The Study Of The American Federal Writers’ Project(1935-1942)

Between 1935 and 1942,the Roosevelt government,through the Work Progress Administration(later called the Work Projects Administration),supported and subsidized an arts program that was unprecedented in the history of America,one of which was the Federal Writers Project.The introduction of the Federal Writers Project was the Roosevelt government’s response to the crisis at home and abroad.The problem of a livelihood for the writers during the Great Depression caused widespread concern.In addition,under the lobbying of writers’ organizations and influenced by a crisis of social revolution and cultural pluralism and cultural nationalism,President Roosevelt authorized the Work Progress Administration to found the programs such as the Federal Writers Project in 1935,which was the first time the federal government had extensively sponsored art and culture.As a relief-focused cultural project,the Federal Writers Project not only fulfilled its basic goal of providing professional jobs for unemployed writers,but also made outstanding achievements in the field of the production of American Guide series,folklore studies,collection of ex-slave narratives,and social-ethnic studies.During its implementation,the Federal Writers Project was reorganized in 1939 after a series of events including the hearings of the Dies Committee,funding cuts,and the firing of Henry Alsberg.At this point,the state programs were no longer sponsored by the federal government,but needed to find new sponsors to maintain operating costs and publishing expenses.The Work Progress Administration Federal Writers Project was also renamed the Work Projects Administration Writers Program.As the writers program moved from federal to state control,the authority of the national office was reduced that of in status from leadership to a technical advisory service,and the program was drastically scaled back.But the reorganized Writers Program continued to develop and didn’t fully end until 1942.From the beginning of the operation of the Federal Writers Project,how to balance the relationship between quality and relief had always been a difficult problem for the project,and political disputes also had always been running through the project.Although the Federal Writers Project had been repeatedly attacked by the Congress and the media for two issues,the project still had important influences.It deepened the sense of American national identity and inclusion,promoted the development of American cultural policy,and played a unique role in advancing the development of postwar American literature.