New Deal Accomplishment: Over 4,400 miles of new or improved levees & embankments for flood protection

Above: In its 2025 Infrastructure Report, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave America's levee infrastructure a "D+" letter grade. The ASCE reports that levees protect 23 million Americans and $2 trillion worth of property, including 7 million buildings and 5 million acres of farm land, from flooding. The ASCE further notes that many levees are not up to current standards, have not undergone risk assessments, and will likely need $70 billion in funding to bring them "into a state of good repair" ("Levees," 2025 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, American Society of Civil Engineers, accessed August 24, 2025). As sea levels continue to rise, levees and similar structures (e.g., sea walls and diversion canals) will become increasingly important. Image above from the American Society of Civil Engineers, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The description for this photograph, taken in Indianapolis, Indiana, on January 15, 1936, reads: "Marion County, project #65-0465. Fall Creek Levee Project - men working on grading... at 16th Street." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: In 1937-1938, the WPA helped reconstruct and enlarge the levee that protects Augusta, Georgia, from flooding. See, "The Levee," Historical Markers Database (accessed August 24, 2025). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: WPA workers construct an emergency levee to protect the nation's capital from an encroaching Potomac River, March 1936. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: "On the Levee," an oil painting by E. Herndon Smith (1891-1979), created while he was in the WPA, between 1935 and 1943. Image from the New York State Department of Health.

Holding the Line

Between 1934 and 1935, laborers in the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) constructed 2,161 miles of levees, and improved another 399 miles. And between 1935 and 1943, WPA workers constructed 591 miles of new levees and embankments, and improved another 1,083 miles. Young Americans also held the line against flooding, building 141 miles of new or expanded levees and embankments, and making improvements to another 41 miles, while enrolled in the New Deal's National Youth Administration (NYA).

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) engaged in a large amount of levee work too, but I'll leave that out of the cumulative numbers, since there is some work and statistical crossover between the various New Deal work and construction programs, and therefore leaving one of the agencies out--I usually leave out either CWA or FERA--helps keep the estimate conservative.

So, we can see that the New Deal constructed or improved over 4,400 miles of levees and embankments. Much of this work still exists today and still protects the lives and property of Americans.

New Deal Accomplishment: About 2,800 new or improved wastewater treatment plants

Above: "CWA Workers Sawing Piles at the Sewage Disposal Plant," a lithograph by Russell T. Limbach (1904-1971), created while he was in the New Deal's Public Works of Art Project, 1934. Image from the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Above: The New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) financed about 894 new or improved wastewater treatment facilities (about 873 non-federal projects, and 21 federal). Image and statistics from: Public Works Administration, America Builds: The Record of PWA, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, pp. 270, 288, and 290.

Above: PWA-funded wastewater treatment plants were often massive, such as the Wards Island Sewage Disposal Plant, New York City, built in 1937. The plant is still in operation today--modernized of course--and according to the advocacy group Save the Sound, "the Wards Island plant serves more than a million people in the Bronx and Manhattan and treats about 275 million gallons of sewage a day" ("Wards Island Completes Upgrade, Removing Half the Nitrogen in its Waste," March 22, 2013). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Another large PWA-funded wastewater treatment plant, in Gary, Indiana, 1940. This plant is still in operation but has been expanded and improved over the decades (see "About GSD," Gary Sanitary District). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The PWA provided funding for the Blue Plains Disposal Plant in Washington, DC, 1934-1938, and it has since grown in size and improved its water treatment methods. In the brochure above, obtained from the plant in 2019, we read: "Before 1937, wastewater flowed through the District in open sewers and discharged untreated to the nearest waterway." Image scanned from a personal copy.

Above: In this article excerpt, from the Washington Herald-Times, July 24, 1938, p. 1, we read about PWA Administrator (and Secretary of the Interior) Harold Ickes' goal of cleaning up the Potomac River. Later in the article, Ickes discusses the Blue Plains facility (see previous image and caption), his wish for  smaller towns in the vicinity to build treatment plants too, and is quoted, "Anybody who goes wading in Rock Creek today is a fool. One scratch and you might get an infection that would cost you a leg. Dive into the Potomac and the chances are you would come out with typhoid fever." Indeed, many Americans today are probably unaware of the magnitude of the odor, disease, and pollution problems that existed--all across the country--before the New Deal; and, likewise, how revolutionary and effective New Deal sanitation projects were. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: Another large PWA-funded facility that still operates today. The St. Paul Metropolitan Council explains that before the plant opened in 1938, "untreated wastewater severely degraded water quality, created a public health hazard, threatened the environment, and caused odors from floating sewage mats." Photo from: C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, p. 455.

Above: The PWA also funded many smaller wastewater treatment facilities, like this one in Medford, Oregon, which cost $120,946 (about $2.7 million in 2024 dollars). If we compare this to the Minnesota facility (see previous photo), which cost $15,802,765 (about $358 million in 2024 dollars), we can see  the wide range of PWA funding opportunities that existed during the New Deal. Photo from: C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, p. 464.

Above: The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built 1,021 new wastewater treatment plants, and had 484 other projects to expand, reconstruct, or improve existing facilities. One of the new facilities was in Sunbury, Ohio (pictured above, ca. 1941). The WPA reported that Sunbury, "a town of about 900 population, now has for the first time a modern sewerage system... The plant can handle 75,000 gallons of sewage daily..." Most WPA wastewater treatment facilities were fairly small but "20 plants having capacities of over 2,500,000 gallons per day have been built through WPA projects." Information on the Sunbury website indicates that the WPA treatment plant remained the town's primary facility until 1967. Photo from: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1941, pp. 76-77.

Cleaning up America

If we add up PWA "sewage disposal plant" projects (about 894), WPA "sewage treatment plant" projects (1,021 new plants, 484 projects to improve existing facilities), and also similar projects carried out by the National Youth Administration (424 new sewage treatment plants, and 34 projects to improve existing facilities), we get about 2,800 new or improved wastewater treatment plants created by the New Deal.

I leave out wastewater projects by other New Deal agencies, for example, the Civil Works Administration and the Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to keep the estimate low. Previous blog posts highlight several issues that can lead to over-counting; so it's best to employ a few strategies to under-count and get a more accurate statistic.

New Deal Accomplishment: Over 357 new armories, many of them multi-use

Above: A gorgeous WPA-built armory, unknown location, constructed between 1935 and 1939. Photo from: Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1939, p. 22.

Above: WPA workers putting the finishing touches on an armory in Santa Barbara, California, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph--taken in Toledo, Ohio, on April 7, 1936--reads:

"Lucas County, Project # 12-48-178. Exterior view showing beautiful main entrance... WPA workers building one of the most beautiful public buildings in this state in the new $700,000 U.S.N. Armory under construction Bay View Park on west land of Maumee River. This project has given work to hundreds of men." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Inside the armory in Toledo, Ohio (see previous photo). The description for this photograph reads: "... skilled WPA workers laying new parquet floor in Toledo's new $700,000 Naval [Reserve] Armory." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA-built armory in Culbertson, Montana, ca. 1939. Historian Carroll Van West writes: "One of the most interesting buildings in Culbertson is the Armory, part of the significant impact that New Deal agencies had on the built environment of Roosevelt County in the 1930s. Justified as part of the nation’s war preparedness efforts in the late 1930s, so many armories across the country have found second life as public buildings, serving local government and community events." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: WPA workers constructing an armory in Mobile, Alabama, 1936. Millions of African Americans received employment through the New Deal: in work-relief programs; via loans & grants that aided private sector employers; expanded hiring in regular federal agencies; and non-discrimination polices, for example, in defense industry work. This assistance to African American workers is often downplayed, or even completely overlooked by modern critics of FDR and the New Deal. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photo shows why compiling New Deal statistics can be challenging - a single building (or any other type of project) can stretch across multiple agencies, and so there is a risk of over-counting (counting this single project as three armories). And though most New Deal work relief projects did not span across CWA, FERA, and WPA, some of the larger ones, like this armory, did. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The New Deal's Public Works Administration (PWA) financed many armories, and they were often massive structures with eye-catching architecture. This armory was built with PWA financing in 1936. Photo from: C.W. Short and R. Stanley-Brown, Public Buildings: A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental Bodies Between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public Works Administration, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1939, p. 87.

Above: The PWA-financed Harrisburg Military Post armory, ca. 1936. Photo from the National Archives.

The Amazing Multi-Use Armory

Both today and at the time they were built, New Deal-constructed armories have served as multi-use facilities, e.g., National Guard buildings, civic centers, and community auditoriums and arenas. Though some are relatively plain, many others have domed roofs, vertical offsets, archways, sculptures, castle-like towers, turrets, and bastions, and so forth.

Some armories were constructed by multiple New Deal agencies, and some were statistically compiled with other types of buildings, for example, "Armories and other military buildings." This makes it difficult to calculate the total number of armories built by the New Deal. However, if we use WPA statistics alone, which single out "Armories," and then take into account the fact there were of course armories built by other New Deal agencies (without WPA assistance), we can say that the New Deal built over 357 new armories, and had over 553 other projects to expand, reconstruct, or improve existing armories.

(The "553" number may or may not mean 553 separate armories. One might imagine, for example, a single armory receiving an addition in 1936, and then a new roof in 1939.)

New Deal Accomplishment: Over 218,000 mine openings sealed, resulting in cleaner streams and rivers

Above: An abandoned mine in Allegany County, Maryland, July 8, 1936. Air enters abandoned mines, mixes with water and iron sulfides, and creates sulfuric acid. The acid then makes its way into local waterways and causes pollution problems. WPA workers would later seal this mine. Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

Above: A WPA worker seals an abandoned mine in Garrett County, Maryland, April 17, 1937, in order to prevent air from entering. Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

Above: Part of a longer article in the The Pittsburgh Press, April 14, 1939, highlighting the value of WPA mine sealing work. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: In its 1936-1938 biannual report, the West Virginia Department of Health noted how the WPA had improved the state's sanitation with mine sealing and other activities.

Above: "Coal Town," a lithograph by Michael J. Gallagher (1898-1965), created while he was in the WPA, between 1935 and 1943. Image from the Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art

in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Cleaning our waterways

Between July 1935 and June 1941, WPA workers sealed 218,325 abandoned coal mine openings (WPA Statistical Bulletin, November 1941, p. 8). CWA and FERA also performed such work, but their cumulative statistics are not as well-reported. At the very least, however, we can say that the New Deal sealed over 218,000 mine openings (it is important to note that a single mine can have several openings - so the total number of mines sealed would be a much lower number, possibly around 10,000). 

Much of the work was done in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky - where a large number of abandoned coal mines drained into the Ohio River area (see, e.g., "W.P.A. Mine-Sealing Program Curtails Stream Pollution," The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), April 16, 1939). 

New Deal mine-sealing work was incredibly important because waterways we're being overtaken by sulfuric acid pollution by the early 1930s, for example, 3.5 million pounds of it going into West Virginia streams and rivers, every day (see article, "To Complete Job...," cited in next paragraph). The acid was killing fish, fouling public water supplies, limiting recreation opportunities, and damaging boats and water-based infrastructure, such as locks and dams.

New Deal assistance ultimately reduced sulphuric acid run-off in West Virginia by somewhere between one-third and two-thirds (see, e.g., the newspaper article image above, "Mine Sealing..."; and also, "To Complete Job of Sealing Mines," The Charleston Daily Mail (Charleston, West Virginia), April 2, 1936; as well as, Work Projects Administration, West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State, New York: Oxford University Press, 1941, p. 134).

New Deal Accomplishment: 74 million people receiving Social Security benefits in 2025

Above: A Social Security benefits calculator, per the Republican expansion of Social Security in the 1950s (Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate during the 83rd Congress, and President Eisenhower was also, of course, a Republican - see the next-to-last last paragraph of this blog post for more information). Image scanned from a personal copy.

The fantastic but unfinished business of economic security

President Franklin Roosevelt signed Social Security into law on August 14, 1935, and today, 90 years later, 74 million people are receiving Social Security benefits (see, e.g., here and here). The rural and red (but formerly blue) state of West Virginia relies on Social Security more than any other state (see, e.g., here and here), and over 476,000 of its residents were receiving Social Security benefits in 2023.

In his Second Bill of Rights speech, FDR advocated for the right "to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident..." And his Social Security--formally put together by Frances Perkins, Harry Hopkins, and other New Dealers--moved us significantly in that direction: "Social Security benefits play a vital role in reducing poverty in every state, and they lift more people above the poverty line than any other program in the United States. Without Social Security, 22 million more adults and children would be below the poverty line" ("Social Security Lifts More People Above the Poverty Line Than Any Other Program," Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, January 21, 2025).

But there's still a long way to go. For example, half of older Americans who live alone "can't afford basic needs" ("The Urgent Need," Meals on Wheels, accessed August 14, 2025).

Unfortunately, instead of expanding the best poverty mitigation program in U.S. history (for example, by lifting the income contribution cap--currently $176,100--and making wealthy Americans pay more into the system), there have been--for the past half-century--repeated attacks against it, mainly in the form of privatization schemes or attempts to raise the age at which one can collect full benefits (which is disastrous and unjust for lower-income Americans who, on average, live much shorter lives than the rich). 

Attacks on Social Security almost always come from the right (see, e.g., here, here, here, here, here, and here), but this wasn't always the case. In their 1956 party platform, Republicans said: "We are proud of and shall continue our far-reaching and sound advances in matters of basic human needs - expansion of social security... The record of performance of the Republican Administration on behalf of our working men and women goes still further... Social Security has been extended to an additional 10 million workers and the benefits raised for 6 1/2 million... We shall continue to seek extension and perfection of a sound social security system."

Let us pray that Social Security survives the current onslaught against it, orchestrated by the 1%, and lives to see the day where it can be expanded by New Deal-style Democrats and 1950s-style Republicans.

New Deal Accomplishment: Over 412,000 free or low-cost musical performances - for audiences totaling over 220,000,000

Above: This photo comes from Henry Alsberg's book, America Fights the Depression: A Photographic Record of the Civil Works Administration (New York: Coward-McCann Publishers, 1934). Alsberg reports that "Musicians were probably worse hit by the depression than any other class of white collar workers... The deflation of 1929 came only as a final knockout blow; canned music in the picture houses, and radio had already considerably reduced the number of available jobs... [But] By March 31st [1934] there were several dozen flourishing orchestras and bands throughout the country, whose members were paid by the Civil Works Administration, and which gave free concerts for the enjoyment of the general public" (p. 89). Photo from America Fights the Depression; used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: The Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA, 1934-1935) picked up where CWA left off. In New York state, for example, FERA helped maintain or put together "five symphony orchestras, 4 dance orchestras, three concert bands, 7 chamber music units and two choral groups" (FERA Work Division's final report, p. 107). Photo from the FERA Work Division's final report.

Above: A WPA Tipica Orchestra in San Antonio, Texas, June 1936. Tipica bands play Spanish folk and dance music. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: WPA singers perform at the Hollywood Bowl, March 28, 1937. The following day, the Los Angeles Times described one of the songs: "With the composer [Gastone Usigli] at the piano, 'The Lord's Prayer,' set to music by Josephine Forsyth Myers, was inspirationally rendered by the Los Angeles Federal Music Project Choir, Ruben Ricketts directing, and with Julie Kellar at the harp. Elusively sweet as the music a nightingale hears in its dreams, the soft 'Amen' echoed among the hills and melted into the morning" ("Thousands Greet Dawn in Worship," March 29, 1937, pp. 1 and 6). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph reads, "Orchestra and ballet, Starlight Symphonic Revue 'The Dance,' July 19, 1938, Taft Stadium, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Federal Symphony Orchestra." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA dance band in Detroit, Michigan, September, 1938. From 1935 to 1939, WPA dance orchestras gave over 42,000 performances across the U.S. ("Federal Music Project's Audience Totals More Than 134 Millions," Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio), June 25, 1939). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Members of Maryland's WPA orchestra perform for recuperating patients at the U.S. Marine Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, ca. 1942. Photo from the University of Maryland College Park Archives.

Above: A National Youth Administration (NYA) orchestra, at the African American YMCA Community Center in Mobile, Alabama, September 1937. The NYA's final report explains that "NYA orchestras and choral groups were formed in a number of states... Performances were given at municipal parks and halls. In the fiscal years 1941 and 1942, NYA orchestras gave 3,976 performances... a series of NYA musical [radio] broadcasts was given, featuring musical contributions of various racial groups" (pp. 173-174). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A National Youth Administration dance band in Los Angeles, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph, taken between 1935 and 1943, reads: "Commonwealth Women's Orchestra - Solomon G. Braslavsky conducting. 25 Huntington Ave., Boston, Mass." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: "WPA Hungarian Band. Detroit, 1938." Photo and caption from the National Archives.

Above: A benefit dance in Ola'a, Hawaii, on the Big Island, supported by a WPA Orchestra (the community of Ola'a is now called Kea'au). Rose Kuamoo (1903-1958) was a popular dancer and musician on the Big Island who taught "hula, piano, organ, ukelele and voice" ("Rose Kuamoo, Exponent of Island Songs, Dies," Hilo Tribune-Herald (Hilo, Hawaii), September 11, 1958, pp. 1 and 4). Image from the Hilo Tribune-Herald, June 18, 1937, and newspapers.com. Used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A WPA band in  Memphis, Tennessee, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: The description for this photograph, taken in August 1938, reads, "Humboldt Park. Part of audience listening to [the WPA's] Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra with Dr. Sigfrid Prager conducting. Soloists: Katherine Meisle, John Carter." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: "Concert," an artwork by Elizabeth Olds (1896-1991), created while she was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, ca. 1938-1939. Image courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Above: A WPA poster, promoting a WPA concert on Long Island, New York, between 1936 and 1941. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

A very large, very gargantuan number of WPA music-goers

In June 1939, WPA Assistant Administrator Florence Kerr reported 206,830 Federal Music Project "programs, performances or recitals before an aggregate audience of 134,457,226 persons," all across the country, during the period October 1935 to May 1939. These performances included: "symphony orchestras... smaller orchestras... bands... dance orchestras... chamber music ensembles... choral groups... [and] grand or chamber opera, operetta or musical comedy." ("Federal Music Project's Audience Totals More Than 134 Millions," Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio), June 25, 1939).

In his book, All of This Music Belongs to the Nation: The WPA's Federal Music Project and American Society (University of Tennessee Press, 1996), Professor of History Kenneth Bindas reports similar statistics for the Federal Music Project's 4-year existence: 224,698 performances, 148,159,699 attending (see book review).

Of course, attendance at WPA music performances goes far beyond those numbers because after the Federal Music Project ended--i.e., after fiscal year 1939--the WPA Music Program began (the  reincarnation was required to have local sponsors).

Total attendance at WPA music performances after the termination of the Federal Music Project--in other words, from mid-1939 to mid-1943--is not well-reported. However, we can make a pretty good estimate, based on three surveyed periods in 1940, 1941, and 1942. And it is important to note that WPA music performances remained popular during the pre- and early war years because soldiers sought out respite and the public sought out patriotic boosts. Many newspaper articles indicate that WPA concerts and related performances remained highly-attended and vibrant through the end of 1942, before painfully disappearing during the WPA's wind-down period (January to June, 1943). 

The surveys: In a two-week period during January 1940, 1,100,000 people attended about 2,500 WPA performances. During the whole of April 1941, 2,812,364 attended 6,213 performances. In all of January 1942, 2,423,217 attended 5,974 performances. 

This gives us a monthly average of 2.4 million people attending 5,724 musical performances. Multiplied by 36 months (fiscal years 1940, 41, and 42; we'll leave out FY 1943, to be conservative), we get 86,400,000 people attending 206,064 musical performances.

If we add up (a) the four years of the Federal Music Project, using Florence Kerr's lower numbers (again, to be conservative), and (b) our three (out of 4) WPA Music Program years, we get a little over 220,000,000 people attending over 412,000 performances.

We could attempt to add in audiences and musical performances by the Civil Works Administration, Work Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and National Youth Administration, but those numbers are not as well-reported or as easily-accessible. We certainly know that their audiences were in the millions (see, e.g.,  the final report of the FERA Work Division, here), but adding them in probably wouldn't make the totals any more impressive than they already are, and leaving them out ensures a very conservative estimate for the total amount of New Deal performances and audiences - that is: over 412,000 and 220,000,000 respectively.

New Deal Accomplishment: Over 100 community art centers, utilized by millions

Above: A WPA poster, advertising the opening of the Mason City Art Center in Iowa, 1941. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Above: The Mason City Art Center prepares to open its doors. This is part of a longer article from the Mason City Globe-Gazette, January 8, 1941. Further down in the article, we learn: "Being entirely democratic in nature, art center exhibits, the workshop instruction in various phases of art and craft work, the lectures on art and on exhibits shown in its galleries are free to the public. Regardless of age, race, color or creed, all persons are encouraged to make use of the services and facilities of the art center." Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A federal art center in Roswell, New Mexico, ca. 1937. The WPA constructed this building and it still exists today as part of the expanded Roswell Museum and Art Center. Also see: Sara Woodbury, "The Art of Democracy," Living New Deal, April 21, 2025; and "Directors of Federal Art Project Attend Programs At Roswell and Vegas Galleries," The Santa Fe New Mexican, December 14, 1937. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Part of the interior of the federal arts center in Roswell, ca. 1937. Photo courtesy of the National Archives.

Above: This is part of a longer article about an African American-centered WPA art center, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 15, 1941. Image from newspapers.com, used here for educational and non-commercial purposes.

Above: A WPA poster advertising a federal art center in North Carolina, as well as "Federal Art Center Week." Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

"Community Service in the Arts"

The WPA described its federal art centers in the following way: "All of these centers are carried on with the broadest possible concept of community service in the arts, including not only exhibitions but constructive art education, often extending into recreation centers and schools. In addition to maintaining a gallery with changing exhibitions at two and three week intervals, the centers have on their program such services as the cataloging of the art resources of the community and state; free public art lectures and classes; information service; stimulation of art instruction in the public schools and an educational service intended to build up public interest in permanent museum facilities and collections."

The Federal Art Project started putting together federal art centers--also called "community art centers" or "civic art centers"--in late 1935 / early 1936. By the end of fiscal year 1938, there were 53 art centers established, and they had been visited and utilized by four million people (Federal Works Agency, Work Projects Administration, Report on Progress of the WPA Program, June 30, 1939, p. 24). In mid-1939, due to congressional legislation, the WPA stopped sponsoring the arts; however, it was still allowed to fund and assist locally-sponsored art projects, and so the popular art centers kept springing up across the nation. Art historian George J. Mavigliano reports that "By the time the [WPA] ended in 1943 there were more than 102 centers in states such as North and South Carolina, Alabama, Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming" ("The Federal Art Project: Holger Cahill's Program of Action," Art Education, Vol. 37, No. 3 (May, 1984, p. 29).

Importantly, the community art centers were "intended especially for those regions which lacked public art institutions" (Final Report on the WPA Program, p. 64) and even made inroads into rural America, for example, at Norris, Tennessee, and Big Stone Gap, Virginia ("Art Center Has Many Exhibits," The Knoxville Journal (Knoxville, Tennessee), September 5, 1938).