Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Wpa Federal Writers' Project In Nebraska, Richard C. Witt

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Economic conditions during the 1930s caused unprecedented problems for the American people. The most obvious feature of the Depression--high unemployment--was particularly discouraging since no group of workers was spared from the realities of hard times. After experiencing relatively prosperous and comfortable lives during the Twenties, thousands of professionals and service personnel joined blue-collar workers in soup lines and charity programs.

This study concerns itself with one response the federal government made to deal with jobless white-collar personnel during the depression decade. As part of the Works Progress Administration's program to hire unemployed persons in the fields of art, music, theater, …