New Year's Eve with WPA Vaudeville

A WPA poster, advertising a New Year's Eve WPA Vaudeville show in San Diego.  Image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The New Deal Preserved Our History

In 1936, the Civilian Conservation Corps rebuilt the first Washington Monument, which is located in Washington Monument State Park, in Middletown, Maryland. The monument was first built in 1827 by the townspeople of Boonsboro, but suffered deterioration over time. Preserving & restoring our nation's history was just one of the many project-types carried out by New Deal work programs.

Today, our political leaders bicker over extending unemployment benefits, and the unemployed live in despair. During the New Deal era, political leaders provided meaningful work opportunities and the unemployed created things that we're still using & enjoying today. What an amazing difference in political philosophy & action.  

(Photo by Brent McKee)

New Deal Schools

New Deal agencies like the CWA, WPA, & PWA built, repaired, or improved thousands of schools during the Great Depression.  They improved our nation's educational capabilities, while providing a wealth jobs for contractors and unemployed Americans.

The school above is Beall High school (1940-2007) in Frostburg, Maryland. A PWA-funded project, the building served thousands of Maryland families for nearly 70 years before being (unfortunately) demolished.

Some people say that the New Deal was a complete failure. It's hard for me to understand that type of thinking, when we used (or are still using) thousands upon thousands of New Deal schools, parks, athletic fields, bridges, etc.

(Photo by the WPA--which played a role in the improvement of the surrounding grounds--and provided courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives)  

"Don't take away this WP and A"

"...the WPA came along and Roosevelt came to be a god. It was really great. You worked, you got a paycheck and you had some dignity. Even when a man raked leaves he got paid, he had some dignity. All the songs they used have about the WPA:

I went to the poll line and voted
And I know I voted the right way
So, I'm askin' you Mr. President
Don't take away this WP and A

They had lots of verses. We used to sing them:

Oh, I'm for you, Mr. President
I'm for you all the way
You can take away the alphabet
But don't take away this WPA

...There was some humanity then. We don't have humanity today."

--Sociologist Horace Cayton, from the book "Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression," by Studs Terkel, Random House, 1970.
  

Merry Christmas

Above is a WPA poster, advertising a WPA theatre production of "A Christmas Carol." Image provided courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Merry Christmas!

A White Christmas

(WPA workers shoveling snow in Baltimore in 1936. Photo by the WPA, provided courtesy of the University of Maryland College Park Archives)

Today, December 24, 2012, it is snowing in West Virginia (where I'm currently at), with about 4 inches of accumulation so far.  It will be a white Christmas.

Muddy Creek Falls

Muddy Creek Falls, at Swallow Falls State Park (Garrett County, Maryland). The CCC did extensive work at Swallow Falls State Park, helping to ensure that we can enjoy scenes like this year after year.

(Photo by Brent McKee)