Public Works- New Programs
Created under Emergency Conservation Act.
Put unemployed, unskilled young men to work on rural and park improvements.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) (1933)
renamed Work Projects Administration (1939)
Created by Executive Order to fund state and local public works projects.
Hired the unemployed directly and became the largest of all public works programs.
Works Progress Administration (WPA) (1935)
renamed Public Roads Administration (1939)
Built roads in national parks & forests, assisted states with road construction, helped beautify highways, and conducted various transportation studies.
Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) (1918)
Paid for by the CWA and operated by the U.S. Treasury.
Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) (1933)
Created by the WPA to employ artists, writers, historians and other professionals
Federal Project Number One (Federal One) (1935)
Created under the Tennessee Valley Authority Act.
Planned river basin development based on dams and hydroelectricity.
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) (1933)
Created by Executive Order as a subdivision of the WPA.
Hired young men and women, both in and out of school, for works programs.
National Youth Administration (NYA) (1935)
Worked with the U.S. Treasury, and later the Public Buildings Administration (PBA), to create new post office buildings and artworks in post offices.
U.S. Post Office Department (1792)
Plays, concerts, and artwork.
Art & Culture Projects of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) (1934)
An offshoot of the Federal Theatre Project, created to provide special opportunities for unemployed dancers.
Federal Dance Project (1936)
Created under the National Industrial Recovery Act.
Paid private contractors to build large-scale projects proposed by states.
Public Works Administration (PWA) (1933)
Created by Executive Order to bring electricity to isolated rural areas.
Made permanent by Rural Electrification Act (1936).
Rural Electrification Administration (REA) (1935)
Built dams and irrigation projects in the western states and major river basin projects on the Columbia, Colorado & Sacramento River systems.
Bureau of Reclamation (1902)
originally called Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture (TSPS) from 1934 to 1938, then Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA)from 1938 to 1939, and then finally just Section of Fine Arts (SFA, located in the newly-created Public Buildings Administration, from 1939 to 1943 .
Oversaw artworks created to enhance public buildings, notably post offices.
Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA) (1934)
A small performing arts division within the NYA.
National Youth Administration Dance Group (1936)
Created by Executive Order as temporary work relief under FERA.
Hired unemployed directly to work on local projects; became model for WPA.
Civil Works Administration (CWA) (1933)
Improvements to military bases, funding for Naval & Coast Guard vessels, jobs for defense industry workers & tradesmen, energy for airplane production, job training for young unemployed men & women, discipline & leadership skills in the CCC.
U.S. Armed Forces and National Defense Industries
Built levees, dams and canals across the country, built the Missouri river basin project and made levee improvements along the Mississippi, Ohio and Sacramento Rivers.
Army Corps of Engineers (1802)
The smallest of the programs to hire unemployed artists to create public artworks.
Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) (1935)
—Federal Art Project (FAP) (1935)
—Federal Music Project (FMP) (1935)
—Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) (1935)
WPA Music Programs
Created under the Federal Emergency Relief Act to award grants to states for works programs to hire the unemployed and provide direct relief payments to the indigent.
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) (1933)
Created by Soil Conservation Act (1935) to continue work of Soil Erosion Service (SES) created under Emergency Conservation Act (1933).
Soil Conservation Service (SCS) (1935)
Responsible for the movement of supplies, food, and services to support American troops. During the New Deal, the Quartermaster Corps received substantial funding from both the Public Works Administration (PWA) and emergency relief appropriation acts.
Quartermaster Corps (1775)
Created to promote and protect Indian arts and crafts.
Indian Arts and Crafts Board (1935)
Last 2 largest of the art programs
—Federal Theatre Project (FTP) (1935)
—Historical Records Survey (HRS) (1935)