The Waltons and the New Deal

The TV show "The Waltons" had numerous references and set designs related to the New Deal. Here, we see a WPA sign as John Boy, Grandpa, and the Baldwin sisters walk to a movie theater.

(Image is from the episode "The Reunion," air date December 14, 1972, Warner Brothers Television, series created by Earl Hamner, Jr.)

The New Deal In Color!

This picture is from the Great Depression Color Photograph collection at the Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsachtml/fsowhome.html). The caption reads: "Oyida Peaks riveting as part of her NYA training to become a mechanic at the Naval Air Base, in the Assembly and Repair Department, Corpus Christi, Texas." The photo was taken by Howard R. Hollem in 1942.

Notice the National Youth Administration logo on Ms. Peaks' uniform (click on image to enlarge).

Big New Deal Buildings

The Hagerstown City Hall (Maryland)--one of the many monumental building projects funded by the Public Works Administration.

An NYA Cabin

A cabin built by the National Youth Administration, in 1936, in Federalsburg, Maryland.

(Photo by Brent McKee. Information from a report on file at the Maryland Historical Trust)

Need a culvert put in or fixed? The WPA did that.

The WPA put in (or improved) 1,178,933 culverts. Were these projects boondoggles, or were they useful projects to help prevent roads from getting washed out?

(Photo taken by the WPA, provided courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives. Statistic from the "Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43," p. 135)

Fire Towers

The CCC built many fire towers across the nation to help protect our forests. This one is at Lost River State Park in West Virginia.

The Great Depression's Silver Lining

"If the depression that began in 1929 can be compared with a dark cloud, then the work done under WPA is its silver lining. For the major projects undertaken in Maryland and other States have been of a kind to be of lasting value to the communities involved."

--Francis H. Dryden, Maryland WPA Administrator (and later, acting national administrator). Quote found in the Baltimore Sun, March 26, 1939, p. 14.