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"The Varied Carols I Hear": The Music Of The New Deal In The West, Peter L. Gough

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Federal Music Project and subsequent WPA Music Programs served as components of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" efforts to combat the economic devastation precipitated by the Great Depression. Operating during the years 1936 to 1943, these programs that engaged unemployed musicians mirrored similar efforts of the Federal Theatre, Art and Writers' Projects. Though the Federal Music Project proved to be the largest of the cultural programs in terms of both employment and attendance, to date it has received the least attention from scholars. This dissertation demonstrates that, given the societal landscape of 1930s America, a regional perspective is …