The Kansas City Public Library

Did you hear the talk about a bailout for writers? It didn't happen in 2009 -- but it did happen in 1935. Historian Jerrold Hirsch leads a presentation called Portrait of America: A Cultural History of the Federal Writers’ Project, examining the lasting value derived from this New Deal program.

The Federal Writers’ P…roject (FWP) helped define America and American literature by supporting literary talent during the Great Depression. This event kicks off a six-week series of events at the Kansas City Public Library that commemorates the 75th anniversary of this New Deal program with speakers, film screenings and a focus on important writers – like Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, and Saul Bellow – who joined its ranks.

As a leading cultural component of the New Deal program of political and economic reform, the FWP writers seized their opportunity to conduct a nationwide study of American identity – condensed into detailed guides to every state in the Union as well as oral history compilations. The project brought working class artists operating on a grassroots level together with white collar administrative intellectuals in Washington, D.C. Director Henry Alsberg sought to redefine American culture by embracing its diversity, and his agents considered the challenges of creating literature in a new urban-industrialized world. Alsberg thought that by introducing America to Americans, the FWP could both celebrate diversity and promote national unity.

Hirsch is a history professor at Truman State University. His specialty includes 20th century American intellectual and cultural history. He is author of the book Portrait of America: A Cultural History of the Federal Writers’ Project, published by the University of North Carolina Press.

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