Collection Information

Size: 10 microfilm reels.

Summary: Approximately half the records relate to the Historical Records Survey's portrait survey, 1940-1941. The remainder are records of the Indian Site Survey, 1936-1942, a WPA program operating under the Division of Professional Service Projects, and to a lesser degree, the Public Works of Art Project, the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture, the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project and its predecessor, the Civil Works Administration.

Biographical/Historical Note

The New Deal art programs were primarily administered under the Treasury Department and the Works Progress Administration (later the Work Projects Administration) as relief measures for unemployed artists. The Historical Records Survey (HRS) had its origins in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Civil Works Administration. In 1935 it came under the auspices of the Federal Writers' Project and eventually was designated as an independent program under Federal Project No. One. The projects, ideally suited for white collar workers, employed individuals to survey, classify and collect historical records. One program of the HRS was the survey of American portraits in public buildings. The Indian Site Survey was a WPA-New Jersey state-wide project operating under the Division of Professional and Service Projects, and sponsored by the New Jersey State Museum and the Archeaological Society of New Jersey.

Provenance

Lent for microfilming 1964 by the New Jersey State Library, Trenton, N.J.

Location of Originals

• Originals returned to the State Library, Trenton, N.J. after microfilming.

Alternative Forms Available

Microfilm reels NDA/TN1-NDA/TN10 available for use at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Restrictions on Access

The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.

How to Cite This Collection

New Deal art programs in New Jersey selected records, 1934-1942. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.