Description
This visual image display is supplementary to the promotion of the University of Kentucky’s WPA collection as a Center of Excellence. Its purpose is to promote an understanding of what the WPA is and its impact on the State of Kentucky. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) collection at the University of Kentucky is becoming more comprehensive thanks to the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL), and the Collaborative Federal Depository Program (CFDP). UK has been given the opportunity to develop a Center of Excellence for the WPA through an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant. As a Center of Excellence, UK is developing a collection of archival pieces that are non-circulating and will preserve the WPA publications in their original format. The libraries are also acquiring extra copies for use by researchers. Currently, UK's collection has over 2,000 items published by the Works Progress Administration.
Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection, PA64M1 Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries
The collection consists of 5,699 black and white photographic prints. These images document the accomplishments of the WPA within the state of Kentucky: the construction of schools, hospitals, courthouses, libraries, and municipal buildings. Many of these photographs show people enrolled in various WPA programs: pack-horse librarians, writers, musicians, teachers, artists, doctors, nurses, and women’s training centers.
Credits
Undergraduate Student Angelia Pulley curated the exhibit with the guidance of Mary McLaren, Federal Depository Collections Librarian, Jennifer Bartlett, Head of Reference Services & The Hub at W.T. Young Library, and Dr. Randolph Hollingsworth, Assistant Provost, University of Kentucky, as Faculty Sponsor for Internship. Contribution was made by Lillie Staton, Paul Laurence Dunbar High School Intern, and Ruth Bryan, Director of Archives & University Archivist, for research assistance.
