WPA Museum Models: Queen Elizabeth and Gothic Knight

Above: A WPA model of Queen Elizabeth. Image courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA model of a Gothic knight. Image courtesy of the National Archives.

These two models were created on a WPA Museum Extension project in Baltimore, Maryland, 1938. The Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43 describes the type of help that the WPA provided to museums during the 1930s - when many museums were experiencing funding problems: 

"WPA workers assisted museums in the making of dioramas, models, maps, lantern slides, and other visual-aid devices for extension work in public schools. These workers also assisted museums in the rearrangement and modernization of exhibits, and in the creation of accurate miniature representations of scenes illustrating (for example) the use of garments, dwellings and implements by aborigines or prehistoric peoples. WPA clerical workers assisted in the classifying and indexing of art, archaeological, and historical materials" (p. 63).