Thousands of CWA trees for Berkeley, California

Above: Part of an article from The San Francisco Examiner, February 23, 1934, p. 2. The article reports that 8,500 trees had already been planted in Berkeley, California, by Civil Works Administration (CWA) workers, and that requests for more trees were coming in "from all parts of the city." How many of these New Deal trees might still exist today? Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

CCC Company 556 (Indiana) at ages 4, 29, 49, and 88. "It was the first time in my life I had enough to eat."

CCC Company 556, Camp SP-7, Pokagon State Park, Indiana...

At age 4 (1938):

Above: From the Steuben Republican (Angola, Indiana), April 6, 1938, p. 2. Note that the advertisement is about the 5th anniversary of the CCC. However, Company 556 was formed in July 1934, and thus one year younger. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

At age 29 (1963):

Above: A 1963 CCC reunion at Pokagon State Park. Photo by Field Enterprises, Inc., scanned from personal copy, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

At Age 49 (1983):

Above: Part of an Associated Press article about the 1983 reunion of Company 556, in The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, Indiana), July 21, 1983, p. 29. In the article, a veteran of the company, James Sendo, says he "had nowhere to go. No family, home, job... The CCC was my answer... It was the first time in my life I had enough to eat... The CCC enabled me to begin my dream of an education." After the CCC, Sendo served in the Army during World War II, earned a Ph.D. at Michigan State University, and taught at Western Michigan University. Image above from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

At age 88 (2022):

Above: A screen grab from the website of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, advertising the 69th annual reunion of CCC Company 556 on July 31, 2022.

The CCC in Indiana

The work of the CCC in Indiana included: 596 bridges (vehicle bridges, foot bridges); 416,000 check dams for soil erosion control: and reforestation of over 23,000 acres. They also, of course, fought wildfires. In 1933, for example, the CCC helped save Clark State Forest, near Henryville: "Without the help of the civilian conservation corps the state forest would have suffered heavy damage" ("CCC Workers Stop Fire Near Forest Reserve," The Indianapolis Star, December 3, 1933, p. 7).

The most prolific of New Deal art: The Jefferson Nickel

Above: The Jefferson Nickel was designed by Felix Schlag in 1938, and was the result of a competition by the New Deal's Treasury Section of Painting & Sculpture. The image above, featuring photos from the Associated Press and Harris & Ewing, comes from the Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 22, 1938, p. A-9, courtesy of the Library of Congress, and used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Felix Schlag's winning design. The Jefferson Nickel replaced the Buffalo, or Indian- Head nickel. Associated Press photo, in the Boston Globe, 4-22-1938, newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A closer view of the reverse side of Schlag's winning design, from the previous photo.

Above: Schlag worked with the U.S. Mint to create the final nickel design. From 1938 to 2004, tens of billions of the Schlag-designed Jefferson nickels were minted. Starting in 1966, the initials "FS" (Felix Schlag) were added to the nickel. Image from the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint, fiscal year 1939.

Above: Nellie Tayloe Ross, director of the U.S. Mint, and Edward Bruce, Treasury art official, inspect the many competition designs for the new Jefferson nickel, Washington, DC, April 20, 1938. Photo by Harris & Ewing, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Meet the Three C's of Glendora, California: Camp Dalton Canyon

 Unless otherwise noted, all photos are from: Civilian Conservation Corps, Official Annual, 1938, Los Angeles District, Ninth Corps Area, Baton Rouge, LA: Direct Advertising Co., 1938 (used here for educational and non-commercial purposes).

Above: Part of CCC Company 1946, "Camp Dalton Canyon." These men worked in the Angeles National Forest area, on the north side of Los Angeles and Glendora, California.

Above: A closer view of some of the young men in Company 1946.

Above: Camp Dalton Canyon responded to many forest fires. The driver of this truck might be Jake Lupin (more on Lupin below).

Above: The kitchen staff of Camp Dalton Canyon. For many young enrollees, the three square meals offered by the CCC were the best eating they ever had.

Above: Here are members of Camp Dalton Canyon in journalism class.

Above: The hospital at Camp Dalton Canyon. The CCC offered good healthcare. 

Above: Radio training at Camp Dalton Canyon.

Above: The library at Camp Dalton Canyon.

Above: One of the major projects of the CCC enrollees at Camp Dalton Canyon was the development of a science station at Tanbark Flats, in the San Dimas Experimental Forst (which is inside the larger, Angeles National Forest). The 1938 CCC Annual for the Los Angeles District explains that Camp Dalton Canyon had various projects in the experimental forest, "including construction of 76 lycimeters, which are concrete experimental tanks unique in the Forest Service, by which experts may tabulate erosion and climate data by observation of different natural chaparral." The science station is still used today. The photo above was taken by a Los Angeles Times photographer, from the article, "Six Experimental Dams Rise in Rainfall Study," August 13, 1933, newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The man on the upper right is Jacob Lupin, or "Jake" (1919-1938). And the man on the lower left is his brother Joe (1917-1968). Jake died in March 1938 (not long after this photo was published), while on a CCC mission to save people during a flood disaster. See Jake's Find-a-Grave page and photo here.

Above: Part of an article about Jake Lupin's death, from The Redondo Reflex (Redondo, California), March 11, 1938, p. 1. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Jake Lupin's death highlights how life in the CCC could be quite dangerous at times. Another enrollee at Camp Dalton Canyon, 19-year-old David Meredith, died when he was called to a forest fire and the truck he was riding in overturned ("CCC Youth Killed," The Pomona Progress Bulletin (Pomona, California), October 25, 1937). The article above--from the Illustrated Daily News (Los Angeles), August 17, 1933--notes dozens of Camp Dalton Canyon men being bitten or licked by a rabid dog. Other dangers faced by the CCC included snakes, falling trees, and steep or high work areas. Image above from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Helen Tamiris and the WPA Dance Theatre Strike - 85 years ago this month

Above: This photo was taken on May 19, 1937, and shows picketers outside the Nora Bayes Theatre, New York City. They are protesting cuts to WPA funding. Unknown photographer, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

"People Need Art, Artists Need Jobs"

After the May 19, 1937 performances of How Long Brethren? and Candide, at the Nora Bayes Theatre in New York City (both WPA, Federal Theatre productions), performers Helen Tamiris and Charles Weidman asked the crowd to participate in a sit-down strike. Tamiris and Weidman--and millions of others across the country--were angry that WPA funding was about to be cut. The audience, and about 30 cast members, stayed inside the theatre until at least 3 a.m.

Meanwhile, "Hundreds of pickets arrived outside the building from other directions almost simultaneously with the strike announcement, many of them carrying banners such as 'The WPA Must Go On,' 'There Shall Not Be More Layoffs,' and 'Keep Us Out Of the Breadline'" ("Sit-Down Strike Called At A WPA Theatre In N.Y.," Standard-Sentinel (Hazleton, Pennsylvania), May 20, 1937, p. 1). Emergency police squads were called to the scene to keep the peace.

(If you look VERY closely at the photo above, you'll see a sign that says, "People Need Art, Artists Need Jobs.")

Unfortunately, the strike was for naught (other than expressing displeasure); the WPA cuts were enacted; the so-called Roosevelt Recession ensued; then WPA funds were restored; and the economy sprung to life again (turns out... in a consumer-driven economy... consumers need money! - oh well, who could've known??).

Above: A poster advertising How Long Brethren? and Candide at the Nora Bayes Theatre. Note that Helen Tamiris choreographed and directed How Long Brethren? and Charles Weidman choreographed and directed Candide. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: Helen Tamiris, ca. early 1930s. Tamiris was a pioneer of Modern Dance, and a leader in the Federal Dance Project (see the Living New Deal's biography of Helen Tamiris and summary of the Federal Dance Project). Unknown photographer, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Charles Weidman helped Tamiris lead the strike. Weidman was also a pioneer of the Modern Dance movement. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

How the New Deal paved the way for the modern computer and Internet

Above: This image is from the report, The Emergency Work Relief Program of the F.E.R.A., April 1, 1934 to July 1, 1935, p. 23, and a full description of this groundbreaking differential analyzer can be found on pp. 25-26 (available on Hathitrust here).

Above: Part of an article from The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pennsylvania), April 4, 1934, p. 10. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

The New Deal's Computer-Makers

In 1934, with leftover funds from the Civil Works Administration (CWA), and many skilled relief workers in the newly-formed Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania created a "differential analyzer" - an early, giant-sized, mechanical computer. At the time, engineers said "the differential analyzer can do in 10 minutes the work that would take a dozen expert mathematicians a week to complete" ("Three Ton Machine Will Think For 12 Experts," United Press article, in the Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune (Chillicothe, Missouri), July 16, 1934, p. 4). 

The University of Pennsylvania Archives & Records Center explains the significance of this New Deal-funded and staffed project:

"In 1935 the Moore School completed the Differential Analyzer – the world’s largest mechanical computation machine. The reliability of the Analyzer resulted in contract work for various University departments, private companies, and government agencies. In the early 1940s the Army Ballistic Research Laboratory contracted the Differential Analyzer to calculate artillery firing tables. From this work came the contract for the school to design and construct ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) in 1943. The Moore School would go on to design EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) in 1946 and MSAC (Moore School Automatic Computer) in 1950."

And the University of Pennsylvania Engineering Department points out that ENIAC (which the New Deal-funded differential analyzer led to), "was the first general-purpose electronic computer... Today, it is difficult to imagine how we could manage without the myriad electronic devices that we utilize each day. From our smartphones, touch screens, and tiny cameras to our automobiles, airplanes and medical equipment and devices, electronics is the engine driving us forward. And it was here at the University of Pennsylvania that it all began."

Isn't it ironic that so many Americans, today, furiously type out--on their computer keyboards & smartphone keypads--all manner of insults directed at the poor and the unemployed... and all manner of warnings about the "evils" of progressive ideas and government... without the slightest knowledge that it was the poor, the unemployed, and progressive ideas and government (i.e., the New Deal) that paved the way for their ability to type out such foolishness?

WPA Cardinal

Above: "Cardinal," a watercolor painting by Gilbert Boese, created while he was in the WPA, ca. 1940. Image from the Minnesota Historical Society.

Above: A WPA poster. Image from the Broward County Library.

Above: This photo was taken by the American Museum of Natural History, and is in the WPA book, Birds of the World: An Illustrated Natural History (Albert Whitman & Co., 1938; 1949 edition, p. 193). The description for it reads: "CARDINAL (Cardinalis Cardinalis). Length: 8 inches. Range: Eastern North America. This black-faced finch is familiar to many as the 'red bird.' Its brilliant cardinal red provides the fields and woodlands with startling patches of moving color." Image used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A cardinal in West Virginia, during a recent winter. Photo by Brent McKee.