Description: Original description reads: "Theater Project Group in street clothing June 20, 1936, on steps of Memorial Hall at Soldiers' Home, Dayton, Ohio. Director Garland [Geden?] on top row with straw hat." The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was a New Deal project to fund theatre and other live artistic performances in the United States during the Great Depression. It was one of five Federal One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The FTP's primary goal was employment of out-of-work artists, writers, and directors, with the secondary aim of entertaining poor families and creating relevant art. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B12F12_009_001
Subjects: Federal Theatre Project (U.S.); Theater--Ohio--Dayton; Actors--Ohio--Dayton; Soldiers' homes--Ohio--Dayton
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows an acrobatic team performing a stunt with a man sitting on a chair perched on a stack of three tables. The reverse of this photograph reads "Theater project; acrobatic stunt on Federal theater Project, Dayton, Ohio." The Federal Theater Project was one five projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression designed to help fund theater productions, live artistic performances and employ actors, writers and producers. 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_B12F12_021_001
Subjects: Acrobatics--Photographs; Acrobatics--History; Dayton (Ohio)--History--Pictorial works; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project; Federal Theater Project
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)