“A WPA book repair project working through the summer vacation period has reclaimed 210,438 books from the school junk heap and made them clean and fit for use.” (New York Times, 1938). The New Deal agency Works Progress Administration (later renamed Work Projects Administration) lasted only about eight years, from 1935 to1943, during the height of the Great Depression, but had an outsized influence. The goal of the program was to provide relief through employment while, at the same time,...
