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It\u2019s been called \u2018the most noble and absurd undertaking ever attempted by any state.\u2019 During the height of the Great Depression, the U.S government hired out-of-work writers and laid-off reporters and sent them out to record the stories of all kinds of Americans. Called the Federal Writers\u2019 Project, historians have called the program a giant \u201clistening project.\u201d

While on our summer break, we\u2019re sharing the first episode of a new podcast series called The People\u2019s Recorder. Host Chris Haley sets the stage, laying out 1930s America, the New Deal, and the cultural forces that both supported and opposed the Writers\u2019 Project. The project of holding up to America raises questions: What history gets told? And who gets to tell it?\xa0

You can listen to rest of the series by searching for The People\u2019s Recorder wherever you get your podcasts. Find out more at peoplesrecorder.info\xa0

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Guests:

Scott Borchert, author

David Bradley, novelist

Dr. Douglas Brinkley, historian

Dr. Tameka Hobbs, historian

David Kipen, author

Dena Epstein, daughter of Hilda Polacheck

Studs Terkel, oral historian

Links and Resources:

American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project

Born to Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project

Author Scott Borchert on the Federal Writers' Project and the WPA guidebooks

Article on Library on Congress symposium on The Millions

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Further Reading

Soul of a People by David A. Taylor

Republic of Detours by Scott Borchert

California in the 1930s by David Kipen

First Person America by Ann Banks

Henry Alsberg by Susan DeMasi

Long Past Slavery by Catherine A. Stewart

Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

Hard Times by Studs Terkel