The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was part of the Works Projects Administration, a New Deal program of the United States federal government. It was one of four New Deal arts programs, along with FWP, the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), the Federal Art Project (FAP), and the Federal Music Project (FMP). The arts projects were known collectively as Federal One.

Established on July 27, 1935, the Writers' Project operated under journalist and theatrical producer Henry Alsberg, and later John D. Newsome, and produced local histories, oral histories, ethnolographies, children's books and 48 state guides to America (plus Alaska, Puerto Rico and D.C.), described as a "public Baedeker's Guide." By the time it was shut down April 27, 1943, the FWP had already contributed an immense to the field of American studies. Among the 6,000 unemployed writers who worked with the Federal Writers' Project at its height were notable American scribes Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, May Swenson, Saul Bellow, Nelson Algren, Ralph Ellison and John Cheever.

External Links

Further Reading

  • Brentano's, Catalogue of the American Guide Series and other Writers Project publications, New York: Brentano's.
  • Brewer, Jeutonne P., The Federal Writers' Project: a bibliography, Metuchen, NH: Scarecrow Press, 1994.
  • Fleischhauer, Carl, and Beverly W. Brannan, eds., Documenting America, 1935-1943, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
  • Mangione, Jerre, The dream and the deal: the Federal Writers’ Project, 1935-1943, Boston: Little, Brown, 1972.
  • Meltzer, Milton, Violins & shovels: the WPA arts projects, New York: Delacorte Press, 1976.
  • Powell, Evanell K., WPA Writers' publications: a complete bibliographic check list and price guide of items, major and minor, of the Federal Writers' Project and Program, Palm Beach, Fla.: Evanell K. Powell, n.d.