Collection Information

Size: Sound recordings: 4 sound tape reels : analog, 7-1/2 ips ; 7 in.

Transcript: 71 p. (on one partial microfilm reel)

Summary: An interview of William Gaskin conducted 1964 Feb. 28, by Lewis Ferbraché, for the Archives of American Art.

Gaskin speaks of his education at the San Francisco Institute of Art; his early interest in theater and literature; and his involvement with the WPA-FAP in San Francisco. He discusses a WPA mosaic project; how artists' careers were affected by the WPA; and the effects of politics on the WPA. He mentions Beniamino Bufano, Hilaire Hiler, and Dong Kingman.

Biographical/Historical Note

William Gaskin, b. 1892; d. 1968, Art administrator of San Francisco, Calif.

Provenance

This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Transcript: microfilm reel 3419 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with William Gaskin, 1964 Feb. 28. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.