 18 or older, able-bodied, unemployed, and certified as in need by a local public relief agency approved by the WPA. The WPA Division of Employment selected the worker's placement to WPA projects based on previous experience or training. Worker pay was based on three factors: the region of the country, the degree of [[urbanization]], and the individual's [[Skill (labor)|skill]]. It varied from $19 per month to $94 per month, with the average wage being about $52.50 ({{Inflation|US|52.50|1938|fmt=eq|r=-2}}).<ref>"WPA Employment." [https://www.ggarchives.com/WPA/index.html Gjenvick Archives: The Future of Our Past, Social and Cultural History]. (2000) {{unverifiable|date=December 2024}}</ref> The goal was to pay the local prevailing wage, but limit the hours of work to 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week; the stated minimum being 30 hours a week, or 120 hours a month.<ref name="Howard">{{cite book |last=Howard |first=Donald S. |date=1973 |orig-year=1943 |title=The WPA and Federal Relief Policy |location=New York |publisher=Da Capo Press |oclc=255072517|url=https://www.russellsage.org/publications/wpa-and-federal-relief-policy }}</ref>{{Rp|213}}

Being a voter or a Democrat was not a prerequisite for a relief job.  Federal law specifically prohibited any political discrimination against WPA workers. Vague charges were bandied about at the time.<ref>The most frequent claim is that Kentucky Democrats purchased WPA votes in the 1935 gubernatorial campaign. For a refutation see Robert J. Leupold, "The Kentucky WPA: Relief and Politics, May–November 1935," ''Filson Club History Quarterly'' (1975) 49#2 pp 152–168.</ref>  The consensus of experts is that: "In the distribution of WPA project jobs as opposed to those of a supervisory and administrative nature politics plays only a minor in comparatively insignificant role."<ref name="Howard" /> However those who were hired were reminded at election time that FDR created their job and the Republicans would take it away. The great majority voted accordingly.<ref name="c005">{{cite journal | last=Sheppard | first=Si | title='If it wasn't for Roosevelt you wouldn't have this job': The Politics of Patronage and the 1936 Presidential Election in New York | journal=New York History | publisher=New York State Historical Association | volume=95 | issue=1 | year=2014 | issn=0146-437X | jstor=newyorkhist.95.1.41 | pages=41–69 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/newyorkhist.95.1.41 | access-date=2024-12-28}}</ref>

==Projects==
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| caption1  = Typical plaque on a WPA project
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WPA projects were administered by the Division of Engineering and Construction and the Division of Professional and Service Projects. Most projects were initiated, planned and sponsored by states, counties or cities. Nationwide projects were sponsored until 1939.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.5 |title=Records of WPA Projects |website=Records of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |access-date=2016-02-25}}</ref>

The WPA built traditional infrastructure of the [[New Deal]] such as roads, bridges, schools, libraries, courthouses, hospitals, sidewalks, waterworks, and post-offices, but also constructed museums, swimming pools, parks, community centers, playgrounds, coliseums, markets, fairgrounds, tennis courts, zoos, botanical gardens, auditoriums, waterfronts, city halls, gyms, and university unions. Most of these are still in use today.<ref name="Leighninger Cultural Infrastructure">{{cite journal |last=Leighninger |first=Robert D. |date=May 1996 |title=Cultural Infrastructure: The Legacy of New Deal Public Space |journal=[[Journal of Architectural Education]] |volume=49 |issue=4 |pages=226–236 |doi= 10.1080/10464883.1996.10734689|jstor=1425295 }}</ref>{{Rp|226}} The amount of infrastructure projects of the WPA included 40,000 new and 85,000 improved buildings. These new buildings included 5,900 new schools; 9,300 new auditoriums, gyms, and recreational buildings; 1,000 new libraries; 7,000 new dormitories; and 900 new armories. In addition, infrastructure projects included 2,302 stadiums, grandstands, and bleachers; 52 fairgrounds and rodeo grounds; 1,686 parks covering 75,152 acres; 3,185 playgrounds; 3,026 athletic fields; 805 swimming pools; 1,817 handball courts; 10,070 tennis courts; 2,261 horseshoe pits; 1,101 ice-skating areas; 138 outdoor theatres; 254 golf courses; and 65 ski jumps.<ref name="Leighninger Cultural Infrastructure"/>{{Rp|227}} Total expenditures on WPA projects through June 1941 totaled approximately $11.4&nbsp;billion—the equivalent of ${{Inflation|US-GDP|11.4|1941}}&nbsp;billion in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}.{{Inflation-fn|US-GDP}} Over $4&nbsp;billion was spent on highway, road, and street projects; more than $1&nbsp;billion on public buildings, including the [[Dock Street Theatre]] in Charleston, the [[Griffith Observatory]] in Los Angeles, and [[Timberline Lodge]] in Oregon's [[Mount Hood National Forest]].<ref>
{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=David M. |author-link=David M. Kennedy (historian) |date=1999 |title=Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 |location=New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780195038347|title-link=Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 }}</ref>{{Rp|252–253}}

More than $1&nbsp;billion—${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1000000000|1941}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}{{Inflation-fn|US}}—was spent on publicly owned or operated utilities; and another $1&nbsp;billion on welfare projects, including sewing projects for women, the distribution of surplus commodities, and school lunch projects.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|129}} One construction project was the [[Merritt Parkway]] in Connecticut, the bridges of which were each designed as architecturally unique.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.past-inc.org/historic-bridges/merrittpkwybridges.html |title=Website on Merritt Parkway Bridges |publisher=Past-inc.org |access-date=2012-04-20}}</ref> In its eight-year run, the WPA built 325 firehouses and renovated 2,384 of them across the United States. The {{convert|20000|mi|km}} of water mains, installed by their hand as well, contributed to increased fire protection across the country.<ref name="Leighninger Long Range"/>{{Rp|69}}

The direct focus of the WPA projects changed with need. In 1935 priority projects were to improve infrastructure; roads, extension of electricity to rural areas, water conservation, sanitation and flood control. In 1936, as outlined in that year's [[Emergency Relief Appropriations Act]], public facilities became a focus; parks and associated facilities, public buildings, utilities, airports, and transportation projects were funded. The following year saw the introduction of agricultural improvements, such as the production of marl fertilizer and the eradication of fungus pests. As the Second World War approached, and then eventually began, WPA projects became increasingly defense related.<ref name="Leighninger Long Range"/>{{Rp|70}}

One project of the WPA was funding state-level library service demonstration projects, to create new areas of library service to underserved populations and to extend rural service.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newdeal.feri.org/ala/al38703.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991002160702/http://newdeal.feri.org/ala/al38703.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=1999-10-02 |title=WPA and Rural Libraries |publisher=Newdeal.feri.org |access-date=2012-04-20 }}</ref> Another project was the [[Household Service Demonstration Project]], which trained 30,000 women for domestic employment. [[South Carolina]] had one of the larger statewide library service demonstration projects. At the end of the project in 1943, South Carolina had twelve publicly funded county libraries, one regional library, and a funded state library agency.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~landc/fulltext/LandC_32_4_Gorman.pdf |title=Blazing the Way: The WPA Library Service Demonstration Project in South Carolina by Robert M. Gorman |access-date=2012-04-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415002011/http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~landc/fulltext/LandC_32_4_Gorman.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-15 }}</ref>

===Federal Project Number One===
A significant aspect of the Works Progress Administration was the [[Federal Project Number One]], which had five different parts: the [[Federal Art Project]], the [[Federal Music Project]], the [[Federal Theatre Project]], the [[Federal Writers' Project]], and the [[Historical Records Survey]]. The government wanted to provide new federal cultural support instead of just providing direct grants to private institutions. After only one year, over 40,000 artists and other talented workers had been employed through this project in the United States.<ref name="Adams 1995">{{cite web |url=http://www.wwcd.org/policy/US/newdeal.html |title=New Deal Cultural Programs: Experiments in Cultural Democracy |last1=Adams |first1=Don |last2=Goldbard |first2=Arlene |date=1995 |website=Webster's World of Cultural Democracy |access-date=2016-02-24}}</ref> Cedric Larson stated that "The impact made by the five major cultural projects of the WPA upon the national consciousness is probably greater in total than anyone readily realizes. As channels of communication between the administration and the country at large, both directly and indirectly, the importance of these projects cannot be overestimated, for they all carry a tremendous appeal to the eye, the ear, or the intellect—or all three."<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|491}}

====Federal Art Project====
{{main|Federal Art Project}}
This project was directed by [[Holger Cahill]], and in 1936 employment peaked at over 5,300 artists. The Arts Service Division created illustrations and posters for the WPA writers, musicians, and theaters. The Exhibition Division had public exhibitions of artwork from the WPA, and artists from the Art Teaching Division were employed in settlement houses and community centers to give classes to an estimated 50,000 children and adults. They set up over 100 art centers around the country that served an estimated eight&nbsp;million individuals.<ref name="Adams 1995"/>

====Federal Music Project====
[[File:WPABandLafayetteSquareNOLA.jpg|thumb|Noon-hour WPA band concert in [[Lafayette Square (New Orleans)|Lafayette Square]], [[New Orleans]] (1940)]]
{{main|Federal Music Project}}
Directed by [[Nikolai Sokoloff]], former principal conductor of the [[Cleveland Orchestra]], the [[Federal Music Project]] employed over 16,000 musicians at its peak. Its purpose was to create jobs for unemployed musicians, It established new ensembles such as chamber groups, orchestras, choral units, opera units, concert bands, military bands, dance bands, and theater orchestras. They gave 131,000 performances and programs to 92&nbsp;million people each week.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> The Federal Music Project performed plays and dances, as well as radio dramas.<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939">{{cite journal |last=Larson |first=Cedric |date=July 1939 |title=The Cultural Projects of the WPA |journal=[[Public Opinion Quarterly]] |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=491–496 |doi= 10.1086/265324|jstor=2744973 }}</ref>{{Rp|494}} In addition, the Federal Music Project gave music classes to an estimated 132,000 children and adults every week, recorded folk music, served as copyists, arrangers, and librarians to expand the availability of music, and experimented in music therapy.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> Sokoloff stated, "Music can serve no useful purpose unless it is heard, but these totals on the listeners' side are more eloquent than statistics as they show that in this country there is a great hunger and eagerness for music."<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|494}}

====Federal Theatre Project====
{{main|Federal Theatre Project}}
In 1929, Broadway alone had employed upwards of 25,000 workers, onstage and backstage; in 1933, only 4,000 still had jobs. The Actors' Dinner Club and the Actors' Betterment Association were giving out free meals every day.  Every theatrical district in the country suffered as audiences dwindled.  The New Deal project was directed by playwright [[Hallie Flanagan]], and employed 12,700 performers and staff at its peak. They presented more than 1,000 performances each month to almost one&nbsp;million people, produced 1,200 plays in the four years it was established, and introduced 100 new playwrights. Many performers later became successful in Hollywood including [[Orson Welles]], [[John Houseman]], [[Burt Lancaster]], [[Joseph Cotten]], [[Canada Lee]], [[Will Geer]], [[Joseph Losey]], [[Virgil Thomson]], [[Nicholas Ray]], [[E.G. Marshall]] and [[Sidney Lumet]]. The Federal Theatre Project was the first project to end; it was terminated in June 1939 after Congress zeroed out the funding.<ref name="Adams 1995" /><ref>Susan Quinn, ''The Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands Made High Art out of Desperate Times'' (2008) pp. 62, 280.</ref>

====Federal Writers' Project====
{{main|Federal Writers' Project}}
This project was directed by [[Henry Alsberg]] and employed 6,686 writers at its peak in 1936.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> The FWP created the [[American Guide Series]] which, when completed, consisted of 378 books and pamphlets providing a thorough analysis of the history, social life and culture for every state, city and village in the United States including descriptions of towns, waterways, historic sites, oral histories, photographs, and artwork.<ref name="Adams 1995"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Mosse |first=George |date=2024 |title=Confronting the Nation |location= |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |pages=36-37 |isbn=978-0-299-34644-7}}</ref> An association or group that put up the cost of publication sponsored each book, the cost was anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000. In almost all cases, the book sales were able to reimburse their sponsors.<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|494}} Additionally, another important part of this project was to record oral histories to create archives such as the [[Slave Narrative]]s and collections of folklore. These writers also participated in research and editorial services to other government agencies.<ref name="Adams 1995"/>

====Historical Records Survey====
{{main|Historical Records Survey}}
This project was the smallest of Federal Project Number One and served to identify, collect, and conserve United States' historical records.<ref name="Adams 1995"/> It is one of the biggest bibliographical efforts and was directed by Luther H. Evans. At its peak, this project employed more than 4,400 workers.<ref name="Larson, Cedric 1939"/>{{Rp|494}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
File:Little Miss Muffet 1940 poster.jpg|1940 WPA poster using ''[[Little Miss Muffet]]'' to promote reading among children
File:WPA-Cancer-Poster-Herzog.jpg|WPA health education poster about cancer, {{Circa|1936}}–1938
File:The nickel and dime store, WPA poster, ca. 1941.jpg|Poster for the WPA shows various items that can be purchased at the [[Variety store|5 & 10¢]] store
File:Art classes for children LCCN98510141.jpg|WPA poster advertising art classes for children
File:WPA_Zoo_Poster-Elephant.jpg|WPA poster promoting the zoo as a place to visit, showing an elephant
File:WPA_Theatre_Poster-Abraham_Lincoln.jpg|1936 WPA Poster for Federal Theatre Project presentation
File:WPA-Work-Pays-America-Poster.jpg|WPA poster encouraging laborers to work for America
</gallery>

=== Library Services Program ===
Before the Great Depression, it was estimated that one-third of the population in the United States did not have reasonable access to public library services.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=December 1995|title=Library|journal=MRS Bulletin|volume=20|issue=12|pages=52–53|doi=10.1557/s0883769400045929|issn=0883-7694|doi-access=free}}</ref> Understanding the need, not only to maintain existing facilities but to expand library services, led to the establishment of the WPA's Library Projects.  With the onset of the Depression, local governments facing declining revenues were unable to maintain social services, including libraries. This lack of revenue exacerbated problems of library access that were already widespread. 

In 1934, only two states, Massachusetts and Delaware, provided their total population access to public libraries.<ref name=swain>{{Cite journal|last=Swain|first=Martha H.|date=1995|title=A New Deal in Libraries: Federal Relief Work and Library Service, 1933–1943|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25542771|journal=Libraries & Culture|volume=30|issue=3|pages=265–283|jstor=25542771|issn=0894-8631}}</ref> In many rural areas, there were no libraries, and where they did exist, reading opportunities were minimal. Sixty-six percent of the South's population did not have access to any public library. Libraries that existed circulated one book per capita.<ref name=swain /> The early emphasis of these programs was on extending library services to rural populations, by creating libraries in areas that lacked facilities. The WPA library program also greatly augmented reader services in metropolitan and urban centers.  

By 1938, the WPA Library Services Project had established 2,300 new libraries, 3,400 reading rooms in existing libraries, and 53 traveling libraries for sparsely settled areas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dp.la/exhibitions/history-us-public-libraries/libraries-on-the-move/wpa-library-programs|title=WPA Library Programs|work=Digital Public Library of America}}</ref> Federal money for these projects could only be spent on worker wages, therefore local municipalities would have to provide upkeep on properties and purchase equipment and materials. At the local level, WPA libraries relied on funding from county or city officials or funds raised by local community organizations such as women's clubs. Due to limited funding, many WPA libraries were "little more than book distribution stations: tables of materials under temporary tents, a tenant home to which nearby readers came for their books, a school superintendents' home, or a crossroads general store."<ref name=swain /> The public response to the WPA libraries was extremely positive. For many, "the WPA had become 'the breadline of the spirit.'"<ref name=swain />

At its height in 1938, there were 38,324 people, primarily women, employed in library services programs, while 25,625 were employed in library services and 12,696 were employed in bookbinding and repair.  

Because book repair was an activity that could be taught to unskilled workers and once trained, could be conducted with little supervision, repair and mending became the main activity of the WPA Library Project. The basic rationale for this change was that the mending and repair projects saved public libraries and school libraries thousands of dollars in acquisition costs while employing needy women who were often heads of households.<ref name=swain />  

By 1940, the WPA Library Project, now the Library Services Program, began to shift its focus as the entire WPA began to move operations towards goals of national defense. WPA Library Programs served those goals in two ways: 1.) existing WPA libraries could distribute materials to the public on the nature of an imminent national defense emergency and the need for national defense preparation, and 2.) the project could provide supplementary library services to military camps and defense impacted communities.

By December 1941, the number of people employed in WPA library work was only 16,717. In May of the following year, all statewide Library Projects were reorganized as WPA War Information Services Programs. By early 1943, the work of closing war information centers had begun. The last week of service for remaining WPA library workers was March 15, 1943.<ref name=swain />

While it is difficult to quantify the success or failure of WPA Library Projects relative to other WPA programs, "what is incontestable is the fact that the library projects provided much-needed employment for mostly female workers, recruited many to librarianship in at least semiprofessional jobs, and retained librarians who may have left the profession for other work had employment not come through federal relief...the WPA subsidized several new ventures in readership services such as the widespread use of bookmobiles and supervised reading rooms{{snd}}services that became permanent in post-depression and postwar American libraries."<ref name=swain />  

In extending library services to people who lost their libraries (or never had a library to begin with), WPA Library Services Projects achieved phenomenal success, made significant permanent gains, and had a profound impact on library life in America.<ref name=swain />

==Incarceration of Japanese Americans in internment camps==
{{See also|Internment of Japanese Americans}}
The WPA spent $4.47&nbsp;million on removal and [[internment]] between March and November 1942, slightly more than the $4.43&nbsp;million spent by the Army for that purpose during that period.   Jason Scott Smith observes that "the eagerness of many WPA administrators to place their organization in the forefront of this wartime enterprise is striking." The WPA was on the ground helping with removal and relocation even before the creation of the WRA. On March 11, Rex L. Nicholson, the WPA's regional director, took charge of the "Reception and Induction" centers that controlled the first thirteen assembly centers. Nicholson's old WPA associates played key roles in the administration of the camps.<ref>{{cite book | last=Beito | first=David T. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_New_Deal_s_War_on_the_Bill_of_Rights/kjvazwEACAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover|title=The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance | edition=First | pages=182-183| location=Oakland | publisher=Independent Institute | year=2023 | isbn=978-1598133561}}</ref>

WPA veterans involved in internment included Clayton E. Triggs, the first manager of the [[Manzanar Relocation Center]] in California, a facility that, according to one insider, was "manned just about 100% by the WPA." Drawing on experiences derived from New Deal–era road building, he supervised the installation of such features as guard towers and spotlights. Then-Secretary of Commerce [[Harry Hopkins]] praised his successor as WPA administrator, [[Howard O. Hunter]], for the "building of those camps for the War Department for the Japanese evacuees on the West Coast."<ref>Beito, p. 181–183.</ref>

==African Americans==
The share of [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]] and WPA benefits for African Americans exceeded their proportion of the general population. The FERA's first relief census reported that more than two&nbsp;million African Americans were on relief during early 1933, a proportion of the African-American population (17.8%) that was nearly double the proportion of white Americans on relief (9.5%).<ref name = "salmond">John Salmond, "The New Deal and the Negro" in John Braeman et al., eds. ''The New Deal: The National Level'' (1975). pp 188–89</ref> This was during the period of [[Jim Crow]] and [[racial segregation]] in the South, when black Americans were largely [[Disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|disenfranchised]].

By 1935, there were 3,500,000 African Americans (men, women and children) on relief, almost 35 percent of the African-American population; plus another 250,000 African-American adults were working on WPA projects. Altogether during 1938, about 45 percent of the nation's African-American families were either on relief or were employed by the WPA.<ref name = "salmond"/>

[[Civil rights]] leaders initially objected that African Americans were proportionally underrepresented. African American leaders made such a claim with respect to WPA hires in New Jersey, stating, "In spite of the fact that Blacks indubitably constitute more than 20 percent of the State's unemployed, they composed 15.9% of those assigned to W.P.A. jobs during 1937."<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|287}} Nationwide in 1940, 9.8% of the population were African American.

However, by 1941, the perception of discrimination against African Americans had changed to the point that the [[NAACP]] magazine ''Opportunity'' hailed the WPA:

<blockquote>It is to the eternal credit of the administrative officers of the WPA that discrimination on various projects because of race has been kept to a minimum and that in almost every community Negroes have been given a chance to participate in the work program. In the South, as might have been expected, this participation has been limited, and differential wages on the basis of race have been more or less effectively established; but in the northern communities, particularly in the urban centers, the Negro has been afforded his first real opportunity for employment in white-collar occupations.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|295}}</blockquote>

The WPA mostly operated segregated units, as did its youth affiliate, the [[National Youth Administration]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Charles L. Lumpkins|title=American Pogrom: The East St. Louis Race Riot and Black Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8_ZBcXXRAYC&pg=PA179|year=2008|publisher=Ohio University Press|page=179|isbn=9780821418031}}</ref> Blacks were hired by the WPA as supervisors in the North; however of 10,000 WPA supervisors in the South, only 11 were black.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cheryl Lynn Greenberg|title=To Ask for an Equal Chance: African Americans in the Great Depression|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rcdl9nafM2oC&pg=PA60|year=2009|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=60|isbn=9781442200517}}</ref> Historian Anthony Badger argues, "New Deal programs in the South routinely discriminated against blacks and perpetuated segregation."<ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony J. Badger|title=New Deal / New South: An Anthony J. Badger Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmXIZEtMYyQC&pg=PA38|year=2011|publisher=U. of Arkansas Press|page=38|isbn=9781610752770}}</ref>

==People with physical disabilities==
The [[League of the Physically Handicapped]] in New York was organized in May 1935 to end discrimination by the WPA against the physically disabled unemployed.<ref name="longmore">{{cite journal|last1=Longmore|first1=PK|author-link= Paul K. Longmore|last2=Goldberger|first2=David|title=The League of the Physically Handicapped and the Great Depression: A Case Study in the New Disability History|journal=The Journal of American History|date=December 2000|volume=87|issue=3|pages=888–922|doi=10.2307/2675276|jstor=2675276|pmid=17639642}}</ref> The city's [[Home Relief|Home Relief Bureau]] coded applications by the physically disabled applicants as "PH" ("physically handicapped"). Thus they were not hired by the WPA.<ref name="isr">{{cite web|last1=Rosenthal|first1=Keith|title=Pioneers in the fight for disability rights The League of the Physically Handicapped|url=https://isreview.org/issue/90/pioneers-fight-disability-rights|website=International Socialist Review|access-date=29 April 2018}}</ref> In protest, the League held two [[sit-ins]] in 1935.<ref name="isr"/><ref name="nyt">{{cite news|title=PLEA BY DISABLED PUT TO WPA CHIEF; New York Group, Camping in Washington, Will Consult Williams Again Today|newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1937/08/17/archives/plea-by-disabled-put-to-wpa-chief-new-york-group-camping-in.html|access-date=29 April 2018|date=August 17, 1937}}</ref> The WPA relented and created 1,500 jobs for physically disabled workers in New York City.<ref name="zames">{{cite book|last1=Fleischer|first1=Doris Zames|last2=Zames|first2=Frieda|title=The Disability Rights Movement: From Charity to Confrontation|url=https://archive.org/details/disabilityrights0000flei|url-access=registration|date=2001|publisher=Temple University Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=1439907447|page=906}}</ref><ref name="timeline">{{cite web|title=Disability History Timeline |url=http://isc.temple.edu/neighbor/ds/disabilityrightstimeline.htm |website=Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Independent Living Management. |publisher=Temple University |access-date=23 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220065328/http://isc.temple.edu/neighbor/ds/disabilityrightstimeline.htm |archive-date=20 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="consumer">{{cite journal|last1=Longmore|first1=PK|author-link=Paul K. Longmore|title=Disability Policy and Politics: Considering Consumer Influence|journal=Journal of Disability Policy Studies|date=January 2000|volume=11|issue=1|pages=36–44|doi=10.1177/104420730001100111|s2cid=145123577}}</ref>

==Women==
[[File:Women Working for the WPA.jpg|thumb|right|Women in Costilla, New Mexico, weaving rag rugs in 1939]]
About 15% of the household heads on relief were women, and youth programs were operated separately by the [[National Youth Administration]]. The average worker was about 40 years old (about the same as the average family head on relief).

WPA policies were consistent with the strong belief of the time that husbands and wives should not both be working (because the second person working would take one job away from some other breadwinner). A study of 2,000 female workers in Philadelphia showed that 90% were married, but wives were reported as living with their husbands in only 18 percent of the cases. Only 2 percent of the husbands had private employment. Of the 2,000 women, all were responsible for one to five additional people in the household.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|283}}

In rural Missouri, 60% of the WPA-employed women were without husbands (12% were single; 25% widowed; and 23% divorced, separated or deserted). Thus, only 40% were married and living with their husbands, but 59% of the husbands were permanently disabled, 17% were temporarily disabled, 13% were too old to work, and remaining 10% were either unemployed or disabled. Most of the women worked with sewing projects, where they were taught to use sewing machines and made clothing and bedding, as well as supplies for hospitals, orphanages, and adoption centers.<ref name="Howard"/>{{Rp|283}}<ref>{{Cite journal|url = http://stars.library.ucf.edu/ahistoryofcentralfloridapodcast/33/|title = Episode 32 Tapestries|date = November 18, 2014|access-date = January 30, 2016|journal = A History of Central Florida Podcast|last = Dickens|first = Bethany}}</ref>

One WPA-funded project, the [[Pack Horse Library Project]], mainly employed women to deliver books to rural areas in eastern Kentucky.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.horse-canada.com/horses-and-history/the-pack-horse-librarians-of-eastern-kentucky/|title=The Pack Horse Librarians of Eastern Kentucky|work=Horse Canada|access-date=2017-09-01|language=en-CA}}</ref> Many of the women employed by the project were the sole breadwinners for their families.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Boyd|first=Donald C.|date=2007|title=The Book Women of Kentucky: The WPA Pack Horse Library Project, 1936–1943|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/216892|journal=Libraries & the Cultural Record|volume=42|issue=2|pages=120|url-access=subscription |via=Project MUSE}}</ref>

==Criticism==
[[File:WPA-Rumor-Poster.jpg|thumb|Poster representing the WPA defending itself from attacks]]
The WPA had numerous critics.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Howard |first1= Donald S. |date= 1943 |title= The WPA and Federal Relief Policy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30014174 |journal= The University of Chicago Press |volume= 17 |issue= 4 |pages= 509–510|jstor= 30014174 }}</ref> The strongest attacks were that it was the prelude for a national political machine on behalf of Roosevelt. Reformers secured the [[Hatch Act of 1939]] that largely depoliticized the WPA.<ref>Alexander Keyssar, ''The right to vote: the contested history of democracy in the United States'' (2000) p 193</ref>

Others complained that far left elements played a major role, especially in the New York City unit. Representative [[J. Parnell Thomas]] of the [[House Committee on Un-American Activities]] claimed in 1938 that divisions of the WPA were a "hotbed of Communists" and "one more link in the vast and unparalleled New Deal propaganda network."<ref>{{cite book|editor=Gina Misiroglu|title=American Countercultures: An Encyclopedia of Nonconformists, Alternative Lifestyles, and Radical Ideas in U.S. History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4KsBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA334|year=2015|publisher=Routledge|page=334|isbn=9781317477297}}</ref>

Much of the criticism of the distribution of projects and funding allotment is a result of the view that the decisions were politically motivated. The South, despite being the poorest region of the United States, received 75% less in federal relief and public works funds per capita than the West. Critics would point to the fact that Roosevelt's Democrats could be sure of voting support from the South, whereas the West was less of a sure thing; [[swing state]]s took priority over the other states.<ref name="Bradford A. Lee 1982">{{cite journal |last=Lee |first=Bradford A. |date=Spring 1982 |title=The New Deal Reconsidered |journal=[[The Wilson Quarterly]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=62–76 |jstor=40256265 }}</ref>{{Rp|70}}

There was a perception that WPA employees were not diligent workers, and that they had little incentive to give up their [[busy work]] in favor of productive jobs. Some employers said that the WPA instilled poor work habits and encouraged inefficiency.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ginzberg |first=Eli |date=2004 |orig-year=1943 |title=The Unemployed |location=New Brunswick |publisher=Transaction Publishers |page=447 |isbn=9780765805744 }}</ref> Some job applicants found that a WPA work history was viewed negatively by employers, who said they had formed poor work habits.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wood |first=Margaret Mary |date=1953 |title=Paths of Loneliness: The Individual Isolated in Modern Society|location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=61 |oclc=620533}}</ref>

A Senate committee reported that, "To some extent the complaint that WPA workers do poor work is not without foundation. ... Poor work habits and incorrect techniques are not remedied. Occasionally a supervisor or a foreman demands good work."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=PWjKAAAAMAAJ&q=wpa++%22poor+work+habits%22 ''Report of investigation of public relief in the District of Columbia (U.S. Senate)''], (1938)</ref> The WPA and its workers were ridiculed as being lazy. The organization's initials were said to stand for "We Poke Along" or "We Putter Along" or "We Piddle Around" or "Whistle, Piss and Argue." These were sarcastic references to WPA projects that sometimes slowed down deliberately because foremen had an incentive to keep going, rather than finish a project.<ref>David A. Taylor, ''Soul of a people: the WPA Writer's Project uncovers Depression America'' (2009) p 12</ref>

The WPA's Division of Investigation proved so effective in preventing political corruption "that a later congressional investigation couldn't find a single serious irregularity it had overlooked," wrote economist [[Paul Krugman]]. "This dedication to honest government wasn't a sign of Roosevelt's personal virtue; rather, it reflected a political imperative. FDR's mission in office was to show that government activism works. To maintain that mission's credibility he needed to keep his administration's record clean. And he did."<ref>{{cite book |last=Krugman |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Krugman |date=2007 |title=The Conscience of a Liberal |location=New York |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/conscienceoflibe00krug/page/62 62] |isbn=9780393060690|title-link=The Conscience of a Liberal }}</ref>

Many complaints were recorded from private industry at the time that the existence of WPA works programs made hiring new workers difficult. The WPA claimed to counter this by keeping hourly wages well below private wages and encouraging relief workers to actively seek private employment and accept job offers if they got them.<ref name="Neumann et al. 2010"/>{{Rp|196}}

==Evolution==
[[File:Colonel Harrington 2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Francis C. Harrington]], WPA national administrator 1938–40]]
On December 23, 1938, after leading the WPA for three and a half years, [[Harry Hopkins]] resigned and became the [[Secretary of Commerce]]. To succeed him Roosevelt appointed [[Francis C. Harrington]], a colonel in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] and the WPA's chief engineer, who had been leading the Division of Engineering and Construction.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|417–420}}

Following the passage of the [[Reorganization Act of 1939]] in April 1939, the WPA was grouped with the [[Federal Highway Administration|Bureau of Public Roads]], [[General Services Administration|Public Buildings Branch of the Procurement Division]], Branch of Buildings Management of the [[National Park Service]], [[United States Housing Authority]] and the [[Public Works Administration]] under the newly created [[Federal Works Agency]]. Created at the same time, the [[Federal Security Agency]] assumed the WPA's responsibility for the [[National Youth Administration]]. "The name of the Works Progress Administration has been changed to Work Projects Administration in order to make its title more descriptive of its major purpose," President Roosevelt wrote when announcing the reorganization.<ref name="FDR on FWA">{{cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=15748 |title=Message to Congress on the Reorganization Act |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |date=April 15, 1939 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley |access-date=2015-06-29}}</ref>

As WPA projects became more subject to the state, local sponsors were called on to provide 25% of project costs. As the number of public works projects slowly diminished, more projects were dedicated to preparing for war.<ref name="Leighninger Cultural Infrastructure"/>{{Rp|227}} Having languished since the end of World War I, the American military services were depopulated and served by crumbling facilities; when [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia|Germany occupied Czechoslovakia]] in 1938, the U.S. Army numbered only 176,000 soldiers.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|494}}

[[File:WPAMapMakersGoToWarNewOrleans1941.jpg|thumb|WPA researchers and map makers prepare the air raid warning map for New Orleans within days of the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] (December 11, 1941).]]
On May 26, 1940, FDR delivered a [[Fireside chats|fireside chat]] to the American people about "the approaching storm",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/speeches/speech-3316 |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D.  |title=Fireside Chat 15: On National Defense (May 26, 1940)|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia |access-date=2016-02-25}}</ref> and on June 6 Harrington reprioritized WPA projects, anticipating a major expansion of the U.S. military. "Types of WPA work to be expedited in every possible way to include, in addition to airports and [[air base|military airfields]], construction of housing and other facilities for enlarged military garrisons, camp and cantonment construction, and various improvements in navy yards," Harrington said. He observed that the WPA had already made substantial contributions to national defense over its five years of existence, by building 85 percent of the new airports in the U.S. and making $420&nbsp;million in improvements to military facilities. He predicted there would be 500,000 WPA workers on defense-related projects over the next 12 months, at a cost of $250&nbsp;million.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|492–493}} The estimated number of WPA workers needed for defense projects was soon revised to between 600,000 and 700,000. Vocational training for war industries was also begun by the WPA, with 50,000 trainees in the program by October 1940.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|494}}

"Only the WPA, having employed millions of relief workers for more than five years, had a comprehensive awareness of the skills that would be available in a full-scale national emergency," wrote journalist Nick Taylor. "As the country began its preparedness buildup, the WPA was uniquely positioned to become a major defense agency."<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|494–495}}

Harrington died suddenly, aged 53, on September 30, 1940. Notably apolitical—he boasted that he had never voted<ref>{{cite news |last=Associated Press |date=October 1, 1940 |title=WPA Head Dies in Connecticut |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1940/10/01/page/16/article/f-c-harrington-wpa-head-dies-in-connecticut |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |access-date=2016-02-25 }}</ref>—he had deflected Congressional criticism of the WPA by bringing attention to its building accomplishments and its role as an employer.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|504}} Harrington's successor, Howard O. Hunter, served as head of the WPA until May 1, 1942.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Rp|517}}

==Termination==
Unemployment ended with war production for [[United States home front during World War II|World War II]], as millions of men joined the services, and [[cost-plus contract]]s made it attractive for companies to hire unemployed men and train them.<ref name="Taylor"/>{{Page needed|date=February 2016}}<ref name="Adams 1995"/>

Concluding that a national relief program was no longer needed, Roosevelt directed the Federal Works Administrator to end the WPA in a letter December 4, 1942. "Seven years ago I was convinced that providing useful work is superior to any and every kind of dole. Experience had amply justified this policy," FDR wrote:

<blockquote>By building airports, schools, highways, and parks; by making huge quantities of clothing for the unfortunate; by serving millions of lunches to school children; by almost immeasurable kinds and quantities of service the Work Projects Administration has reached a creative hand into every county in this Nation. It has added to the national wealth, has repaired the wastage of depression, and has strengthened the country to bear the burden of war. By employing eight&nbsp;millions of Americans, with thirty&nbsp;millions of dependents, it has brought to these people renewed hope and courage. It has maintained and increased their working skills; and it has enabled them once more to take their rightful places in public or in private employment.<ref name="FDR Letter Terminating WPA">{{cite web |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-the-federal-works-administrator-discontinuing-the-wpa |title=Letter to the Federal Works Administrator Discontinuing the W.P.A. |last=Roosevelt |first=Franklin D. |author-link=Franklin D. Roosevelt|date=December 4, 1942 |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley |access-date=2021-04-10}}</ref></blockquote>

Roosevelt ordered a prompt end to WPA activities to conserve funds that had been appropriated. Operations in most states ended February 1, 1943. With no funds budgeted for the next fiscal year, the WPA ceased to exist after June 30, 1943.<ref name="FDR Letter Terminating WPA"/>

==Legacy==
"The agencies of the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt administration]] had an enormous and largely unrecognized role in defining the public space we now use", wrote sociologist Robert D. Leighninger. "In a short period of ten years, the [[Public Works Administration]], the Works Progress Administration, and the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]] built facilities in practically every community in the country. Most are still providing service half a century later. It is time we recognized this legacy and attempted to comprehend its relationship to our contemporary situation."<ref name="Leighninger Cultural Infrastructure"/>{{Rp|226}}
<gallery mode="packed" heights="140px">
File:COMPANY E OF THE 167TH INFANTRY OF THE ALABAMA NATIONAL GUARD ARMORY; MARSHALL COUNTY,.jpg|[[Company E of the 167th Infantry of the Alabama National Guard Armory|Alabama National Guard Armory]], [[Guntersville, Alabama]] (1936)
File:Prairie County Courthouse, De Valls Bluff, AR 001.jpg|Prairie County Courthouse, [[DeValls Bluff, Arkansas]] (1939)
File:Griffith observatory 2006.jpg|[[Griffith Observatory]], [[Los Angeles]], [[California]] (1933)
File:Santa Ana City Hall.jpg|Santa Ana City Hall, [[Santa Ana, California]] (1935)
File:08-06-18LeonHighSchl1.JPG|[[Leon High School]], [[Tallahassee, Florida]] (1936–37)
File:St Aug Govt House Museum01.jpg|[[Government House (St. Augustine)|Government House]], [[St. Augustine, Florida]] (1937)
File:Fort Hawkins Macon, Georgia.jpg|[[Fort Benjamin Hawkins|Fort Hawkins]], [[Macon, Georgia]] (1936–1938)
File:Boise High School Gymnasium.jpg|[[Boise High School]] Gymnasium, [[Boise, Idaho]] (1936)
File:Midway Airport Airfield.jpg|[[Midway International Airport]], [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]] (1935–1939)
File:Bandshell in Gregg Park.jpg|Gregg Park Bandshell, [[Vincennes, Indiana]] (1939)
File:WPA canoe house iowa.jpg|Canoe house, [[University of Iowa]] (1937)
File:Jenkins culvert (Gove Co) from NE 1.JPG|Jenkins Culvert, [[Gove County, Kansas]] (1938)
File:Louisville Fire Department Headquarters.jpg|[[Historic Firehouses of Louisville|Louisville Fire Department Headquarters]], [[Louisville, Kentucky]] (1936)
File:BywaterAlvarNOPL2.jpg|Alvar Street Branch, [[New Orleans Public Library]] (1940)
File:WPA Field House.jpg|[[WPA Field House and Pump Station]], [[Scituate, Massachusetts]] (1938)
File:Detroit Naval Armory.jpg|[[Detroit Naval Armory]], [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]] (1936–1939)
File:Brandon Auditorium & Fire Hall.jpg|[[Brandon Auditorium and Fire Hall]], [[Brandon, Minnesota]] (1936)
File:Milaca City Hall 2.jpg|[[Milaca Municipal Hall]], [[Milaca, Minnesota]] (1936)
File:Upland, Nebraska Prairie Ave 5 auditorium.JPG|Upland Auditorium, [[Upland, Nebraska]] (1936)
File:Jackie Robinson Play Center entrance.jpg|Jackie Robinson Play Center, [[Harlem]], [[New York (state)|New York]] (1936)
File:LaGuardia Airport.JPG|[[LaGuardia Airport]], [[Queens]], New York (1937–1939)
File:Rhinebeck, NY, post office.jpg|[[United States Post Office (Rhinebeck, New York)|U.S. Post Office]], [[Rhinebeck (village), New York|Rhinebeck, New York]] (1940)
File:Robeson County Ag Bldg from SE 2.JPG|[[Robeson County Agricultural Building]], [[Lumberton, North Carolina]] (1937)
File:Emmons County Courthouse 2009.jpg|[[Emmons County Courthouse]], [[Linton, North Dakota]] (1934)
File:Rubber Bowl - Akron Ohio.jpg|[[Rubber Bowl]] Stadium, [[Akron, Ohio]] (1940)
File:Timberline-Lodge-Interior-13025.jpg|[[Timberline Lodge]], [[Mt. Hood National Forest]], [[Oregon]] (1936–1938)
File:OSLinside.JPG|[[Oregon State Library]], [[Salem, Oregon]] (1939)
File:SchenleyPark Bridge Pittsburgh.jpg|[[Schenley Park]], [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]] (1938–39)
File:McCoy Stadium.jpg|[[McCoy Stadium]], [[Pawtucket, Rhode Island]] (1942)
File:Dock-street-threatre-interior-sc2.jpg|[[Dock Street Theatre]], [[Charleston, South Carolina]] (1937)
File:Liberty Colored High School.jpg|[[Liberty Colored High School]], [[Liberty, South Carolina]] (1937)
File:Dinosaur Park.jpg|[[Dinosaur Park]], [[Rapid City, South Dakota]] (1936)
File:BristolMunicipalStadium 1061.jpg|[[Bristol Municipal Stadium]], [[Bristol, Tennessee]] (1934)
File:Dealey Plaza 2003.jpg|[[Dealey Plaza]], [[Dallas]], [[Texas]] (1940)
File:Lometa Texas Schoolhouse 2015.jpg|[[Lometa Independent School District|Schoolhouse]], [[Lometa, Texas]] (1938–1940)
File:San Antonio Texas - Riverwalk seen from street level - 2012.jpg|[[San Antonio Riverwalk|River Walk]], [[San Antonio]], Texas (1939)
File:Monroe City Library.jpg|City Library, [[Monroe, Utah]] (1934)
File:Bremerton, WA public library interior.jpg|[[Kitsap Regional Library|Bremerton Public Library]], [[Bremerton, Washington]] (1938)
File:White Center (WA) Community Center 03.jpg|White Center Fieldhouse, [[White Center, Washington]] (1938–1940)
File:Raleigh County Courthouse Beckley.jpg|[[Beckley Courthouse Square Historic District|Raleigh County Courthouse]], [[Beckley, West Virginia]] (1936–37)
File:Carson Park Exterior Eau Claire Wisconsin.jpg|[[Carson Park (baseball stadium)|Carson Park Baseball Stadium]], [[Eau Claire, Wisconsin]] (1937)
File:Mondeaux Lodge interior.jpg|[[Mondeaux Dam Recreation Area|Mondeaux Lodge House]], [[Westboro, Wisconsin]] (1936–1938)
File:Natrona County High School.jpg|[[File:WPA Logo In Sidewalk Healdsburg California.jpg|thumb|"WPA" mark as can be found in many small town sidewalks.]][[Natrona County High School]], [[Casper, Wyoming]] (1941)
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[American Guide Series]]
* [[Federal Art Project]]
* [[Federal Project Number One]]
* [[Hatch Act of 1939]]
* [[List of Federal Art Project artists]]
* [[Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt]]
* [[Public Works of Art Project]]
* [[Section of Painting and Sculpture]], in Treasury department
* [[New Deal artwork]]
* [[California State Relief Administration]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Adams, Don; Goldbard, Arlene. "New Deal Cultural Programs: Experiments in Cultural Democracy." ''Webster's World of Cultural Democracy'' 1995.
* {{cite book | last=Beito | first=David T. | author-link = David T. Beito| year=2023 | title = The New Deal's War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR's Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance| edition=First | pages=4–7| location=Oakland | publisher=Independent Institute | isbn=978-1598133561}}
* Halfmann, Drew, and Edwin Amenta. "Who voted with Hopkins? Institutional politics and the WPA." ''Journal of Policy History'' 13#2 (2001): 251–287. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Drew_Halfmann/publication/236744790_Who_Voted_with_Hopkins_Institutional_Politics_and_the_WPA/links/0deec5279358ed9b5a000000.pdf online]
* Hopkins, June. "The Road Not Taken: Harry Hopkins and New Deal Work Relief" ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 29#2 (1999): 306–16 [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1741-5705.00035/abstract online]
* Howard, Donald S. ''WPA and federal relief policy'' (1943), 880pp; highly detailed report by the independent Russell Sage Foundation. [https://archive.org/details/wpafederalrelief0000howa online]
* Kelly, Andrew, ''Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts, American Culture and the Arts Programs of the WPA.'' Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 2015.
* Larson, Cedric. "The Cultural Projects of the WPA." ''The Public Opinion Quarterly'' 3#3 (1939): 491–196. Accessed [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2744973 in JSTOR]
* Leighninger, Robert D. "Cultural Infrastructure: The Legacy of New Deal Public Space." ''[[Journal of Architectural Education]]'' 49, no. 4 (1996): 226–236.
* Leighninger, Robert D. Jr. ''Long-Range Public Investment: the Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal''. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press (2007).
* Lindley, Betty Grimes & Lindley, Ernest K. ''A New Deal for Youth: the Story of the National Youth Administration'' (1938)
* McJimsey George T. ''Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy'' (1987) [https://archive.org/details/harryhopkinsally0000mcji online]
* Mathews, Jane DeHart. ''Federal Theatre, 1935–1939: Plays, Relief, and Politics'' (Princeton UP 1967) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt13x1bqq online]
* Meriam; Lewis. ''Relief and Social Security''. (The Brookings Institution, 1946). [https://archive.org/details/reliefsocialsecu0000lewi online] 900pp
* Millett; John D. & Gladys Ogden. ''Administration of Federal Work Relief'' 1941.
* Musher, Sharon Ann. ''Democratic Art: The New Deal's Influence on American Culture.'' (University of Chicago Press, 2015_.
* Rose, Nancy. ''Put to Work: The WPA and Public Employment in the Great Depression'' (2009), brief introduction
* Sargent, James E. "Woodrum's Economy Bloc: The Attack on Roosevelt's WPA, 1937–1939." ''Virginia Magazine of History and Biography'' (1985): 175–207. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/4248805 in JSTOR]
* Sheppard, Si. " 'If it wasn't for Roosevelt you wouldn't have this job': The Politics of Patronage and the 1936 Presidential Election in New York." New York History 95.1 (2014): 41–69.  [https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713139 excerpt]
* Singleton, Jeff. ''The American Dole: Unemployment Relief and the Welfare State in the Great Depression'' (2000)
* Smith, Jason Scott. ''Building New Deal Liberalism: the Political Economy of Public Works, 1933–1956'' (2005)
* Taylor, David A. ''Soul of a People: The WPA Writers' Project Uncovers Depression America''. (2009)
* Taylor, Nick. ''American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work'' (2008)  comprehensive history; 640pp [https://www.amazon.com/American-Made-Enduring-Legacy-When-Nation/dp/0553802356/ excerpt]
* Williams, Edward Ainsworth. ''Federal aid for relief'' (Columbia University Press, 1939) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.36560 online]
* Young, William H., & Nancy K. ''The Great Depression in America: a Cultural Encyclopedia''. 2 vols. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007 {{ISBN|0-313-33520-6}}

==External links==
* [https://scrc.gmu.edu/finding_aids/wpaoh.html WPA Oral Histories] at [[George Mason University]]
{{Commons category|Works Progress Administration}}{{Wikisource|Executive Order 7034}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa9Mjfr5foY Footage of the Federal Theatre Project's 1936 "Voodoo Macbeth"] – with informative annotations.
* [[Great Depression in Washington State Project|The Great Depression in Washington State Project]], including an illustrated map of [https://depts.washington.edu/depress/map_WPA.shtml major WPA projects] and a multimedia history of the [https://depts.washington.edu/depress/theater_arts_ftp.shtml Federal Theater Project] in the State.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100527153040/http://www.nga.gov/collection/iad/index.shtm The Index of American Design] at the National Gallery of Art
* {{Gutenberg author | id=3906}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=("Work Projects Administration" OR "WPA Project" OR "WPA public")}}
* {{Librivox author |id=9443}}
* [http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv96452 Guide to the WPA Oregon Federal Art Project collection at the University of Oregon]
* [http://www.solvingpoverty.com/ WPA inspired Gulf Coast Civic Works Project]
* [https://livingnewdeal.org/ Living New Deal Project] – The Living New Deal Project documents the living legacy of New Deal agencies, including the WPA. The Living New Deal website includes an extensive digital map featuring detailed information about specific WPA projects by location.
* [http://histclo.com/essay/war/dep/cou/us/nda-wpa.html New Deal Agencies: The Works Progress Administration]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090906070417/http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/smithsonian/show_soul_people.do Soul of a People documentary] on [[Smithsonian Networks]]
* [http://digital.lib.usf.edu/?u29.138-w27-ead Works Progress Administration Tampa Office Records] at the [http://lib.usf.edu University of South Florida]
* [http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asm/MS2.xml;query=wpa;brand=default Arizona Archives Online Finding Aid] – The Arizona State Museum Library & Archives holds the records of the WPA Statewide Archaeological Project (1938–1940) and are found on AAO.
* [http://wpa.cslib.org/ WPA Art Inventory Project] at the [[Connecticut State Library]]
* [http://unomaha.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15301coll1 WPA Omaha, Nebraska City Guide Project] by the [[University of Nebraska Omaha]] [[Dr. C.C. and Mabel L. Criss Library]].
* WPA publications from [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=Alabama+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields Alabama], [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=Florida+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields Florida], [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=Georgia+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields Georgia], [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=Kentucky+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields Kentucky], [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=Louisiana+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields Louisiana], [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=Maryland+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields Maryland], [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=North+Carolina+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields North Carolina], and [http://exploreuk.uky.edu/?commit=search&f%5bsource_s%5d%5b%5d=Tennessee+Works+Progress+Administration+Publications&q=worosk+progress+administration+publications&search_field=all_fields Tennessee] housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center
* [http://stars.library.ucf.edu/ahistoryofcentralfloridapodcast/33/ Tapestries] at [http://stars.library.ucf.edu/ahistoryofcentralfloridapodcast/ A History of Central Florida Podcast]
* [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/works-progress-administration-wpa-art#/?tab=about WPA digital collection] at the New York Public Library
*[http://digital.library.wayne.edu/digitalcollections/item?id=wayne:collectionWPAscores WPA Music Manuscripts] at [[Wayne State University]] Library is a digitization project that contains 174 images of WPA music copies from 1935 to 1943.
* [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1127 United States Work Projects Administration Polar Bibliography] at Dartmouth College Library
* [https://archives.lib.umd.edu/repositories/2/resources/1436 Work Projects Administration in Maryland records] at the [[University of Maryland Libraries|University of Maryland libraries]]
*[https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23630 Collection: "Art of the Works Progress Administration WPA"] from the [[University of Michigan Museum of Art]]
'''WPA posters:'''
* [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/wpahome.html Posters from the WPA at the Library of Congress]
'''Libraries and the WPA:'''
* [http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/WPA/WPAfirstpage.htm The WPA Library Project in South Carolina]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100519213529/http://www.statelibrary.sc.gov/south-carolina-public-library-history-1930-1945 South Carolina Public Library History, 1930–1945]
* [http://digilab.browardlibrary.org/WPAChildren/ WPA Children's Books (1935–1943)] [[Broward County Library]]'s Bienes Museum of the Modern Book
'''WPA murals:'''
* [http://www.wpamurals.com/ Database of WPA murals] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121205075827/http://www.wpamurals.com/ |date=2012-12-05 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111204031948/http://www.americanabstractartists.org/history/wpamurals/ WPA-FAP Mural Division in NYC, and restoration of murals at the Williamsburg Houses and Hospital for Chronic Diseases on Welfare Island]
* [http://www.muralist.org/ WPA mural projects] by noted muralist Sr. [[Lucia Wiley]]
* [http://www.LouisSchanker.info WPA Artist Louis Schanker]
* [http://www.bobolinkbooks.com/BALLAST/WPA.html WPA Artist] [[Robert Byron Tabor|Robert Tabor]]

{{Federal One}}
{{New Deal}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Works Progress Administration| ]]
[[Category:New Deal agencies]]
[[Category:Defunct agencies of the United States government]]
[[Category:History of the government of the United States]]
[[Category:Former United States Federal assistance programs]]
[[Category:1935 establishments in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Government agencies established in 1935]]
[[Category:Government agencies disestablished in 1943]]
[[Category:1943 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Great Depression in the United States]]
[[Category:Work relief programs]]