The Works Progress Administration in Detroit

In the midst of the Depression, a government agency was created that changed the lives of thousands of Americans. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was more than a program that put the unemployed to work, it was a revolutionary concept that sought to improve the lives of Americans through the physical improvement of their surroundings and the physical and intellectual improvement of themselves. For the people of Detroit, the WPA built schools and libraries, provided clothing and shelter, and enriched their lives through literacy, health, and educational programs. It brought art, theater, and music to the masses through groundbreaking cultural programs and created the infrastructure necessary to allow Detroit to blossom into the aArsenal of Democracya and one of Americaas greatest cities.

In The Works Progress Administration in Detroit, Elizabeth Clemens, an audiovisual archivist at the Walter P. Reuther Library, documents the art, public works, and social programs born from the short tenure of the WPA. Using photographs taken by WPA photographers and drawing from the rich collections of the Walter P. Reuther Library, the Archives of American Art, the Detroit Historical Museum, and the National Archives, this book offers a rare glimpse into a time when the landscape and hearts of a city were transformed through the unexpected treasures of the WPA..