1935 | The Work Progress Administration Initiative

In 1935, Franklin Delano Roosevelt slated the creation of the New Deal’s Work Progress Administration. It was the agency’s task to create large scale public works projects to stimulate growth and employ millions in a time where uncertainty was ever present. The projects would range from the construction of roads and bridges, to the management of creative programs to bring cultural significance to American communities. An already ambitious undertaking, FDR created the arm of the WPA known as the Federal Arts Project, and  entrusted them with the responsibility of improving awareness and visibility of the program.

Employing some of the most prominent American artists of the time, they would design a wide array of public service posters about a range of industries, matters, states and projects to tug at blue collar America’s hearstrings. The result was a collection of ingeniously designed and visually stimulating art representing life in the 1930 and 1940s.