The number of workers employed by the Writers'
and Music Projects allowed folklorists and students of folk
music to undertake large and comprehensive projects. MORE...
National Archives, Records of the Work Projects
Administration
(Federal Theater Project, Vassar Collection of Programs and
Promotional Material
Jericho-PA folder, Box 159)
The Federal Dance Project frequently
looked to folk music for inspiration. The ballet Frankie
and Johnny was inspired by the blues song of the same name
and told the story of love, betrayal, and murder. American
Pattern described the difficult choices faced by a modern
woman dissatisfied with her conventional life. Both programs
sought to appeal to audiences unfamiliar with classical ballet.
These
Are Our Lives North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia
Federal Writers' Project, 1939
National Archives, Records of the Work Project
Administration
A groundbreaking
work of oral history, These Are Our Lives included the
stories of black and white tenant farmers, sharecroppers, mill
workers, vagrants, and peddlers. But these sketches of southerners
were not limited to work histories. Interviewees discussed family
life, education, politics, religion, medicine, and leisure time
as well.
"Walkin'
Boss" As sung by Tricky Salmon, Johnny Smith,
and Alexander Williams
Recorded by Herbert Halpert, Joint Committee on Folk Art,
WPA, ca. 1940
Transcribed by Frank Harmon, Joint Committee on Folk Art,
WPA, ca. 1940 National Archives, Records of the Work
Projects Administration You can also see JPEG images of additional
pages of the transcription: Page
1, Page
2 and Page
3.
