Description: Dated ca. 1930-1943, this photograph shows seven young ladies from the University of Akron posing with a judge after winning a beauty pageant, with a caption that reads "Akron University claims the most beautiful co-eds in the world, a claim sustained in inter-collegiate competition. Shown above is one team of beauties surrounding the judge who declared them victors in a 'beauty battle'." This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B01F02_030
Subjects: University of Akron; Beauty pageants; Beauty contestants--United States; Akron (Ohio)--History--Pictorial works; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)