New Deal Accomplishment: Hundreds of WPA artists and musicians, to instruct hundreds of thousands of Americans

Above: The description for this photograph--taken in Virginia, 1938--reads: "Pupils of the Big Stone Gap School are taught painting as part of their regular school studies, by the Federal Art Project." Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Children signing up for WPA art classes in Harlem, New York, between 1935 and 1943. The program in Harlem reached tens of thousands of children and adults. Photo with statistic from the National Archives.

Above: Mrs. Louisiana Small, Washington, DC, ca. 1938, one of the hundreds of artists hired by the WPA to conduct art classes for children and adults. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA art instructor and two students, Rochester, New York, May 1936. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster advertising free art classes at the Hull-House settlement house in Chicago, 1938. Image from the Library of Congress.

Above: These disabled children in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are being taught how to play instruments by WPA instructor Elmer Clingman, ca. 1936. Mr. Clingman had the instruments custom-made for the children and once said, "I'd rather give one year's time to these little children than spend ten years at any other job," ("Former Cedarville Man Teaches Crippled Children To Play Band Instruments," The Freeport Journal-Standard (Freeport, Illinois), December 14, 1936, p. 6). Clingman's WPA project was pioneering, successful, and was adopted by other schools for children with disabilities ("E.G. Clingman Dies; Dowling Music Teacher," Minneapolis Sunday Tribune and Star Journal, January 18, 1942). Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA music teacher instructs children in Ellisville, Mississippi, June 1938. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Learning to play the piano in a WPA music class, conducted at a settlement house in Columbus, Ohio, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: Students in a WPA music class in New Orleans, playing what appear to be half-strung mandolins, between 1935 and 1943. Photo from the National Archives.

Above: A WPA poster advertising WPA music classes for adults. Image from the Library of Congress.

Art and Music Instruction

Final cumulative numbers for the New Deal's art and music instruction classes are hard to find (and probably don't exist), but here is some of what we know:

--> As of October 1, 1937, monthly attendance in WPA art classes averaged 55,231, and monthly attendance in WPA music classes averaged 140,321 (WPA progress report, June 30, 1938, p. 22). 

--> In a December 1937 Federal Art Project report, it was noted that "Teaching activities under the Federal Art Project are carried on in almost 600 centers such as settlement houses, orphanages, hospitals, children's clubs and community centers. These classes have now been attended by millions of children and adults in all sections of the country." 

--> In the 1938 WPA report, Inventory: An Appraisal of Results of the Works Progress Administration, we learn that "In the teaching field, as many as 1,600 WPA music teachers have been employed, where regular personnel for such work has been notoriously inadequate. Average monthly attendance at such classes is in excess of 140,000, and many of the teachers have been absorbed into regular school personnel" (p. 74).

Note: In addition to music classes for schools, WPA music teachers also taught music to people "interested in music as an avocation" (WPA final report, p. 64).

--> During a two-week period in January 1940, 47,000 people enrolled in WPA art instruction classes, and 160,000 in WPA music classes (WPA progress report, June 30, 1940, p. 134).

--> In the month of June 1940, 41,826 people were enrolled in WPA art instructions classes, and 170,875 in WPA music classes (Work Projects Administration, Report of Work Completed, 1935-1940). 

--> In the month of April 1941, 58,443 people enrolled in WPA art instruction classes, and 231,737 in WPA music classes (WPA progress report, June 30, 1941, p. 124). 

--> During October 1941, 29,535 people enrolled in WPA art instruction classes, and 186,989 in WPA music classes (WPA statistical bulletin, April 1942, p. 11). 

--> During January 1942, 25,068 people enrolled in WPA art instruction classes, and 174,917 in WPA music classes (WPA final report, p. 133). 

From these numbers, we can see that the New Deal employed at least hundreds of art and music teachers to instruct at least hundreds of thousands of Americans. The true numbers are probably thousands of teachers for millions of Americans, but it's difficult to tell how many different Americans are included in the statistics above, as opposed to people who may have re-enrolled or were enrolled for a long period of time, and thus included in more than one survey of students.