"The Library of Congress was lucky to get these materials." "It was the golden era of American creativity." "I was just happy to have a job." "People today have forgotten that government is capable of doing noble things."
So said four people who took part in the New Deal arts projects of the 1930s and early 1940s who were special guests at "Amassing American 'Stuff': The Library of Congress's New Deal Arts Collections," a conference held Dec. 8-9 at the Library. Twenty-one veterans and firsthand observers of the New Deal arts projects -- most of them in their 70s or 80s -- accepted the Library's invitation for two days of interviews, discussion and reminiscing.
This enthusiastic group of artists and administrators shared top billing with the Library's unparalleled collections of the products of the New Deal arts projects -- which many of them had helped create. With the return of the Federal Theatre Project Collection to the Library (see story on p. 42, all of the Library's New Deal arts collections are now available for use on Capitol Hill. These collections include architectural drawings, music, photographs, posters, prints, sound recordings, oral histories, folklore, folk songs, indexes, play scripts and programs, radio scripts, costume and set designs and thousands of pages of manuscripts.
The Dec. 8-9 program turned out to be a challenge for participants -- in both expected and unexpected ways. First, these 21 participants (listed below) answered queries posed by other guests such as historians Lawrence W. Levine and Bernard Weisberger.
The expected challenge came in the form of their questions: What was it about the New Deal "moment" that enabled all of this creativity and useful work to take place? and "At the time, did you have any notion of the contribution you and your colleagues might be making to the arts?" A third set of questions had a contemporary ring: "Did having the federal government as your patron influence your work? Did you feel any pressures, and if so, how?"
The unexpected challenge was provided by a bomb scare in the Madison Building on the morning of Dec. 9. The first warning over the loudspeaker system in the sixth-floor Mumford Room came during Dr. Billington's welcoming remarks; the call for evacuation of the entire Madison Building came about 20 minutes later, just as keynote speaker Lawrence Levine was nearing the conclusion of his compelling remarks on "American Culture and the Great Depression."
The 150 people in the Mumford Room soon found themselves on Independence Avenue outside the building, but within 45 minutes about half of them -- to the accompaniment of banjo music from Stephen Wade -- reconvened informally on chairs hastily set up in the Jefferson Building's Great Hall.
Moderator John Y. Cole continued the program, asking Dr. Levine to conclude his talk; he did so, but without a microphone. A tape recorder from the American Folklife Center soon appeared, and Dr. Cole began calling on participants from the New Deal's Visual Arts, Music and Theatre projects for brief statements about their involvement. More than one of the speakers commented that the Library's bomb scare was "small potatoes" compared to what they had experienced during the 1930s. The program continued for 90 minutes before the bomb threat was over and everyone returned to the Madison Building.
The afternoon program in the Mumford Room featured a slide presentation of his own photographs and a moving discussion by Jack Delano; brief personal statements from participants in the Folklore, Federal Writers' and Historical Records Survey projects; and a final conversation with scholars, curators, and participants on "Sharing the Heritage of the New Deal Arts Projects."
Government support for the arts -- past, present and future -- was a major topic, and the presentations were often passionate. The final speaker, Stephen Wade, concluded two days of lively and intense exchanges with a song inspired by folklore material about an unknown "Pessimistic Pioneer" that he found in the Library's Manuscript Division. Accompanying himself on the banjo, he explained that he wrote the song, "Hard-Head Hardy," in the late 1980s with Jack Conroy, who collected folk tales for the Illinois Federal Writers' Project.
Samplings from all of the Library's New Deal arts collections were on display during the conference -- including a special display of materials from the Federal Theatre Project collection selected by Music Division consultant Ruth Kerns. Participants also heard recordings from the Federal Music Project selected by Wilda Heiss of the Music Division. Carl Fleischhauer, Jane Bossert and Catherine Kerst demonstrated digitized versions of materials from three New Deal arts projects: life history manuscripts from the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project, color photographs from the unparalleled Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information (FSA/OWI) collection of more than 100,000 photographs, and photographs and sound recordings from the Sidney Robertson Cowell WPA Northern California Folk Music Project Collection.
Another highlight was a 16-minute silent film about the Federal Theatre Project that was made in Los Angeles sometime during the late 1930s. A new Library of Congress CD-ROM based on the Library's Historic American Buildings Survey collection also was discussed.
The conference was sponsored by the Center for the Book, with cooperation from LC's Collections Services and American Folklife Center, as well as the Library of Congress Professional Association.
In addition to participating in the panel discussions eight of the 21 guests were interviewed by Library of Congress curators or other conference participants. Interview topics included the development of the Library of Congress's New Deal arts collections; experiences with LC staff members during the 1930s and early 1940s; personal views of the relationship between government and the arts; and particular projects or experiences that left a lasting impression on the interviewee.
The following 45-minute interviews were videotaped for the Library of Congress Archives: Elena Millie of the Prints and Photographs Division spoke with Will Barnet and Anthony Velonis; Jean Trebbi of the Florida Center for the Book interviewed Stetson Kennedy; Beverly Brannan of the Prints and Photographs Division talked with Mary Collier; Ford Peatross of Prints and Photographs Division discussed the Historic American Buildings Survey collection and other topics with Charles Peterson; former LC Junior Fellow Alan Stein interviewed Federal Writers' Project veterans Jerre Mangione and Sam Ross; and the Prints and Photographs Division's Bernard Reilly interviewed Bernarda Bryson.
The Center for the Book plans to publish a book based on the conference to raise public and scholarly awareness of these unique collections and their research potential.
Special Guests
Bob Baker, as a young boy, apprenticed with the Federal Marionette Theatre Project in Los Angeles. Currently he is adapting the 1936 version of the FTP's Hansel and Gretel for his Marionette Theatre in Los Angeles.
Will Barnet, artist and printmaker, was a member of the Graphics Arts Division of the Federal Art Project.
Perry Bruskin began his acting career in the Federal Theatre Project in the Children's Unit. He was a member of the cast of one of the three major FTP plays in New York when the project suddenly was closed.
Bernarda Bryson was a lithographer for the Public Works of Art Project and assisted her husband, Ben Shahn, with several of his mural projects for the Treasury Department.
Mary Collier assisted her husband, FSA photographer John Collier.
Jack Delano was a photographer for the Federal Art Project and then, from 1939 to 1941, for the Farm Security Administration.
Abbott L. Ferris collaborated in 1939 with Herbert Halpert in the documentation of the folk music and folklore of Mississippi.
Archie Green, teacher, folklorist, and editor, was a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps and was a founder of the American Folklife Center.
Herbert Haufrecht was a teacher in the Federal Music Project and a staff composer for the Federal Theatre Project.
Beth Lomax Hawes, folklorist, helped her father John Lomax and brother Alan Lomax make field recordings for the Library of Congress during the 1930s.
Jacob Kainen, painter and print-maker, was a member of the Graphic Arts Division of the Federal Art Project from 1935-1942.
Stetson Kennedy worked on the Florida Writers' Project from 1937 to 1942 and was involved with different folklife and life history projects.
Dan Lacy, a former administrator at the National Archives and the Library of Congress, was a regional supervisor for the Historical Records Survey.
Alan Lomax began his career as a folk music collector and scholar in 1933 by making field recordings for the Library of Congress with his father. In 1936-1942 he was assistant-in-charge of LC's Archive of American Folk Song.
Jerre Mangione, a coordinating editor for the Federal Writers' Project, also is the author of The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers' Project, 1935-1943.
E.G. Marshall played several roles in Federal Theatre Project productions, first in Chicago and then in New York, from 1935 until the FTP closed in 1939.
Charles E. Peterson was a founding member and project administrator of the Historic American Buildings Survey, which was established in 1933.
Leonard Rapport was a member of the Federal Writers' Project and served on the staff of the National Archives from 1949 to 1984. He has written several articles about the Federal Writers' Project and the Historical Records Survey.
Sam Ross, a screenwriter and novelist, was a member of the Illinois Writers' Project, based in Chicago.
Louise Rosskam, a photographer for the Farm Security Administration from 1938-1943, teamed with her husband, Edwin Rosskam.
Anthony Velonis, printmaker and painter, worked in the Graphic Arts Division of the Federal Art Project in New York City.
