Useful Arts
Part 2

Index of American Design

The WPA's Index of American Design's (IAD) charge was straightforward. MORE...

Magnus Fossum, a WPA artist, copying the 1770 coverlet "Boston Town Pattern" for the Index of American Design.
Coral Gables, Florida, February 1940

National Archives, Records of the Work Projects Administration
(69-N-22577)

Annunciation to the Virgin
Printed and hand-colored by the workers of the Index of American Design, New Mexico Federal Arts Project, WPA, 1938
Original rendering by E. Boyd, Index of American Design, New Mexico Federal Art Project, WPA, 1936
Hand-colored woodblock
From Portfolio of Spanish Colonial Design in New Mexico

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration
(MO 56-237 (11))

The Holy Family
Printed and hand-colored by the workers of the Index of American Design, New Mexico Federal Arts Project, WPA, 1938
Original rendering by E. Boyd, Index of American Design, New Mexico Federal Art Project, WPA, 1936
Hand-colored woodblock
From Portfolio of Spanish Colonial Design in New Mexico

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration
(MO 56-237 (28))

Figurehead for Lady Blessington
By Jerome Hoxie, Index of American Design, Connecticut Federal Art Project, WPA, ca. 1936-41
Watercolor

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration
(MO 42-35-1)

Figurehead Carving for State of Maine
By John Davis, Index of American Design, Maine Federal Art Project, WPA, ca. 1936-41
Watercolor

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration
(MO 56-227)