Robin Camille Davis
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WPA posters

November 16, 2010

Created in 1935, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) promoted education, art, health, and culture in the US. States received subsidies for programs, and they hired poster artists to publicize their events. The resulting artwork is not only beautiful in its own right, but also serves as a window into a very different time.

Here are some of the interesting things I found clicking around the WPA Poster collection at the Library of Congress' American Memory digital collections. Out of 2,000+ posters known to have existed, they have 900, which you can click through and admire (in an admittedly clunky interface). Voila the hotlinks:

1938 dental hygiene. [link]

As old as creation: syphilis! [link]

Nine more goodies after the jump.

Keep mum: the world has ears. 1941-43. [link]

(Funny how this concept is completely irrelevant now. You can blog about whatever the heck you want in the 21st century, as the surfeit of junk info makes anything sensitive almost invisible.)

Annual farm and home week. Jan. 6-10, 1941, UIUC. [link]

Balanced diet for the expected mother. 1939. [link]

Indian crafts, 1939. [link]

Failure here may mean death below: safety first. 1936. [link]

The United States' First Foreign Trade Zone, Staten Island, 1937. [link]

Colored concert band poster, 1936. [link]

Amateur contest for children, 1936. [link] (Where have I seen this before?)

See America: Welcome to Montana, 1938. [link]

Field Day, 1939. [link] (Doesn't this look so Wes Anderson?)