Above: This photo was taken in San Francisco, ca. 1935-1943. The description for it reads, "Education by Mail - With 80 to 90 requests coming in each day from CCC camps and other sources the correspondence division of the WPA Education Program of the California State Department of Education at San Francisco is a veritable beehive of industry. Approximately 8,000 lessons, covering 22 different courses are sent out and received for correction each month. The assembling table is in the foreground. The bins in the rear hold the completed courses and through the door at the right is a mimeograph [machine]. A personnel of 24 is required to keep these courses moving." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.
Above: A closer look at the mimeograph machine, in the back room, and a man duplicating WPA course materials. Mimeograph machines were commonly used before photocopy machines.
The Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43 (1946), states that "The chief kinds of adult education projects were: literacy and citizenship classes; vocational training; parent and homemaking education; workers' education; general adult education; correspondence courses; and education in avocational and leisure-time activities... Correspondence courses were conducted in a number of States for the benefit of workers remote from, or unable to attend, school. The courses of study were prepared under the supervision of State universities or State departments of education; some were noncredit courses, while others provided high school or college credits" (p. 61). The WPA also participated in youth education, for example, instruction in art, music, and sports.
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