American Life Histories - Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project

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American Life Histories
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project
1936-1940

Truck driver in diner. Clinton, Indiana Farmers talking politics. Potato fields. California House wife reading in living room, Chicot Farms, Arkansas

"These life histories were written by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations. Pseudonyms are often substituted for individuals and places named in the narrative texts."

NOTE: The life histories and articles presented here have been read and compared to images of the original pages, and then edited to place them in a more readable form. Handwritten notes have sometimes been deleted, transcriptions errors have been corrected, and many questionable transcriptions have been clarified. Some misspellings have been left as they were originally typed.

On occasion, at the beginning of an article under the title, I will include a section I've called 'Tom's note:' These are personal observations that may or may not add value or expand the meaning of the article for you.

Enjoy!

Contents

Alabama (33 narratives)

Florida (127 narratives)

Georgia (73 narratives)

Indiana (15 narratives)

Louisiana (1 narrative)

Missouri (2 narratives)

South Carolina

Utah (1 narrative)

Washington (26 narratives)

Images above from: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, FSA-OWI Collection,
LC-USF34-019500-C DLC, LC-USF33-011935-M2 DLC, LC-USF34-029480-D DLC

CAPTIONS
Truck driver in diner. Clinton, Indiana
Farmers talking politics. Potato fields. California
House wife reading in living room, Chicot Farms, Arkansas

Text from: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection

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NEW!! DeMotte, Indiana History (1997)

New project: American Life Histories, Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
(This will be an ongoing project with entries added frequently.)

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