The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

The publisher has also provided a first rate Website for on the book. It’s a goldmine for anyone teaching the book or its subject:

http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/wpa/index.php

You’ll find PDF’s of the New Deal timeline included in Taylor’s book as well as the complete bibliography of sources he employed:

http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/wpa/resources.html

Of special classroom interest, this interactive timeline of the WPA, with links to sources for highlighted topics. My hat’s off to Random House on this one:

http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/wpa/timeline.html

This remains the best history of the Civilian Conservation Corps:

Salmond, John A. The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942; a New Deal case study. Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1967.

For Harold Ickes and the PWA:

Clarke, Jeanne Nienaber. Roosevelt's Warrior: Harold L. Ickes and the New Deal. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, c1996.

Ickes, Harold L. Back to Work; the Story of PWA. New York, Da Capo Press, 1973 Reprint of Ickes 1937 book.

Harry Hopkins, administrator of the WPA, is the subject of several studies:

Charles, Searle F. Minister of Relief: Harry Hopkins and the Depression. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1963.

Hopkins, June. Harry Hopkins: Sudden Hero, Brash Reformer. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999.

McJimsey, George. Harry Hopkins: Ally of the Poor and Defender of Democracy. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987.

Sherwood, Robert E. Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History. New York: Harper and Row, 1948.

Watkins, T. H. Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1873–1952. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1990.

Even though most WPA employees were involved in working on roads and sewers and other elements of the nation’s infrastructure, it’s hard to find histories of their contributions. Here’s a rare exception:

Bednarek, Janet R. Daly. America's Airports: Airfield Development, 1918-1947. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, c2001.

This is one of the few books where you can find details on the Women’s and Professional Project’s division:

Noun, Louise R. Iowa Women in the WPA. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1999.

On the other hand, you’ll find a wealth of books on WPA projects for artists and writers. Here are some general studies:

Findlay, James A., and Margaret Bing. The WPA: an exhibition of Works Progress Administration (WPA) literature and art from the collections of the Bienes Center for the Literary Arts. Fort Lauderdale, FL., 1998.

McDonald, William Francis. Federal relief administration and the arts; the origins and administrative history of the arts projects of the Works Progress Administration . Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1969.

These focus on specific programs:

Federal Writers Project. Don’t forget to find a copy of the American Guide series volume for your state – they’re absolutely fascinating. For books on various writers’ projects, see:

Baker, Ronald L. Homeless, Friendless, and Penniless: The WPA Interviews with Former Slaves living in Indiana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c2000.

Bold, Christine. Writers, Plumbers, and Anarchists: The WPA Writers' Project in Massachusetts. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, c2006.

Federal Art Project:

Beckham, Sue Bridwell. Depression Post Office Murals and Southern Culture: A Gentle Reconstruction. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, c1989.

Contreras, Belisario R. Tradition and Innovation in New Deal. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press ; London: Associated University Presses, c1983.

DeNoon, Christopher. Posters of the WPA. Los Angeles: Wheatley Press, in association with the University of Washington Press, Seattle, c1987.

Park, Marlene, and Gerald E. Markowitz. Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, c1984.

Federal Theatre Project:

Anderegg, Michael A. Orson Welles, Shakespeare, and Popular Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, c1999.

Brady, Frank. Citizen Welles: A Biography of Orson Welles. New York: Scribner, c1989.

Bentley, Joanne. Hallie Flanagan: A Life in the American Theatre. New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1988. The life of the remarkable woman who was director of the Federal Theatre Project.

Flanagan, Hallie. Arena: The History of the Federal Theatre. New York: Blom, 1965. Reprint of Flanagan’s 1940 book.

Fraden, Rena. Blueprints for a Black federal theatre, 1935-1939. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

Houseman, John. Front and Center. New York: Simon and Schuster, c1979.

Quinn, Susan. Furious Improvisation: How the WPA and a Cast of Thousands made High Art Out of Desperate Times. New York: Walker & Co., 2008.

Sporn, Paul. Against Itself: The Federal Theater and Writers' Projects in the Midwest. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, c1995.

Although it isn’t mentioned in Mr. Taylor’s essay, I can’t resist pointing to this book, which studies a little known scholarly endeavor of the WPA:

Fagette, Paul. Digging for Dollars: American Archaeology and the New Deal. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, c1996.

You’ll find wonderful materials on the Internet.

You’ll thoroughly enjoy the “New Deal Art During the Great Depression.” Don't be put off by the “dot com” in this url, it’s incredibly useful and doesn’t try to sell you anything. You can locate images of. You can locate images of WPA art works, murals, friezes, etc., all over the country, state by state:

http://www.wpamurals.com

It also includes link to

“THE NEW DEAL ART PROJECT” at Syracuse University’s School of Education. The lesson plans here are currently “under revision,” but I think it will be worthwhile to check back for updates:

http://lsb.syr.edu/projects/wpafolder/wpalinks.html
.
You’ll spend a lot of time exploring what our friends at American Memory have provided. You can start with By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943. Includes posters for WPA programs like the Federal Music Project:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/wpahome.html

The New Deal Stage: Selections from the Federal Theatre Project should be another target:

memory.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/fthome.html

And related Collection Connections, of course:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/collections/poster/history.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fedtp/fthome.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/collections/stage/history.html

Check the website’s section on Slave Narratives from Federal Writers Project:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html

And the “American Life Histories” from the same project:

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html

The Bienes Center in Broward County, Florida, “Education by Design” site provides good educational visual aides from the collection. Right now, the star is the online exhibition for WPA’s Museum Extension Project, part of Women’s and Professional Projects:

http://digital.browardlibrary.org/wpa/
index.php?option=content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=39

The same site provides a good selection of Internet resources on WPA:

http://digital.browardlibrary.org/wpa/index.php?
option=content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=28

If you’re in California, keep an eye on Berkeley’s California’s Living New Deal Project. Still a work in progress, it has much progress:

http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu