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deal symposium
Art, Culture, and Government:
The New Deal at 75
March 13-14, 2008, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
A Presentation of the American Folklife Center in
collaboration with the Center for the Book, John W. Kluge Center, the
Prints and Photographs Division, and the Digital Reference Team, with the Manuscript
Division, the Music Division, the
Rare Books Division, and the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded
Sound Division
About the Symposium
On March 13 and 14, 2008, leading scholars from throughout the United States
joined experts from the Library of Congress in a free public presentation, Art,
Culture, and Government: The New Deal at 75. The symposium at
the Library, and similar events in the Washington, DC area, were aimed at re-focusing
attention on the New Deal, the multi-faceted
social, cultural, and fiscal recovery programs launched by the
Roosevelt administration in 1933, to reform and reinvigorate national
life in the wake of the Great Depression.
The Library presentation
featured contemporary scholarship and recent discoveries inspired
by the Library's unparalleled collections of documentary materials from
that era. It highlighted the lasting impact this federal initiative
has had on culture, documentation, and conservation. In a day-long
symposium on March 14, invited scholars presented recent
research based on New Deal materials, primarily case studies that demonstrated how innovative interpretation of the Library's
archival holdings continues to inspire new revelations and reassessments
of twentieth-century American culture.
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The Library events provided the public an opportunity to gain greater
awareness of the Library's extraordinary collections of unique, primary
documentation created by New Deal programs, including manuscripts,
photographs, audio recordings, and graphic art materials. An especially exciting development for the scholarly research community was the unveiling of the guide New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources during a unique
afternoon program on March 13.The New Deal Web Guide provides an overview of special collections held by the Library of Congress and links to digitized materials and selected resources relating to New Deal programs in Library of Congress divisions. The guide also links to major collections of New Deal program materials held at other institutions.
In addition to the launch of the Web Guide, staff from several
Library divisions, and colleagues from other government agencies,
discussed and displayed a selection of materials from their New Deal
holdings, including rare collections, recent acquisitions, and under-utilized
treasures.
The Library events were complemented by programs at the National
Archives and Records Administration, including a panel discussion,
"Electing
FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932" on Thursday,
March 13, at 7 pm and an
all day festival of rare government-produced period films, For
a Better America: The New Deal on Film, on March 15.
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Orson Welles'
costume design, Cardinal of Lorraine,
for The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Textile swatches and mixed
media drawing, Federal Theatre Project, 1937. View the collection guide for the Federal Theatre Project Collection, Music Division. |
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Bibliography: Selected Resources on Folklife
and the New Deal
You may wish to consult our selected
list of books,
essays, recordings, films and other resources,
to familiarize yourself with the core concepts and themes that were addressed during the symposium.
| Art, Culture and Government was
a joint production of the Library's American Folklife Center, Center
for the Book, John W. Kluge Center, Prints and Photographs Division,
with the Manuscript Division, Music Division, Rare Books Division,
and the Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division, with
assistance from the National Archives and Records Administration and
the support of the National
New Deal Preservation Association. |
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