WPA Flowers

Above: The description for this photograph, ca. 1935-1943, reads, "A display of 300 exotic and rare Orchids for the public, in the Volunteer Park Conservatory at Seattle, was cultivated by ten needy [i.e., unemployed] women, like the worker in the photograph, on a project of the WPA." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Lincoln Park Conservatory," an oil painting by Reathel Keppen (1895-1945), created while she was in the WPA's art program, ca. 1935-1943. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: The description for this photograph reads, "For her training on a WPA project at the Public Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle, the worker in the picture [and] nine others will receive a certificate as a Gardener, with a specialty of Orchid culture. On this project, sponsored by the Parks Department, the women have raised 10,000 Orchids in addition to other rare plants." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Dahlias," an oil painting by Bumpei Usui (1898-1994), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1938. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: Two other WPA workers on the orchid and rare plant project at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle. The Volunteer Park Conservatory began in 1912 and still operates today. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Netherlands Still Life," an oil painting by Harold Bowler (1903-1965), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1935-1939. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: The description for this 1939 photograph reads, "Wishing more than anything else to see an orchid, Mrs. Helen Stagier came from frozen Fairbanks, Alaska, to Seattle, last Christmas and got her wish. Washington State Administrator, Don G. Abel beside her in the photograph..." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster promotes a flower show in Hinsdale, Illinois, ca. 1936-1939. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.