Primary Resources

The New Deal

Courtesty of the National Archives and Records Administration


WPA Project File Index Cards (microfilm)
These cards show all of the WPA projects from Essex County. The cards are arranged alphabetically by town, with each card representing a different project. What types of WPA projects happened in your town? How many of them are still around?


WPA/NYA Photographs
The following photographs document WPA and NYA activities in Essex County. Together, the Works Progress Administration and its subsidiary, the National Youth Administration, employed millions of Americans as part of an extended relief program. The overwhelming majority of WPA projects focused on creating and repairing infrastructure. Other projects were artistic in nature. Youths involved in NYA projects worked on projects within their schools.

Methuen City Farm Beet Crop

Methuen City Farm Horse and Cart

Methuen City Farm Pig Farmer

NYA Workstation Display

NYA Workstation Salem, MA

Salem Workshop View

Salem Workstation Machinist

Salem Workstation Machinist 2

Boy at Work in NYA Machine Shop, Lynn

Farming Activities at Methuen Residential Center, Methuen

General View of NYA Machine Shop, Lynn

NYA Residential Training Center, Methuen


WPA OPEN HOUSE CITATIONS
As part of a public relations campaign, the WPA organized Open Houses during a program called “This Work Pays Your Community.” During this week, the program’s professional and service work could be viewed by the public. The following citations include articles detailing the WPA projects in different towns. Most of these articles have extensive information about the nature and effects of the local WPA projects. If additional materials of interest are included, I have noted this with the citation.

Public Health and the WPA (pamphlet)
This brochure outlines the ways that the WPA has worked to improve public health both through infrastructure projects such as sewers and drainage and educational outreach.

Q & A on the WPA (pamphlet)
This is a GREAT source to understand how the WPA sold itself to the American people. It is a general informational brochure for the WPA that explains the program and addresses people’s concerns.

Amesbury WPA Open House Week Materials
An article and editorial about the Amesbury WPA nursery school.

Andover WPA Open House Week Materials

Beverly WPA Open House Week Materials

Danvers WPA Open House Week
Special attention is given to the Town Hall murals that were completed as part of the program. The materials also include Congressman Connery’s speech in Congress on behalf of the program and the program for the official “This Work Pays Your Community” celebration.

Gloucester WPA Open House Week

Haverhill WPA Open House Week

Lawrence WPA Open House Week
Articles and a letter about Lawrence WPA projects

Lynn WPA Open House Week

Marblehead WPA Open House Week
Includes speeches by directors of WPA projects in Marblehead.

Methuen WPA Open House Week

Newbury WPA Open House Week
Includes the “This Work Pays Your Community” program.

Newburyport WPA Open House Week
Includes programs from different Open House programs.

North Andover WPA Open House Week

Peabody WPA Open House Week

Salem WPA Open House Week
Includes a “This Work Pays Your Community” program.

Swampscott WPA Open House Week
Includes a “This Work Pays Your Community” program.

Wakefield WPA Open House Week
Includes a “This Work Pays Your Community” program.

Assorted Photographs from Scrapbook of Community Day Projects

NYA Newspaper Items Scrapbook


WPA PAMPHLETS
The following pamphlets detail different aspects of the WPA programs.

Adamic, Louis. “America and the Refugees [pamphlet].” 1939

Broughton, Philip S. “Man Meets Job—How Uncle Sam Helps.” 1941.

MacDonald, Lois et. al. “Labor and the N.R.A. [pamphlet].” 1934.

Ogburn, William F. “Machines and Tomorrow’s World [pamphlet].” 1938.

Sidney, Howard. “Lexington—A Pagent-Drama of the American Freedom.” 1925.

Stewart, Maxwell S. “Our Taxes and What They Buy [pamphlet].” 1939

Delany, Denis. “Work Projects Administration for Massachusetts.”

National Association of Manufacturers. “Yardsticks of American Progress [pamphlet].” New York: 1938.


Box 23 - Massachusetts WPA

National Youth Association of Massachusetts (WPA). “Opportunities for Recreation in Greater Boston.” Boston: 1936
Created by the NYA, this report details the recreational opportunities in MA.

National Youth Association of Massachusetts (WPA). “Opportunities for Recreation in Greater Boston.” Boston: 1936


Courtesy of the Andover Historical Society

Andover Emergency Committee, Letter to the People of Andover, 1932.
The Andover Emergency Committee appealed to its citizens to help the unemployed during the Depression. The Committee gathered information about different jobs that people needed done around their house and then farmed the work out to the local unemployed.

Courtesy of the Newburyport Archival Center

Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts. Excerpts from Whaling Masters (American Guide Series). New Bedford, MA
From the preface: “Whaling Masters is one of the publications written by members of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration. Designed primarily to give useful employment to needy unemployed writers and research workers, this project has utilized their experience and abilities in the preparation for the American people of a portrait of America – its history, folklore, scenery, cultural backgrounds, social and economic trends, and racial factors.”

Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts. The Origin of Massachusetts Place Names of the State, Counties, Cities, and Towns.
From the preface: “In its general research upon historical subjects relating to Massachusetts and its units of government, the Massachusetts WPA Writer’s Project came upon many scattered references to the origins of place names…We decided that a public need existed for bringing together all the available information between one set of covers…”