Federal Theatre Project Collection
Scope and Content Note
The Federal Theatre Project (FTP), an agency of the WPA from 1935 to 1939, provided work for thousands of unemployed persons in the theatrical profession. The project was an experiment which mirrored life in the Depression; depicted economic, political, and social problems; developed new audiences; provided opportunities for minorities; and laid the groundwork for much innovation in the theater. It was the first arts endeavor to be supported on an extensive scale by the U.S. government.
The records of the FTP span the years 1932 to 1943, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the years 1935 to 1939. Items with earlier and later dates appear in the collection. Some material from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) is dated as early as 1932. After the FTP ended in 1939, the Historical Record Survey (HRS) completed some research studies and inventories in 1942. A portion of the music file originally belonging to the Federal Music Project (FMP) records is dated 1943.
The materials in the FTP collection are of various types: correspondence, memoranda, reports, forms, lists, play and radio scripts, costume and set designs, posters, manuals, publications, bulletins, charts, blue-prints, research studies, addressograph plates, newspaper clippings, cards, photographs, negatives, slides, playbills, and scrapbooks.
The Administrative Records form the smallest section of the collection (the bulk of the FTP administrative materials is at the National Archives and Records Administration). This series provides background information on the FTP's organization, its policies and procedures, and personnel activity; its advertising and promotional plans; and the scope of its publications. A file on the WPA includes material relating to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Federal Art Project (FAP), the Federal Music Project (FMP), the Federal Writers' Project (FWP), the Historical Records Survey (HRS), and other WPA activities. An extensive card file documents many of the activities of the FTP, and an administrative photographic prints and negatives file contains images of theater workers who qualified for work with the FTP.
The Play Service and Research Records contain much material from the National Service Bureau (NSB), the central record-keeping office of the project, which operated as a clearinghouse of information dealing with play service and research studies.
The Library Records are composed of material and information chiefly collected from sources outside of the FTP and maintained for use by the various units and regions, as well as for community, school, and church-related organizations.
The Production Records combine to form the largest part of the collection. These files relate directly to productions and planned productions. The material includes production bulletins, which were compiled following a production and contained pertinent information regarding that production; playbills, programs, and heralds; costume and set designs; posters and billboard sheets; photographs, negatives, and slides; music for productions; and some correspondence, reports, schedules, and scrapbooks.
An index that matches legacy container numbers (prior to November 2022) in the Federal Theatre Project Collection with those updated in November 2022 is available here.
Some materials in this collection contain offensive or demeaning language.
Dates
- Creation: 1932-1943
- Creation: Majority of material found within ( 1935-1939)
Language of Materials
Collection material primarily in English with some Yiddish, Italian, Spanish, French, and German
Access and Restrictions
The Federal Theatre Project Collection is open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Music Division prior to visiting in order to determine whether the desired materials will be available at that time.
Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.
Photographic negatives in the Photographic Negatives File and slides in the Photographic Slides File are not available due to format considerations.
Copyright Status
The status of copyright on the materials of the Federal Theatre Project Collection is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
Agency Sketch
Agency Sketch
- 1935 July
- Harry Hopkins , director of the WPA* and former head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) , advocated a "free, adult, uncensored theatre" and announced the founding of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP).
- The FTP was designed to re-employ theater workers on public relief; to conserve and develop the skills of administrators, clerical workers, writers, set and costume designers, directors, actors, technicians, and photographers; and to bring a theater, which would be national in scope and regional in emphasis, to thousands in the United States who had never before seen live theatrical performances.
- 1935 August
- Hallie Flanagan , director of the Experimental Theatre, Vassar College , took the oath of office as the national director of the FTP. Headquarters were at the McLean mansion in Washington, D.C.
- 1935 October
- Under WPA's Federal Project Number One, $27 million was budgeted for unemployed artists, musicians, theatrical people, and writers.
- FTP units were set in operation and productions were planned throughout the United States.
- 1936 March
- With 11,000 people on the payroll, production groups were operating in 22 states and the weekly audience was 150,000.
- 1937 March
- Hallie Flanagan moved the headquarters from Washington, D.C., to New York City and assumed the directorship there in addition to the national directorship.
- 1937 April
- George Bernard Shaw and Eugene O'Neill released their plays to the FTP for nationwide production at a $50 rental rate.
- 1937 June - August
- Caravan theater toured the boroughs of New York City to present free entertainment to the public.
- 1937 December
- Since its inception, the FTP had played to audiences of 16 million in 28 states in 158 theaters. Notable productions included Doctor Faustus , It Can't Happen Here , Macbeth , and Murder in the Cathedral .
- 1938 February
- Hallie Flanagan delivered a brief, outlining the progress of the FTP before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Patents.
- 1938 March - April
- Planning began for a nationwide touring program in an effort to expand performances in outlying communities.
- 1938 December
- Noteworthy productions to date included One-Third of a Nation , Pinocchio , Prologue to Glory , and a swing version of The Mikado .
- 1939 June
- A congressional joint resolution recommended that no funds be made available after June 30 for the operation of the FTP.
During its four-year existence, the FTP mounted more than 8,000 performances in thirty states and the District of Columbia. Productions included classics, melodramas, comedies, circus performances, vaudeville, local pageants, foreign language plays, children's plays, dance productions, radio broadcasts, religious plays, Negro theater, and caravan plays. Notable persons associated with the project include: Bill Baird , Howard Bay , Eubie Blake , Marc Blitzstein , Joseph Cotten , Katherine Dunham , Abe Feder , Arlene Francis , Will Geer , Paul Green , John Houseman , John Huston , George Izenour , Burt Lancaster , Emmet Lavery , Norman Lloyd , E.G. Marshall , Arthur Miller , Arthur Peterson , John Randolph , Elmer Rice , Betty Smith , Virgil Thomson , and Orson Welles .
* Initially the Works Progress Administration, the name was changed in 1939 to Work Projects Administration.
Extent
525,000 items (approximately)
1,555 containers
200 mapcase folders
584.5 linear feet
Abstract
The Federal Theatre Project, created by the U.S. Works Progress Administration in 1935, was designed to conserve and develop the skills of theater workers, re-employ them on public relief, and to bring theater to thousands in the United States who had never before seen live theatrical performances. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, play and radio scripts, reports, research studies, manuals, publications, bulletins, forms, lists, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, charts, costume and set designs, blue-prints, posters, addressograph plates, photographs, negatives, slides, playbills, and other records documenting the activities of the Federal Theatre Project and its impact on all aspects of the theater. Some materials in this collection contain offensive or demeaning language.
Organization of the Federal Theatre Project Collection
The collection is organized in four series:
Catalog Record
Provenance
Materials constituting the Federal Theatre Project Collection were transferred as gifts to the Library of Congress from the Washington office of the U.S. Work Projects Administration, as well as other regional sources, from 1939 to 1946. The collection was loaned to the Special Collections and Archives section of Fenwick Library at George Mason University for processing in 1974. In 1994, the collection was transferred back to the Music Division of the Library of Congress. Edward Leach donated a small amount of materials of Robert Warfield, supervisor of the Washington, D.C. Marionette Project, in 2021.
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
Online Content
Select digitized images with identifying information and a narrative introduction are available through the Library of Congress Web site at https://www.loc.gov/collections/federal-theatre-project-1935-to-1939/.
The story map The Play that Electrified Harlem explores a 1936 production of William Shakespeare's Macbeth by the Negro Unit of the Federal Theater Project.
Other Repositories
Federal Theatre Project administrative materials at the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 69, include playscripts, play lists, production bulletins, set and costume designs, and photographic images.
George Mason University has acquired oral history interviews with, and donations from, persons originally associated with the Federal Theatre Project.
Processing History
Staff of the Special Collections and Archives section of Fenwick Library at George Mason University processed the bulk of the materials in the Federal Theatre Project Collection between 1974 and 1984. Shortly after the collection's return to the Music Division, Morgan Cundiff and other Music Division staff coded the finding aid in 1995. In preparation for digitizing selected portions of the collection, minor changes were made to the finding aid in 1997. It was further updated, revised, and linked to the digital content by Michael Ferrando in 2004.
In July 2011, fellows from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill re-housed portions of the large format materials. Christopher Hartten updated the finding aid to reflect these changes.
In 2022, the collection was completely rehoused and reorganized by Courtney Rookard and Brian Quann, with assistance from Emily Baumgart, Melissa Capozio Jones, and Rachel McNellis. The finding aid was significantly revised and updated with additional descriptive content and new container numbers.
Source
- Federal Theatre Project (U.S.) (Creator, Organization)
Subject
- Astner, Nels. (Person)
- Baumé, Nelson. (Person)
- Bay, Howard (Person)
- Bernardini, Orestes, 1880-1957. (Person)
- Blake, Eubie, 1887-1983. (Person)
- De Paur, Leonard. (Person)
- Engel, Lehman, 1910-1982. (Person)
- Essman, Manuel, -1967. (Person)
- Flanagan, Hallie, 1890-1969. (Person)
- Goldstein, Nat (Nathan) (Person)
- Haufrecht, Herbert, 1909-1998. (Person)
- Karson, Nat. (Person)
- Kingsley, Herbert. (Person)
- Loredo, Armando (Composer), active 1938. (Person)
- Loth, L. Leslie (Louis Leslie), 1888-1974. (Person)
- McLane, Wood. (Person)
- Meyer, Hans Bruno. (Person)
- Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005. (Person)
- Morcom, James Stewart. (Person)
- Morgan, Blanche, 1912-1981. (Person)
- North, Alex. (Person)
- Ormston, Frank. (Person)
- Ottenfeld, Eddison von (Person)
- Pitot, Genevieve, 1901-1980. (Person)
- Rice, Elmer, 1892-1967. (Person)
- Riegger, Wallingford, 1885-1961. (Person)
- Robinson, Earl, 1910-1991. (Person)
- Rosebrook, Leon, 1888-1957. (Person)
- Schruers, Edwin J. (Person)
- Stover, Frederick. (Person)
- Tamiris, Helen, 1905-1966. (Person)
- Tamkin, David. (Person)
- Welles, Orson, 1915-1985. (Person)
- Zanoff, Victor. (Person)
- Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.) (Organization)
- Federal Art Project. (Organization)
- Federal Music Project (U.S.) (Organization)
- Federal Theatre Project (U.S.) (Organization)
- Federal Theatre Project (U.S.)--Archives. (Organization)
- Federal Writers' Project. (Organization)
- Historical Records Survey (U.S.) (Organization)
- United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities (Organization)
- United States. Federal Civil Works Administration. (Organization)
Genre / Form
- Albums (Books)
- Blueprints (Reprographic copies)
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence.
- Financial records.
- Manuals (Instructional materials)
- Memorandums.
- Negatives (Photographs)
- Photographs.
- Posters.
- Programs (Publications)
- Promotional materials.
- Reports.
- Scenography.
- Scripts (Documents)
- Slides (Photographs)
- Theater programs.
Topical
- American drama--20th century.
- Costume design--United States.
- New Deal, 1933-1939.
- Theater and state--United States.
- Theater--Political aspects--United States--20th century.
- Theater--Production and direction--United States--20th century.
- Theater--United States.
- Theaters--Stage-setting and scenery--United States--20th century.
Uniform Title
- Title
- Guides to Special Collections in the Music Division of the Library of Congress
- Subtitle
- A Register of The Library of Congress Collection of U.S. Works Progress Administration Records
- Author
- Processed by the Music Division of the Library of Congress
- Date
- 2005
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Part of the Music Division Repository
Performing Arts Reading Room
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James Madison Building, LM 113
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