Remembering the New Deal during Women's History Month: More athletics and recreation for more girls and women

Above: Part of "Contemporary Woman and Justice," a painting in the Department of Justice Building, Washington, D.C., created by Emil Bisttram (1895-1976), while he was in the New Deal's Section of Fine Arts, 1937. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress and Carol M. Highsmith.

Above: The Portland (Maine) Municipal Golf Course, built by WPA, 1937. Between 1935 and 1943, WPA workers built 254 new golf courses and improved 378 others (Federal Works Agency, Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-1943 (hereafter, FR-WPA), 1946, p. 131). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A game of Pick-Up-Sticks, part of a WPA recreation program in Seattle, Washington, ca. 1935-1943. Before television, video games, the Internet, and smart phones started isolating us from one another, kids and young adults would gather at recreation centers to converse, play games, shoot pool, dance, etc. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph, ca. 1935-1943, reads: "A couple of skiers don their hickories in preparation to ascend Mt. Whitney Trail at Lake Placid [New York]. WPA constructed the Von Hovenberg Olympic Bob-run; repaired and maintained equipment and machinery... and constructed many ski trails." Across the nation, WPA workers created 310 miles of new ski trails and improved 59 other miles (FR-WPA, p. 131). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster encouraging hiking. During the New Deal, workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps carved out 13,172 miles of new foot trails and maintained another 41,270 miles (Federal Security Agency, Final Report of the Director of the Civilian Conservation Corps, April, 1933 through June 30, 1942, p. 105). Americans still hike these trails today. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Sculpting in a WPA recreation program in Washington state, 1937. Art classes and art opportunities were plentiful during the New Deal. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: These young women are learning how to broadcast a radio program, part of a WPA recreation program in South Bend, Indiana, ca. 1935-1943. It's hard for us to understand today--with smart phones, Twitter, and streaming shows on the Internet--but radio was a BIG thing back in the day. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A Japanese girl rhythm band, in a WPA recreation program in Arroyo Grande, California, 1936. During the New Deal, children all across the nation had numerous opportunities for music instruction and music playing. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster, promoting clean pools and swimming for health. Across America, WPA workers built or improved 2,073 pools (FR-WPA, p. 135). Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: These young women are getting ready to enjoy their new WPA-built swimming pool in Jefferson County, Alabama, 1938. In Alabama, WPA workers built or improved 23 pools (FR-WPA, p. 135). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Learning the basics of softball, part of a WPA project in Charleston, South Carolina, 1938. Across the country, the WPA helped set up softball games and softball leagues for women, men, and children. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A volleyball game, part of the WPA's adult recreation program in San Francisco, ca. 1935-1943. New Dealers felt that recreation wasn't just for kids, but adults too. In fact, President Franklin Roosevelt, in his Second Bill of Rights speech, promoted the idea that all American workers should have the "right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation." Today, of course, we've thrown that sentiment onto the ash heap of history. Today, we demand that all adults work ceaselessly for their millionaire & billionaire overlords, at 2 or 3 jobs if necessary, and for stagnant wages. "Recreation?? Bah hum bug!" Unfortunately, this "work-work-work, we-only-have-time-for-fast-food" lifestyle is probably a major reason why "Americans Just Keep Getting Fatter" (New York Times, March 23, 2018). FDR was right, we're wrong, and the proof is in our expanding waistlines. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: This WPA poster was recently made into a U.S. postage stamp. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: These women are receiving instructions, as part of their work as youth leaders at a summer camp in Chepachet, Rhode Island, ca. 1935-1943. They are enrolled in the National Youth Administration (NYA). The New Deal's NYA offered jobs, training, and paychecks to millions of young men and women who were struggling financially. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Two Camp Fire Girls take aim during a WPA recreation program at the French Creek Recreation Demonstration Project, Pennsylvania (today's "French Creek State Park"), ca. 1935-1943. The Camp Fire Girls organization has been around for more than one hundred years, and was founded on the principle that "girls deserved the outdoor learning experiences that boys had..." (today, it's co-ed and just called "Camp Fire"). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Future aviators? A model airplane club, part of a WPA recreation project in Cincinnati, Ohio, ca. 1935-1943. For an interesting story about women pilots, see "Female WWII Pilots: The Original Fly Girls" (NPR, March 9, 2010). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster advertising a Doll and Buggy Parade. Doll and Buggy Parades are still held today. For example, Kohler Village in Wisconsin is having their annual Doll Buggy Parade on August 2, 2018. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Some WPA recreation fun in Long Beach, California, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA-supervised broomball game in Minneapolis, Minnesota, ca. 1935-1943. Did you know that there is an International Federation of Broomball Associations? Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A skier at the Timberline Lodge in Oregon, ca. 1938. In 1937, At the dedication of Timberline Lodge, President Roosevelt said: "This Timberline Lodge marks a venture that was made possible by W.P.A. emergency relief work, in order that we may test the workability of recreational facilities installed by the Government itself and operated under its complete control." Though it's had periodic challenges, the Timberline Lodge is "one of the few National Historic Landmarks that is still operated for the same purpose for which it was originally built" ("Eight Decades of Awe-Inspiring," Timberline Lodge). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Remembering the WPA during Women's History Month: They kept us clean

Above: A WPA housekeeping aide bathes a child, while the mother recuperates in a hospital, Washington, D.C., 1938. Between 1935 and 1943, WPA housekeeping aides made 32 million visits to Americans who who needed help (due to illness or emergency) with housecleaning, cooking, and childcare (Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43 (hereafter, FR-WPA), 1946, p. 134). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA household training class in San Antonio, Texas, 1939. These were also called "demonstration projects," and jobless women could earn WPA wages while training to be domestic workers. After the training period was over, they often secured employment in the private sector, or with families who could afford such services (FR-WPA, p. 90). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA household trainee operates an electric clothes washer, Columbus, Ohio, ca. 1935-1943. Household trainees learned the latest techniques and technology for running the modern household (see, e.g., "Burlap Sacks, Orange Crates, Become Furniture in WPA Women's Project," (article also discusses WPA housekeeping aides), The Marion Star (Ohio), February 10, 1939). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: These WPA workers are doing the laundry at a hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, 1936. Laundry work isn't glamorous, and rarely well-paid, but who wants to be admitted to a hospital that uses dirty sheets, or stay at a hotel where the towels aren't cleaned from one visitor to the next? How valuable is clean laundry, and, do we pay that full value to the workers? Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Laundry," an artwork by Joseph Leboit (1907-2002), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1935-1939. The drooping heads and emaciated bodies of the women depict laundry work (or domestic work more generally) as gloomy and exhausting. The women in the foreground appear to be using their straightened, locked arms to keep themselves from collapsing. The woman all the way in the back seems to be either sleep-standing, or weeping, or praying for relief. Compare this image to the next. Photo courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Ackland Art Museum.

Above: A WPA poster promoting housekeeping jobs. This colorful poster, of a woman doing dishes with great happiness, stands in stark contrast to Leboit's "Laundry." Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Another WPA poster promoting housekeeping training and jobs. This poster has a classic 1930s look. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: WPA household training in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1936. The FR-WPA states, "Household workers' training projects offered instruction in a variety of household tasks, such as the preparation and serving of meals and seasonal house cleaning. Some of the projects included elementary training in child care and, where possible, trainees spent some time in local WPA nursery schools. Training on these projects usually lasted 12 weeks, and supervision was given by experienced home economists" (p. 90). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Scrub Woman," a sculpture by Gustave Hildebrand (1897-1950), created while he was in the WPA art program, ca. 1935-1943. A description for this artwork reads: "Gustave Hildebrand's sculpture Scrub Woman portrays an anonymous woman on her knees scouring a floor. Hildebrand brings attention to labor that often is 'invisible' to others." Image courtesy of the General Services Administration an Carol M. Highsmith.

Above: Another scene from the WPA household training in Pittsburgh, 1936.  "In the period from July 1, 1935, through March 31, 1942, about 22,000 persons [across the nation] completed the WPA household workers' training course, and nearly 17,000 were placed in private jobs" (FR-WPA, p. 90). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Cleaning the bathroom, in a household training class in Columbus, Ohio, ca. 1935-1943. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Ladies of the Evening," an artwork by Don Freeman (1908-1978), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), 1934. The PWAP was a forerunner to the WPA's Federal Art Project. The women here are cleaning up after a show, and the woman in the balcony appears to be making fun of that upper crust of society that frequents the theatre - thereby marking the separation between (a) those who work, but don't make enough money to routinely enjoy the finer things in life, and (b) those who have enough wealth to luxuriate while others endlessly toil. This sort of class consciousness or class caricature appears in many of Freeman's works. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Museum of the City of New York.

Above: WPA poster, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The importance of cleanliness and domestic work

Housework, cleaning work, childcare, domestic work, homemaking, etc., are frequently unappreciated and/or underpaid. But they're very important. For example, the cleanliness and sanitation that we (usually) enjoy helps us to avoid many of the harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites that plague third-world nations. Our lives would be much more difficult if we constantly had to deal with hookworms, hantavirus, lung-threatening molds, and flesh-eating bacteria.

Also, nannies and daycare workers watch over children, and contribute to their early development, so that parents can devote more time to advancing their careers, increasing their personal finances, and, in some cases, improving the nation. To a large degree, cleaning and domestic work--whether by a paid worker or a family member--provides the foundation for all other types of work.

So, let's have a greater appreciation for stay-at-home moms (and dads), nannies, house cleaning workers, sanitation workers, trash collectors, etc, and let's also remember the labor of those thousands of WPA workers who helped America get clean and stay clean.

Remembering the WPA during Women's History Month: Lights, stage, action

Above: Florence O'Brien and the Four Kings of Rhythm, in a WPA theatre production in Los Angeles, ca. 1935-1939. A book about O'Brien was recently written by a family descendant: "Gone, But Not Forgotten: The Florence Lishey O'Brien Story." Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: A WPA Mexican Tipica band, performing in Los Angeles, 1942. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: These actors, students at the University of Washington, are getting ready for their performance on the "Show Boat," ca. 1935-1943. The "Show Boat" was a University theatre building--made to look like a large boat--and constructed on top of a barge by WPA workers. It was demolished in 1994. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: "Chinese Theater Scene #1," a lithograph by Carl Hobby (1886-1964), created while he was in the WPA's art program, ca. 1935-1943. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Above: Antonia Brico (1902-1989) conducts the WPA's Bay Region Federal Symphony Orchestra (BRFSO), in San Francisco, ca. 1938. As a young adult, Brico worked as a waitress and dishwasher to pay for her college and private music instruction ("Dream Comes True For Bay Musicians," Oakland Tribune, January 8, 1936). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Brico conducting the BRFSO in San Francisco, September, 1938. WPA symphonies often attracted large audiences. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Brico with New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (left) and San Francisco Mayor Angelo Rossi, May, 1938. Brico "made her way in the male-dominated musical world largely through the force of her personality as well as her unshakable determination and a facility with both the standard orchestral literature and contemporary American works" ("Antonia Brico, 87, a Conductor; Fought Barriers to Women in 30's," New York Times, August 5, 1989). Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Mary Carr Moore, conducting the WPA's BRFSO, in Oakland, California, April 29, 1938. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Mary Carr Moore was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1873; but when she was 10 her family moved to Napa, California. Then, moving to various other parts of California, Moore learned how to sing and compose. Unfortunately, financial struggles were an obstacle to her music training and career (see "Moore, Mary Carr (1873-1957)," Harvard Square Library). Her Wikipedia entry states, "If Mary Carr Moore is remembered at all today, it is for her efforts on behalf of the musical life of the West Coast. She was among the first composers to promote opera in Seattle, and would often promote the work of her peers alongside her own. As a teacher, too, she promoted her students' work, even founding a manuscript club for regular performance of their music." Photo courtesy of Harvard Square Library, used here for educational, non-commercial purposes.

Above: "Trapeze Girl," a lithograph by Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1893-1953), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1936. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration and the Weatherspoon Art Museum.

Above: A dog-trick show, part of a WPA vaudeville production in San Francisco, 1936. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: The "Pianodancingers," WPA vaudeville performers, San Francisco, 1936. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: Kay Pickering, WPA vaudeville performer, San Francisco, 1936. Old newspaper articles describe Pickering as a jazz and ballad singer. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: The "Strongest Woman Alive," performing at a WPA circus, New York City, ca. 1935-1939. Don't try this at home. This is probably Katie Sandwina (1884-1952), who also worked with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus (see, e.g., Jan Todd (University of Texas), "Center Ring: Katie Sandwina and the Construction of Celebrity," Iron Game History, Vol. 10, No. 1 (November 2007), pp. 4-13. Photo courtesy of the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.

Above: A WPA poster for a WPA performance of Swing Mikado, a dance production that enjoyed great box office success. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Three actors in the WPA's Los Angeles production of Swing Mikado, ca. 1935-1939. Photo courtesy of George Mason University.

Above: "Music, Theatre and Dance," a mosaic artwork by Monty Lewis (1907-1997), created while he was in the WPA's art program, 1941. Image courtesy of the General Services Administration.

Above: Helen Tamiris (1905-1966) and her dancers, in a WPA performance of How Long Brethren?, New York City, 1937. How Long Brethren?, created, directed, and choreographed by Tamiris, was a highly-acclaimed and successful dance production - one of the high points of her career. Photo courtesy of George Mason University.

Above: A closer look at Tamiris. A powerful and intense dancer, she strove, through her direction and choreography, to highlight injustice - and also spark concern and empathy in her audience. Tamiris's offstage advocacy had influenced the creation of the Federal Dance Project (FDP), an offshoot of the WPA's Federal Theatre Project. By all accounts, she was completely devoted to her work in the FDP. After the New Deal years, Tamiris worked as a dance instructor and became an award-winning Broadway choreographer.