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New Jersey Works Progress Administration Records
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Public Policy Papers. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was created by Executive Order on May 6, 1935. It was renamed the Work Projects Administration in 1939 as it was consolidated into the Federal Works Agency. Congress ended the program in 1943. The WPA was perhaps the largest component of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. The WPA was the largest employer in the country at its height. The goal of the Works Progress Administration was to establish and maintain projects benefiting the public good in order to create work for citizens who were unemployed and on relief. Many of the WPA's projects were related to infrastructure: highways, bridges, buildings, sewers, etc. However, the WPA also employed artists and funded programs that benefited culture and history. One such program was the Federal Writers' Project. The New Jersey Historical Records Survey was a component of the Federal Writers' Project. The stated aim of the Historical Records Survey was "the discovery, preservation, and listing of basic materials for research in the history of the United States." Though only operational for short time, this project collected and compiled marriage and death records, court dockets, indices of laws, board meeting minutes, and inventories of archival repositories from throughout New Jersey. In addition, the New Jersey WPA also conducted an analysis of the Agricultural Administration Act under the Historical Records Survey. The analysis included determining how much acreage of farm land was being used and what types of crops were being grown in New Jersey. The historical Records Survey produced reports on the findings. While not directly related to the Historical Records Survey, the New Jersey Indian Site Survey was another project undertaken by the New Jersey WPA. From 1936 through 1941, the New Jersey WPA, in association with the Archeological Society of New Jersey, conducted archeological digs at various sites in New Jersey. The goal was to catalog, document and preserve aspects of American Indian daily life and culture.
The New Jersey Works Progress Administration Records document the history of several of projects undertaken by the New Jersey WPA. They include the New Jersey Historical Records Survey, the Agricultural Administration Act, and the Indian Site Survey of New Jersey. Also included are reports that were collected in an attempt to preserve the history of New Jersey's municipal governments. Documents types include institutional forms completed by New Jersey records repositories, inventories of various manuscript collections held by Princeton, indices of minutes and town ordinances, and reports from the Indian Site survey project, which include both text and photographs, and the analysis of the 1937 Agricultural Administration Act.
Please see series descriptions in contents list for additional information about individual series.
Material within the New Jersey Works Progress Administration Records provided the information for the descriptions. The New Jersey State Archives website provided some of the information in the history (please see: http://pdcbank.state.nj.us/state/darm/links/webcat/queries/fwpa.html) as did the National Archives and Records Administration record on the Works Progress Administration (please see: http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/org_details.jsp?&psub=1155115&st=b).
The New Jersey Works Progress Administration Records arrived at Princeton in two stages. The individual manuscript forms for the Princeton Collections were completed for Princeton as part of the Historical Records Survey in April through November 1936. The Federal Works Agency in New Jersey transferred the remainder of the records to Princeton in 1943 for the purpose of safe keeping.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Casey Babcock in 2007. Finding aid written by Casey Babcock in 2007.
Duplicates of reports were removed.
Organization
- Archaeological Society of New Jersey.
- New Jersey Historical Records Survey Project
- New Jersey Works Progress Administration
Subject
- Publisher
- Public Policy Papers
- Finding Aid Author
- Casey Babcock
- Finding Aid Date
- 2007
- Sponsor
- These papers were processed with an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
The Historical Records Survey Series documents the WPA survey in New Jersey. Included are documents from several features of the project. The bulk of the documents in the series relate to the New Jersey WPA's mission to catalog and preserve materials which represented local government and cultural history. Due to the short lifespan of the Historical Records Survey, the projected scope of the survey was not fulfilled.
The Historical Records Survey Series is divided into three subseries: Protection and Preservation of Cultural Resources in New Jersey, Survey of State and Local Historical Records, Princeton University Library and Reports.
Physical Description11 boxes
The Protection and Preservation of Cultural Resources in New Jersey Series documents the WPA project to identify historically valuable documents from repositories that could be vulnerable to damage from a catastrophic event or attack and move them to secure locations. The bulk of the documents consist of forms completed by New Jersey repositories detailing what documents they wished to have removed and where they would be housed in the case of a national emergency. Also included are reports which chart the progress of the project.
The Protection and Preservation of Cultural Resources in New Jersey Subseries is arranged chronologically.
Physical Description3 boxes
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The Survey of State and Local Historical Records, Princeton University Library Series documents the attempt to create an inventory of historically notable collections at the Princeton University Library. The documents consist entirely of forms detailing each item in the Thomas Johnson, Garret Wall, and Miscellaneous Collections, held in the Department of Collections. The forms were compiled by the Federal Writers Project in 1936. They describe the collection at the item level. Data contained on the forms included date, correspondents, size, summary and quality of content, and storage location.
The Survey of State and Local Historical Records, Princeton Subseries is divided into sections by collection name. The sections are arranged alphabetically. The documents within each section are arranged chronologically by date of completion.
Physical Description4 boxes
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The Reports Series is a collection of documents generated either by or for the New Jersey WPA with the purpose of preserving a governmental and cultural record of the state and its municipalities. Included are municipality board meeting minutes, town histories, reports on Agricultural Administration Act and local land uses, and lists of laws and ordinances from various towns and counties in New Jersey. The bulk of the reports were created at the request of the New Jersey WPA. Some, like the town histories and several of the indices of minutes, pre-date the WPA and were merely collected during the WPA-era.
The Reports Subseries is maintained in the order in which it was deposited at Princeton University.
Physical Description6 boxes
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The Indian Site Survey Series contains bound reports which document the status and findings of the New Jersey surveys meant to create a permanent record which accurately depicted and described the culture and daily lives American Indian tribes in New Jersey. The reports, compiled by the New Jersey WPA in association with the Archeological Society of New Jersey, consist of text, explaining what was found, how it was found and where, and photographs, displaying images of artifacts and the excavation sites. While the excavation sites were located throughout the state, the majority of the survey reports were on localities in the southern portion of the state.
The Indian Site Survey Series is arranged chronologically.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
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1 folder