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.
Henri Verbinnen was a diplomat at the Belgian consulate in New York, supervisor for the Florida Works Progress Administration (WPA), and independent essayist. During the years after the Great Depression, he wrote a number of essays and letters on New Deal unemployment and relief policies. The collection contains letters, notebooks, drafts, essays, reports, memorandums, statistical reports, sketches, photographs and clippings.
