Elizabeth Clauss, Director of the WPA's Women's and Professional Projects for Northern California

Above: This unfortunately poor quality photo shows Elizabeth Clauss (1903-1997), WPA Director of Women's and Professional Projects for Northern California, in a meeting with other WPA administrators, ca. 1938. She is the lady in the light-colored clothes on the right. Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: This photo appeared in The San Francisco News, April 21, 1936. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A map showing Clauss's jurisdiction, Northern California. The scope and number of activities under Clauss's supervision were enormous, and included projects related to healthcare, childcare (nursery schools), housekeeping assistance, education, libraries, museums, historical surveys, artwork, and sewing (see, e.g., Works Progress Administration, Report on Progress of the Works Program in San Francisco, January 1938, pp. 134-156; and also the publication highlighted at the end of this caption). For women, Clauss's division covered "28 fields of activity, the largest one of which is the statewide sewing program [which employed] approximately 8,000 women" ("Relief Work For Women," The Post Enquirer (Oakland, California), November 26, 1935). Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: Clauss's division created maps and models, including one that will soon be on full display after being boxed-up and forgotten for decades (the big WPA model of San Francisco, seen above at top). Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: A close-up section of the previous image.

Above: WPA workers under Clauss carried out many clothing and healthcare projects. Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: Shoe repair, botany, and nutrition projects. Also, in the middle-right we see WPA workers creating the largest relief map in the world, to be displayed at the Golden Gate International Exposition, 1939-1940 (for more information about this relief map, see "New Deal Accomplishment: Hundreds of thousands of maps and land models," July 14, 2026). Image from the WPA publication, Northern California's Three Years of Achievement Under the Works Progress Administration, 1935-1938.

Above: This is the largest and clearest photo I could find of Clauss. She is the woman farthest to the right (standing), and appears here with other Kappa Alpha Theta alumnae from UCLA, in 1935, not too long before she became a WPA administrator. This photo appeared in the Los Angeles Times, March 24, 1935. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Elizabeth Clauss

Elizabeth Clauss was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on January 29, 1903 and died on January 6, 1997 in Saratoga, California (see, e.g., "Elizabeth Clauss Hall," Find-a-Grave, accessed August 2, 2026).  

There does not seem to be a lot of information about Clauss online or in digital newspaper archives, but I was able to piece together the following: she graduated from UCLA; worked as a librarian; was active in drama clubs; married Wallace W. Hall, a college administrator, in 1941; held her WPA position from at least October 1935 through June 1939; and, during her work in the WPA, she split her time living in San Francisco, at 775 Post Street (the Warrington Apartment Building), and across the Bay in Belvedere. When she died, Clauss was described as a community leader for Belvedere for 60 years. 

(Some sources of information: "Elizabeth Hall," San Francisco Chronicle, January 22, 1997, p. 12; "Miss Clauss Presides," The Morning Press (Santa Barbara, California), April 6, 1934; "Marriage Licenses Issued," The San Francisco Call-Bulletin, December 25, 1941; "Works Program Launched In State," The Journal-Republican (Auburn, California), October 10, 1935, p 8; and "Compile Inventory of The County's Records," Los Gatos Times (Los Gatos, California), June 16, 1939, p. 4).