Art and Design Commons^™

New Deal Murals In Kentucky Post Offices., Eileen Toutant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation takes a primarily art historical approach to the murals commissioned from 1934 to 1943 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. This study is confined to the post office murals created for the Commonwealth of Kentucky under the United states Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. Many of these paintings were lost or deliberately destroyed when the program was dismantled. Today most of the remaining murals are dirty and· faded and little noticed. Many of the artists have been forgotten. During the Depression years, however, these paintings contributed to local pride, optimism for the future, stronger patriotism, and a …