Florida Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) records

Collection

Florida Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) records

• 1936-1940 (Creation)

3 Boxes

The Florida Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) Records document activities at the University of Miami in the Rare Books Project, a statewide effort initiated by the W.P.A. in 1940 to provide every library in the state with copies of rare books pertaining to Florida.

The Florida W.P.A. Records contain correspondence and transcribed copies of 13 monographs prepared by W.P.A. personnel.  Most of the typewritten manuscripts bear the name of the W.P.A. worker that transcribed the monograph, along with information on the source library or sponsor.  Some books that are represented in this collection may have been given to the University of Miami Library by the source library in exchange for books the University made available to the Rare Books Project. The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, bibliographies, reports, transcripts, and public records.

Box 1 (folders 1-2) contains correspondence of the W.P.A.-Rare Books Project and the University of Miami, 1940. Box 1 (folders 3-10), box 2 (folders 11-20), and box 3 (folders 21-25) contain transcribed copies of rare Florida books, including transcriptions of British Colonial Office Records, ca. 1765-1783 (folders 21-25). 

Of interest is the typewritten manuscript of D.L. Reichard, W.P.A. archaeologist and field supervisor who, in 1936, conducted excavations of several Tequesta burial mounds throughout Miami and Miami Beach.  His summary and notes provide insights on the life and material culture of Tequesta Indians prior to the arrival of European explorers. 

Box 2, (folder 20) contains a promotional pamphlet describing the W.P.A. American Guide series of guidebooks and box 3 (folders 26-27) contain an incomplete untitled manuscript.

This collection is open for research.

Items from this collection are kept on-campus and may be requested from the first floor Kislak Center in the Otto G. Richter Library at University of Miami.

Florida Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) Records Finding Aid© 1993 University of Miami. All rights reserved. Requests to reproduce or publish materials from this collection should be directed to asc.library@miami.edu.

• English

• Rare books -- Florida

• United States. Works Progress Administration (Fla.) (Subject)
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945 (Subject)

• Bibliographies
• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Documents (object genre)
• Correspondence » Letters (correspondence)
• Reports
• Transcripts