Federal Theatre Project collection
Published: 1932
Language: eng
Number of pages: 1475
Subjects: Theater; Stage-setting and scenery; New Deal, 1933-1939; American drama; Federal Theatre Project (U.S.); Costume design; Theater and state; Production and direction; Theaters
Other titles: New Deal Stage Selections from the Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939.
Description: The collection contains 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.
Notes: Open to research.

Not all materials in this collection may be readily accessible; please request accessibility information well in advance of your visit http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/perform.contact

Federal Theatre Project Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.

Digitized images and documents along with identifying information and a narrative introduction are also available through the Library of Congress Web site under the title: New Deal Stage Selections from the Federal Theatre Project, 1935-1939, produced for the National Digital Library Program, American Memory collections.

Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.

Transfer and gift, U.S. Work Projects Administration, Washington office, and other, 1939-1946.

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.

The Federal Theatre Project (FTP), founded in July 1935, 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, actor and actresses, technicians, and photographers; and to bring theater, which would be national in scope and regional in emphasis, to thousands in the U.S. who had never before seen live theatrical performances.  During its four-year existence (1935-1939), the FTP mounted over 8,000 performances in thirty states and the District of Columbia.

Finding aid available in the Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room and at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.music/eadmus.mu995001

Federal Music Project materials are housed in the Music Division of the Library of Congress.