Federal Writers' Projects
1734 Pew York Avenue, N. W.
Washing-ton, I>. C.
3-vO^/gP. hk) VA> V
WRITERS' FRCJECTS OF THE WORKS PROGRESS ADM IHI STRATI 01!
The American Guide
The chief undertaking; before the Writers' Division, Profes¬
sional and Service Projects Section of the Works Progress Administration,
is the preparation of an encyclopedic publication entitled, "The American
Guide". This Guide, which will he vastly more elaborate and detailed than
any guide hitherto published by a firm or city, will occupy five volumes
■ of 600 pages each.
ITo section of the United States will be neglected by the Guide.
The writers, covering the country under the supervision of State Directors,
will submit their collected data to central offices, where the articles
will be checked and edited. Afterwards, they will be sent to the State
headquarters for assembly and completion. This project will take about
.4,500 writers from the relief rolls.
Accuracy Featured
The writers will prepare their articles as painstakingly and as
accurately as they would if they were writing their own books over their
own signatures. Through the help of educational and commercial leaders in
each city, the articles will bo carefully checked, afterwards going to
stato and national editors who will reduce them to proportions allowable
in the final make-up of the publication.
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Contents of The Guide
Naturally some communities or sections of the country are
richer than others in scenic, historic, commercial or other resources;
"but such subjects of interest as are present in each community will be
studied and discussed in the reports and all matter which the editors
consider general in interest and value will be retained in the final
version.
Among the subjects to be investigated by The Guide workers
are:
General topography
Flora and fauna
Historical settings and backgrounds
Indian tribes and reservations
Archeological remains
Parks, national, state and city
Army and Navy Posts, armories, etc.
Monuments and landmarks
^-Literature, art, music, drama
Libraries and museums
Educational facilities
Societies and associations
Neighborhood architecture—government buildings,
churches, hotels, houses
Ethnography — races represented
Folk customs and folklore
Highways and by-ways for autoists or hikers
Manufacturing and industries
Power available - water and electric, nearness
of coal .mines
Products — exports and imports
Market proximity
Transportation — railroads, waterways, bus and
air lines
Natural resources, developed and undeveloped
Material for Local Guides
The workers will do more than prepare articles for The
American Guide. Original reports, naps and illustrations will be left
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with each city, county and state for use in preparing local guides.
The local guides will supply a need that has not been adequately net
by existing compilations eren in the older communities, where much has
been done to interest outsiders in scenic wonders and historic sights.
All materials, filed for the preparation of local guides, will bear the
stamp of authenticity placed on them by Federal experts. Their descrip¬
tions,, as well as the less elaborate ones in The American Guide, will
tell not only of well recognized matters, but will also frequently revive
the memory of others which have been forgotten, or whose importance to
outsiders is unappreciated by those to whom they have become commonplace.
Even such cities as New York and Washington possess no thorough guides.
Lest We Forget
In the process of gathering information for The American Guide
many odd facts will undoubtedly be discovered. An example of this arose
a few years ago, when the agent of a chamber of commerce noted that the
stone on the grave of Thomas Jefferson, at Monticello, Virginia, was not
the one originally erected. He was informed that a committee of residents
of Jefferson, Missouri, had purchased the original in 1841, while attending
a celebration at Monticello. Inquiries in Jefferson showed that everybody
had forgotten the whereabouts of the monument. It was only after days of
persistent search that the old stone was located and a fitting memorial
erected around it.
Not only monuments are lost sight of as the old-timers disappear.
Research for The Guide will bring to light valuable manuscripts in foreign
languages pertaining to early Spanish, French or other settlements and
these will be translated and made available to the public.
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"Seeing America First"
The unsettled conditions in many foreign parts of the world,
and the expense of travel abroad have turned the attention of Americans
to their own land as never before. The American Guide will enable the
sightseer, whether bent on a day's excursion or an extended tour, to find
fresh scenes to entertain him and to promote his knowledge of America as
a whole.
Unchartered Seas
Scattered through the United States are hundreds of communities
with distinctive cultural, historic or economic traditions, known only to
a handful of people. Tourists miss them because they have no means of
learning that they exist or where they are.
An interesting illustration is presented by the village of Cape
May, New Jersey, for years a leading center in the manufacture of gilt-
edged fanily albums. Except for the stamping factory, which supplies the
gold leaf, all the stamping work is performed by hand^ The natives are
said to be as expert as Chinese in the manipulation of chop-sticks, as
those are used to nick up the gold leaf and place it »n the edges of the
pages prior to the pounding operation which completes the gilding process.
In the West Virginia mountains, is a unique colony inhabited
almost exclusively by descendants of h party of Swiss peasants. The orig¬
inal immigrants were skilled in the manufacture of Swiss cheese and their
modern descendants carry on the cheese production in accordance with the
methods which they brought with them to the new world.
Another social "packet" is a fishing village on the coast of
New Hampshire, The fishermen there have been so completely isolated from
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xternal influences for generations that they apeak Seventeenth Century
Inglish. A comparable locality occurs in Montana. The original settlers
^ere French Canadians who fled from Saskatchewan to the United States
ifter an uprising against their British conquerors. Here they intermarried
with the Indians. Although they have been given opportunities to learn
Snglish, they still speak Eighteenth Century French. Many people from
nearby towns visit them every- Christmas to observe their festivities.
Other unusual settlements may be ferreted out in the mountains of Kentucky
and on islands off the coast of the Carclinas.
The American Guide will also contain descriptions of sections
of the United States that remain primitive wildernesses. One of these
areas is in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which stretches from
eastern Tennessee into western North Carolina. Most of the wilderness
section lacks roads and even trails. Six lofty peaks tower above the
surrounding country and form the highest mountain group east of the
Mississippi River. The tourist would have to go to northern Canada to
find another region like it.
Innumerable cases could be cited of fascinating spots in
various states that are less inaccessible to local people than Great Smoky
Mountains National Park and yet are not widely known. Few residents of
the region around New York City, for instance, realize that within easy
distance is a remarkable pond which hikers on the Cannonball Trail cross
on foot. Here, an odd species of water plant has grown so thickly that
it forms an almost solid mass of spongy moss above the surface of the water.
Colorful festivals are held yearly in several parts of the
country. Many tourists have not seen them. Examples are: The Portland,
Oregon, rose festival; the New Orleans, Louisiana, Mardi Gras; the Santa
Fe, New Mexico, fiesta; the Banh Music Festival at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
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and the Indian ceremonial dances.
Since 192", Miami, Florida, has been celebrating Easter with an
impressive interdenominational ceremony. Before dawn, often as many as
50,000 persons from the city and nearby towns assemble on the beach. Bands
and choirs are grouped at one side. A giant cross, in the shallow water,
can be seen dimly. Just as the sun appears behind the cross, the massed
bands begin to play, the choirs burst into song and the crowrd joins in the
words.
Examples of localities with peculiar flavors of their own are:
Woodstock, Hew York; provincetown, Massachusetts; andCarmel, California.
The influence of these centers through artists, playwrights and writers
upon temporary American culture has been marked.
The bearing of racial groups on the life and customs of different
communities will be traced in the Guide articles. Information will be
provided on hunting and fishing. Biographical sketches will recall prominent
persons, some now quite forgotten by the communities which they helped to
found. Unique library and museum items will be listed. Attention vrill be
directed to houses, churches and other public buildings where distinctive
architectural and art work may be studied. Experimental theaters and
schools will be pointed out and all manner cf historical landmarks, local
and national parks, mineral springs, geological wonders, irrigation pro¬
jects, low-cost housing developments and model factories will bo described,
Natural history illustrations, such as colonies of bravom an! y~airie
dogs, will be indicated on the maps to enable tourists and hikers to find
than.
Reference Book for Everybody
It is evident from the foregoing analysis-of subject matter
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iow far The American Guide will go beyond merely furnishing information
or tourists. Many times a month, each person would welcome the oppor¬
tunity to look into some comprehensive work of ready-reference for the
iescription of a town or locality which has been mentioned in casual
conversation or which has suddenly become of importance at the office,
flow, satisfactory information might not be found anywhere. The Guide,
priced at a nominal sum and sold by the regional volume, or as a set,
will place its wide variety of information at the disposal of a multi¬
tude. With its aid, looking up the description of a city or section
will be as simple as looking for a topic in an encyclopedia. America
is said to be the only important country in the world which lacks a
substantial national guide.
Source Book for School Children
"I should like to get a set of those Guide books for my
children," said a father in talking with a Guide representative. "Both
my girl, who is in public school, and my boy, who is in college, con¬
stantly have questions on geography, history and sociology to look up
and The Guide descriptions will undoubtedly provide them with just the
information that they need. I find that it is impossible for me to
answer many of these questions and they say that it is hard for them to
discover many facts without spending on reference books a good deal of
time which they need for other branches of their home-work.
"I should also be very glad to have a chance to look up such
information for my own use. I eften feel the need of a reference work like
The Guide, when I talk with friends or with business contacts. I can very
well understand that The Guide will prove of great service both to busi¬
ness men and to persons planning tours for week-ends or vacation periods."
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Alsberg Heads Division
Mr. Henry G. Alsberg, who heads the Writer-,' Division, has a
background which qualifies him to select for The Guide matters which
will both interest and educate the readers. Por a number of years, he
served as foreign correspondent for The New York Times, The New York
World, The Nation and The New Freeman. In this capacity, he covered
nearly every country of Eurone, as well as Mexico on this side of the
Atlantic. While abroad, he was for a time secretary to the American
Ambassador to Turkey.
While director of the Province-town Theater in the Greenwich
Village section of New York City, he gained additional insight into the
type of subjects which interest the public and this also will have its
effect in lifting The Guide out of the category of mere "dry-as-dust"
informative publications. He received considerable fame for his adapta¬
tion of "Dybbuk", which proved to be one of the most successful plays of
the last decade. For a year and a half, he- has been supervisor of the
reports and bulletins issued by the Federal Emergency Relief Administra¬
tion.
Results Foreseen by Alsberg
In talking over results which he exnects to grow out of the
use of The Guide, Mr. Alsberg said recently:
"People do not nec-.d to motor long distances, buy steamship
tickets, or expend large sums in railroad fares to enjoy new and interest-'
ing sights, but they do need to know what to look for and where to go.
"Right in your own backyard, relatively speaking, may be the
beginning of a trail which ends on a mountain top; or, just across the
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road, nay meander a small stream which would carry your canoe through canals
and rivers to some inland sea or to the very ocean itself.
"Before we set forth on our excursion, however, we have a draw-
hack to overcome — ignorance of where the trail or waterway leads so that
we can know what to prepare for. The desired information is usually not
available. The American Guide will answer such questions for many pros¬
pective travelers by land or water,
"City-bound residents of moderate means are continually faced
with the problem of getting away from their noisy environments on holidays
and at week—ends. One cannot simply pick at random a trolley line or subway
and expect to be carried into new and pleasing scenes, dne must be guided
in choosing his line of transportation.
"We do not intend to overlook the holiday throngs which, instead
of being outward-bound from the cities, are inward-bound from the country
districts in search of sights and pleasures. The Guide will reveal t.o the
country people the treasures of the cities. In innumerable cas.es, we be¬
lieve that residents of communities themselves will be made more conscious
of the beauties and resources of their own localities through The Guide.
"In the depression yeans, this country, like many others, has
been a tremendous growth in the organization of hiking and nature-trail
clubs. In many instances, they have been sponsored by schools, museums,
newspaper feature departments, and such bodies as the Appalachian Trail
Conference. Others have been formed about some leader who has made a fad
of nature study, or perhaps about a retired professor of botany or geology.
Reference to these organizations will appear in The Guide as well as much
information to help the members in planning their excursions.
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"Of course, we shall not neglect the traveler of means. Abundant
information for motorists, as well as travelers by rail or air, will be inclu-
ded, giving the best routes of travel and telling of places worth seeing both
along the popular highways and the roads which lead off from the beaten track,"
Guide Will Aid Business
The stimulation which will be given the "See America First" move¬
ment through the publication of The American Guide and the local guides
will have a favorable influence everywhere. Through the use of the guides,
people will find new centers of interest in their towns and vicinities which
they will want to visit for their own amusement and instruction or for the
entertainment of guests, Americans are famous for their love of novelties
*
and The Guide will outline tours of scenic and historic sights which will
make access to communities easy and pleasurable for strangers. This does
not mean that The Guide will in any way interfere with private publications.
Cn the contrary, by revealing the interesting sights to be encountered
along the highways and by-ways of the land, it should augment the use of the
private publications.
The nation-wide quickening of interest in the sights and ad¬
vantages which America has to offer Americans will develop traffic most
noticeably in many sections now unappreciated, directing into their restaur¬
ants, hotels, boarding houses and commercial establishments transient cus¬
tomers from many other cities and states.
The increased acquaintance with America by Americans, it is ex¬
pected, will go much further than merely increasing the temporary satisfac¬
tion of vacation-making. Families will wish to relocate amid new scenes
where they will have pleasanter surroundings, or better educational advan¬
tages for their children, or where they can find more congenial forms of em¬
ployment or outlets for their business enterprise.
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Helps for Foreign Visitors
According to a report recently published, the number of Europeans
raveling in America is rapidly increasing. Descriptions in The Guide will
ive foreign sightseers new and stronger reasons for coming here. With
heir present limited facilities for obtaining knowledge of this country,
ost foreigners arrive with very limited conceptions of what they want to
ee and where they want to go. Of course, all desire to visit New York City
.nd Washington, D. C.; they have all heard of Niagara Falls, the steel mills
f Pittsburgh, the stockyards of Chicago and the automobile plants of Detroit,
'nfortunately, the belief is current in some places abroad that the red-skins
■till haunt the primeval forests supposed to begin just north of Yonkers, and
hat the traveler in America is constantly exposed to the danger of being
scalped.
Every community of the United States desires to assure foreigners
;hat.it is competent to protect visitors as well as to show them sights to
Interest and edify them. The Guide will unquestionably give smaller commu-
lities the best opportunity which they have ever had to gain the attention
of foreigners as well as of native Americans.
The Guide as Period History
From the point of view of the student of history, The American
Guide will be an epochal publication. The nations of old made the first
essays in government-sponsored history writing. The inscriptions which
they had cut on columns, pyramids, arches and the walls and sides of public
buildings survive to give us many facts of antiquity which would have been
buried in the rubbish of fallen cities, if their permanent recording had
been left to private initiative. In The Guide, the Government will have
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repared a period history of America and tne American people which will far
ranscend in its variety of topics and accuracy of reporting the engraved
ecords left by ancient races. Historians, generations hence, will look
pon The American Guide as a mine of information from which to reconstruct
he past and it will always, while civilization lasts, serve to assert and
stablish countless details which form the background of Twentieth Century
culture.
Conservation Stimulated
The insuiration which localities will derive from having their
notable features presented to the world through an authentic publication
of the Government is expected to advance the efforts, now more or less
sporadic, to preserve national literary and historic shrines, to exploit
scenic wonders and to develop natural advantages such as mines and quarries.
It is axiomatic that people often underrate their advantages and possessions
until outsiders begin to take an interest in them, and the nation-wide dis¬
cussion of the treasures and natural resources of the communities will
reawaken, or perhaps awaken for the first time, in them a sense of local
pride of possession. When we read the reports of archeologists and learn
how the tombs of the ancients have been invaded and spoiled by the peoule
living about them, we are wont to condemn the vandals as lacking all sense
of responsibility as custodians of their racial heritages. But many
American communities are now making little effort to preserve historic
landmarks and literary shrines or to prevent relics of the past from crumbl¬
ing into dust. If The Guide helps to check this waste of relics and neglect
of historic buildings and scenes, its cultural influence will be immeasurable.
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Books with Local Settings
One feature of The American Guide will appeal alike to readers
and to students local history. It is not generally realized how many
parts of the country have "been used as settings for literary works. From
childhood, most of us have "been familiar with such books as Washington
Irving's "Sketchbook" and with James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking
Tales", which have thrown a romantic glamor about many natural features of
New York State, such as the Cat skill Mountains and the Mohawk Trail. The
research workers of The Guide will seek out all literary works with Local
settings and list them with the articles describing the sections which
they have more or less immortalized.
Other Writers' Projects
In addition to preparing The American Guide, the workers of the
Writers' Division will draft semi-monthly field reports on Works Progress
Administration activities. These reports will be used as the basis of a
general report which will be made to President Roosevelt on all undertakings
of the relief program. The writers will also compile an encyclopedia of
government functions and engage in a number of ether research projects.