|
The New Deal and WPA
were brought about to help America during the depression by doing
BIG projects that hired many people and gave lasting value to America
for generations. The WPA was certainly the largest work related
component of the new deal. In fact, it hired millions of out of
work people - more than 8.5 million. About 75 percent of employment
and 75 percent of WPA expenditures went to public facilities such
as highways, streets, public buildings, airports, utilities, small
dams, sewers, parks, libraries, and recreational fields. The WPA
built 650,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000 buildings,
and 700 miles of airport runways. Seven percent of the budget was
allocated to arts projects, presenting 225,000 concerts to audiences
totaling 150 million, and producing almost 475,000 artworks.
These programs were a
great boon to the unemployed of the United States at the time. It
gave people meaningful work at prevailing wages and helped build
infrastructure in the U.S. that is still in use today. The seven
films that make up this collection explore the work efforts and
the societal effect of this program as it was viewed while the program
was still in existence.
|
|
Here are the contents
of each of the films in the WPA & New Deal history film collection:
Better Housing News Flashes (No. 7) (1935)
  
This brief film explores the benefits of the National Housing
act for hombuilders, home remodelers and future homeowners.
Producer: Pathe News
Audio/Visual: Sound, B&W
Run time: 4:30
|
Man Against the River (1937)
  
This film describes how members of the Works Projects Administration
(WPA) were used to help the refugees of a bad winter flood
of the Ohio River.
Producer: Pathe News, Inc.
Audio/Visual: Sound, B&W
Run time: 9:54
|
National Recovery Administration (NRA) Promo (1933)
 
A promotional film for the New Deal NRA (National Recovery
Administration) program.
Producer: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Run time: 2:47
|
The River (1937)
  
This documentary explores the was the Mississippi River Valley
was exploited for decades and shows the steps and work being
done to rehabilitate the area and make it clean, fertile and
productive again.
Producer: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Resettlement Administration
Audio/Visual: Sound, B&W
Run Time: 29:57
|
|
