Words on Pictures

The Gift: Photographs from the Federal Art Project     In 1943 the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection was the beneficiary of a gift by the U.S. government of over 42,000 photographic prints covering many of the  Federal Art Project  programs initiated by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930’s.  These included prints from Berenice Abbott’s  “Changing New York”  series (a Master set and many duplicates), the Federal Music Project, the Index of American Design and the Photographic Division which was assigned to document activities like classes at community art centers which were established across the country. Another set of photographs included were from t he  Farm Security Administration   series. Altogether an important and content-filled assortment of American history from the 1930's and early 1940's.  Harlem Community Art Center - Changing New York, a Federal Art Project     "One of the young artists who will be present at the Contempora

  Words on Pictures: Romana and the New York Public Library’s Picture Collection .  edited by Anthony T. Troncale. New York:  Photo | Verso Publications, LLC , 2020.    ISBN 978-1-7346409-0-8 (hardcover)   Identifiers ISBN    978-1-7346409-1-5 (ebook)   American Model: Origins of the Index of American Design, a Federal Art Project American 20th Century Teapot, 1935/1942 watercolor, graphite, and colored pencil on paper overall: 20 x 25.4 cm (7 7/8 x 10 in.) Index of American Design 1943.8.16986   IAD-20140728-0019.jpg  One of the more successful projects emanating from the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project was one of its first: The Index of American Design. Its origins came from users of the Picture Collection like Ruth Reeves, the textile designer who was working on a major commission to design the rugs and tapestries for the new Radio City Music Hall in 1932. Reeves would often discuss the lack of documentation in American design with the superviso