Federal Writers' Project's mirror to America : the Florida reflection.

Publication

-

Jacksonville History Center

Name/Title

Federal Writers' Project's mirror to America : the Florida reflection.

Entry/Object ID

Library.2048

Tags

Library records not in public view

Description

xi, 282 leaves ; 28 cm. The Federal Writers' Project's mirror to America : the Florida reflection by Pamela Bordelon. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Louisiana State University, 1991. Dissertation, Louisiana Stae University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fullfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Contents: Government and the arts -- Trouble in paraside -- Don't worry about style: writing the Florida guide -- Florida guide -- Federal Writers'Project and the African-American -- In the nick of time -- Let the people speak -- Closing down -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Vita. Includes bibliographical references: 263-281. Microfilm of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1991. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm. Also available online free at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/5168/ Abstract: In the 1930s, the federal writers of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) plowed fertile new ground in American cultural scholarship. The writers were for the most part not professionals but white collar workers who had been dramatically rescued from unemployment by this government relief project. Like other New Deal relief agencies, the Writers' Project had been created more to make work than to do work. But by the end of the program, it had charted a nation and documented American life more comprehensively than any earlier effort had done. In Florida the federal writers produced a state guide, pioneered African-American studies, broke new ground in oral history, and revolutionized the study of folklore. Their records unearthed the variety and texture of cultural life, leaving an incomparable record of localized America. The Florida Federal Writers' Project demonstrates how the program operated on the state level. Its research beyond the state guide demonstrates the contributions these state programs made to American cultural studies. Florida was one of three Southern states which had an active African-American writers' unit. Zora Neale Hurston, the only trained African-American folklorist in the South, worked on the Florida project for a year and a half. This study explores her contribution to the project and documents her contributions to the state's folklore program. The work by the federal writers in Florida was but one part of the massive national inventory that had created in words a giant mirror of the American scene. Yet only a small portion of their work was published and held up for the nation to see.

Collection

Library

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Dissertation

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Thesis

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Literary Works

Nomenclature Class

Documentary Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Search Terms

Federal Writers' Project., Slavery -- Florida -- History., American guide series., Corse, Carita Doggett, 1892-1978., Hurston, Zora Neale., Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida., Kennedy, Stetson., Muse, Viola.

Publication Details

Author

Bordelon, Pamela G.

Edition

spiral bound

Publisher

University Microfilms International.

Place Published

* Untyped Place Published

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Call No.

F 311 .B67 1991