Name/Title
Waco Post Office “Dedication” [Cover]Description
Cover with green cachet of Texas with “POST OFFICE DEDICATION BY JAMES A. FARLEY P.M.G. / WACO, TEXAS.” Postmarked "WACO, TEXAS / MAR 23 1937." Tied with a 3c Texas Centennial stamp. Signed by the postmaster in the top left.Context
The historic federal building in Waco, Texas was constructed during the Great Depression with Treasury Department funds. The building, which houses New Deal artwork, was constructed as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse.
Edward Rowan pronounced Eugenie Shonnard's Waco sculpture "wholly rife with an American spirit." One of the panels, hung high on the lobby wall of Waco's ornate art deco post office, portrays a procession of "Indians", including two females led by two male figures in full headdress. One of the women carries an infant; another carries a bowl of food on her head. A young child walks alongside them. In a border above the procession, the artist carved two beehive-shaped thatch dwellings, left and right ends, enclosing carvings of several live oak trees. In "Cattle", Longhorns with gaunt, stylized features saunter along a trail. A border of live oak trees stretches across of the top panel.