Works Progress Administration Collection.
The Works Progress Administration papers collection includes information related to the history of Minnesota, administrative files, and a photo and negative collection containing numerous views of WPA projects around the state of Minnesota.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid
The WPA Guide to Minnesota
St Paul, MHS Press, 1985, 2002.
MNHS call number: F604.2 W86 200, also available for purchase.
Minnesota W.P.A. in Action, by Carl Lindahl.
MNHS call number: Map 6F G4141.G8 1934 .L5 or Digital Image
American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work, by Nick Taylor.
New York : Bantam Books, 2008.
MNHS call number: HD5724.T34 2008
WPA Public Works Improvements Photograph Collection
Includes views of various public works projects in seventeen Minnesota towns. Projects include road construction, street lighting, water utilities and towers, and sewage treatment plants.
MNHS call number: Digital Finding Aid
Putting unemployed Americans to work during the Great Depression was the task of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration, whose name later changed to the Work Projects Administration. Most people called it the WPA, an acronym that works for both names. Minnesota had many WPA programs, and the MHS Library holds a great variety of items that document the work of the state's WPA workers between 1935 and 1943, when the program ended.
Works Progress Administration Collection
Other major WPA initiatives in Minnesota:
Debbie Miller
Reference Librarian
Gale Family Library
Minnesota Historical Society Library
Located on the Second Floor of the Minnesota History Center
345 West Kellogg Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55102
Library Hours:
Thursday to Saturday: 10am to 4pm
Sunday to Wednesday: Closed
More Information on Visiting the Library
Contact Us:
651-259-3300
