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Lecture 3-2-FWP

Apr 09, 2018

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Lecture, Week Three: Remixing Memories

    II. Federal Writers Project 2.0

    Also available for download in Doc Sharing, Week 3 Lecture.

    Henry Alsberg, Director, Federal Writers' Project from 1935-1939

    InPortrait of America: A Cultural History of the Federal Writers Project(2003), Jerrold Hirsch writes:

    Not only were American intellectuals in the 1930s trying to rediscover America, as so many

    commentators then and since have pointed out; they were also trying to redefine it. The studies

    published by the Writers Project tried to broaden the definition of who and what was American.

    To answer such questions the FWP offered new materials: ex-slave narratives, folklore and folk

    song, and the life histories of ordinary people. In theAmerican Guide Series, which included

    guidebooks to every state in the union and to numerous cities, counties, and geographic areas, the

    FWP tried to provide the nation with a road map for the cultural rediscovery of America. (19)

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 1: Guides were created for every state in the nation and many cities as well.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 2: The American Guide Series writers "describe America to Americans."

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 3: Researchers and writers for the Federal Writers Project traveled the country, collecting interviews

    with former slaves like the gentleman above. In the 1930s, it would have been quite possible to speak withindividuals who had lived as slaves when children.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 4: Oral histories collected were often accompanied by a photograph, then archived in the Library of

    Congress where they remain available to us more than 70 years later. The slave above was photographed andinterviewed at his home in Dallas, Texas.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 5: Stories collected from Americans everywhere, like this woman--posing in the doorway of the old

    streetcar where she was now living with her family of four in North Carolina. A portion of her story can be

    found in the Library of Congress (online).

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers Project, 1936-1940

    Library of Congress (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html).

    These life histories were compiled and transcribed by the staff of the Folklore Project of the

    Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration(WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents

    representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in

    length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogueto report to case history. The histories describe the informant's family education, income,

    occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneousobservations. Pseudonyms are often substituted for individuals and places named in thenarrative texts.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 6: Films describing the WPA to New Deal contemporaries can be found in places like the Internet

    Archives. View "We Work Again" at url below.

    http://www.archive.org/details/we_work_again_1937

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 7: Films like "We Work Again" (above) were produced by the Federal Government and thus availablefor remixing into your own projects, as sound, image, or film.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 8: FWP writers brought the field research together into narratives (American Guide books), whichwere made available across the country through individual purchases and via local libraries.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 9: Some of the FWP writers became quite famous, including Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, andRichard Wright.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 10: Ralph Ellison, also a writer for the FWP.

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    Part II, Federal Writers Project 2.0 (2011)

    Shannon Carter, PhD Spring 2011

    Figure 11: Richard Wright worked for FWP.