Description: Works Progress Administration Federal Writers' Project office photographs, 1937

Works Progress Administration Federal Writers' Project office photographs, 1937

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Bibliographic Details
Collection:	Philadelphia Record photograph morgue (#V07)
Date:	1937-12-15
Folder Number:	Folder 5047
Format:	Electronic
Subjects and Genres:	Federal Writers' Project (Pa.) Photographs
Copyright:	Please contact Historical Society of Pennsylvania Rights and Reproductions (rnr@hsp.org)
Online Access:	https://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/objects/2299
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Summary:	The Works Progress Administration, later known as the Work Projects Administration or WPA, was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal to help employ millions of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression. The Works Progress Administration was in place from May 1935 to June 1943, focusing on public works projects, employing workers to build roads, bridges, buildings, schools, and parks. Additionally, the Works Progress Administration also funded minor projects, which employed writers, musicians, actors, and artists to work in media and literacy projects. (1) The photograph shows Mr. Paul Comly French, second from right, and his assistants discussing materials for the publication of the Philadelphia Guide (1937). Paul Comly French was the Pennsylvania State Director of the Federal Writers' Project sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. The staff was comprised of editors, artists, reporters, copy desk men, mapmakers, researchers, and typists. (2) "Preparations for publication of the 'Philadelphia Guide' involve many technical problems, requiring specialized knowledge and experience to cope with them. Here we see Mr. French conferring with some of his assistants on the layout of the book. An amusing drawing on a pictorial map has interrupted the discussion of more serious matters." (3) "Trained through previous newspaper and writing experience to make each word count, these editorial workers rewrite the field notes, boiling them down to the lowest possible number of words, yet striving to retain an interesting literary style. Among the men shown above are a former sports editor, an erstwhile foreign correspondent, [?] a short story writer and a veteran news editor." (4) Photograph of a happy member of the Federal Writers' Project sitting atop file cabinets, while another member of the staff looks on smiling. The woman is holding a copy of the Philadelphia Guide full of field notes and editing tags. (5) "By way of contrast, the completed typewritten copy of the 'Philadelphia Guide' is shown here against a background of filing cabinets that contain millions of words of original field notes." (6) "On a small press, powered by a treadle, all the project’s small printing is done right in the office. Names to be pasted on maps, index cards, labels for filing cabinets and office blanks are run off in this diminutive print shop."

Summary:

The Works Progress Administration, later known as the Work Projects Administration or WPA, was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal to help employ millions of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression. The Works Progress Administration was in place from May 1935 to June 1943, focusing on public works projects, employing workers to build roads, bridges, buildings, schools, and parks. Additionally, the Works Progress Administration also funded minor projects, which employed writers, musicians, actors, and artists to work in media and literacy projects.

(1) The photograph shows Mr. Paul Comly French, second from right, and his assistants discussing materials for the publication of the Philadelphia Guide (1937). Paul Comly French was the Pennsylvania State Director of the Federal Writers' Project sponsored by the Works Progress Administration. The staff was comprised of editors, artists, reporters, copy desk men, mapmakers, researchers, and typists.

(2) "Preparations for publication of the 'Philadelphia Guide' involve many technical problems, requiring specialized knowledge and experience to cope with them. Here we see Mr. French conferring with some of his assistants on the layout of the book. An amusing drawing on a pictorial map has interrupted the discussion of more serious matters."

(3) "Trained through previous newspaper and writing experience to make each word count, these editorial workers rewrite the field notes, boiling them down to the lowest possible number of words, yet striving to retain an interesting literary style. Among the men shown above are a former sports editor, an erstwhile foreign correspondent, [?] a short story writer and a veteran news editor."

(4) Photograph of a happy member of the Federal Writers' Project sitting atop file cabinets, while another member of the staff looks on smiling. The woman is holding a copy of the Philadelphia Guide full of field notes and editing tags.

(5) "By way of contrast, the completed typewritten copy of the 'Philadelphia Guide' is shown here against a background of filing cabinets that contain millions of words of original field notes."

(6) "On a small press, powered by a treadle, all the project’s small printing is done right in the office. Names to be pasted on maps, index cards, labels for filing cabinets and office blanks are run off in this diminutive print shop."

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Works Progress Administration Federal Writers' Project office photographs, 1937

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