WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION ILLINOIS WOMEN AND PROFESSIONAL DIVISION NARRATIVE REPORT. JULY 1935 TO APRIL [936 Uooumsnta Smm (J,s . ewot H s agency :;ork projects trO&fOn,. LC en's & ht/ pr° fcsc /cy*a d'Sr/ • J Aar/&6/>* re.pott/0T. S.T. V TOT. S.T. VI TOT. S.T. VII TOT. 3 3 EPICAL 47 23 277 19 6 372 . Becode City Ord. Clerical Assistance Index Special Asses. Index Estate Index Birth, Marriage General 27 3 3 2 4 3 MFOBTEE MAKING 2q 112 l4l MMODITY SUHPLUS DIST. 14 1 15 8 9 19 66 IMMUNITY CENTEES 230 803 20 1053 NSTEUCTION S3 126 23 27 239 ama, MUSIC, WHITING Drama 15 15 Music 7 4 4 29 44 Writing 10 25 11 46 UCATION 84 38 1033 102 20 42 U7 1466 Adult 69 56 10 25 4o Nurserv Schools L5 32 10 17 7 ELD MUSEUM 99 99 NDICEAFT 7 8 ALTH - General 3 306 169 34 12 49 573 ALTH - Trachoma Clinics 23 28 USEHOLD - Domestic Aides 11 735 96 346 1238 Homemaking 39 39 Domestic Trainin e 10 2 59 71 BRaEY - Clerical 6 45 68 7 2 128 Extension Serv. 19 19 Book Binding 16 2 11 15 4 48 'CLEAT i ON lis 173 1153 1.3H 60 168 83 1399 novating 27 ■ 55 82 SEAECH & SURVEY 24 102 25 33 8 192 Tax Survey 17 WING 1091 652 2002 94s L355 1003 1978 9529 ft^EY dc STATISTICAL _ 45 17 62 GpaND TOTAL 1324 I3I0 5383 2106 2200 1502 2624 17,455 ( I I ■; TRj In he! da; la; by An foj CO) an< 8ti dii 1 I JS ■ , / ' RECREATION DIVISION TRAINING INSTITUTES & CONFERENCES In each of the seven districts, conferences and institutes have been, and will continue to be held weekly on each local project* Every ten days to two weeks, a county-wide institute, lasting from a half day to a day is conducted by project supervisors for project workers. {Area-wide meetings are being held semi-monthly for project supervisors. District-wide two-day conferences have been held for project supervisors and all workers in the professional and technical skilled and intermediate classifications. The state office has held two meetings with the seven district supervisors in a group. District supervisors attended the National Recreation Congress last fall. District Supervisors will attend a Mid-West Recreation Convention at Springfield April 17, 18, and 19. There has been constant and repeated consultation and visitation from the state office. Bulletin service has been developed in the state office and recreation bulletins are sent regularly to all project workers on such subjects as "organization" "promotion" "rules" "techniques" and "under-lying principles of various activities, including: physical activities social activities, special holiday celebrations, etc.. ACTIVITIES - PROGRAM CONTENT In Illinois, when the program was originally set up, projects were written to include Physical, Social, Craft, Music, Dramatics, Art, and special activities. However, before the program could begin, orders from Washington forced us to eliminate from our project proposal descriptions any mention of Music, Dramatics, Art, or Craft. As a result we were forced to proceed with physical activities which are now far advanced over^ Music, Art, Craft, or Dramatic phases of the program. However, these other activities are being developed in many places, though a bit slower because thg personnel available for such teaching, has been assigned, in most cases to Federal Project § 1. ' ■■; 1 . CO CO su tr to et . . - ' - 01 '( ■ . )e: 7 Tournaments have been organized and conducted locally, county-wide, and district-wide. It is hoped that during the summer, state-wide competition can be held in some activities. There have been some two hundred different activities •promoted and this, of course, involves participation for all age groups (both sexes), both indoor and outdoor. The long winter season with the super-abundance of ice and snow enabled us to do a tremendous amount of work with skating, tobogganing, ice hockey, snow modelling, etc.. VALUES AND PUBLIC RECEPTION OF PROGRAM Despite the attitude of a large metropolitan newspaper, the reception of the program has been a revelation. Many communities have long desired the kind of program now being developed, but were at a loss as to how to organize it. Under project leadership big strides have been made and permanent values are already apparent. Some communities who at first were hesitant regarding the program and who rejected the idea originally, are now daily requesting that a project be started in their community. Each day new requests come to the district offices. Juvenile judges, public officials, and private citizens have written letters daily praising the program and attesting to its worthwhileness, in every case assuring us that it is the one thing that the community has needed more than anything else. Individual workers on the projects have, of course, benefitted tremendously . Many will eventually enter the Recreation profession. The professional Recreation worker employed in already existing agencies is being stimulated and revitalized by the enthusiasm, new ideas, and energy injected into the program by project workers. Communities are interested because the program has been actually spread before their eyes. They have seen it function and grow. We have not tried to sell them a "theory." We have given a practical demonstration and can now say, "There it is, if you desire it in the future you must make financial provision for it." C( si !h S] bi a : c< ■ . y - ' • . - i •v ■ ' ■ . . 8 As a result, we are already receiving, from numerous communities, requests as to how to make the program permanent; what are the state laws pertaining to taxing powers of the various political subdivisions. We are asked for policies of the Recreation profession; Should the school board sponsor and finance a recreation program or should a community set up a IRecreation Board, and in either case, information is wanted as to how to proceed. We are gathering this information and acquainting the district supervisors and project directors with it, so that they can talk intelligently to people in their communities on that matter. In the larger cities, public and private agencies have ibeen forced into a closer coordination of their affairs. Cooperation long talked of is actually existing today, with the result that the entire community benefits from such coordination of activities. Before a project can be started every effort is made to secure cooperation and a definite effort is made to coordinate our program with the work done by established agencies already operating in the Recreation Field. In every case, adverse publicity in the newspapers has been the result of antagonism toward the administration, rather than any feeling that the Recreation Program is not worthwhile. District offices have reams of favorable publicity pertaining to the program in their respective districts. In the city of Rockford, the school board appropriated recently, $34,000 to building a swimming pool at the Henry Freeman School for Children — the appropriation being the direct result of a need brought to public attention by the Works Progress Administration Recreation Project. The city of Decatur had two sad experiences with the public Recreation Program and had despaired of ever having one again. However, at the present time, they have hired a man at $2700 a year salary as their contribution to our project, and the citizens are so well satisfied that once again, steps are being taken to set up a permanent program in Decatur. In numerous smaller cities where formerly Park Boards and School 3oards had operated a summer program only, they are now interested in enlarging that program to include the twleve months in the year, and this is a direct result of the Works Progress Administration Project in thoS3 communities. THE FUTURE OF THE PROGRAM IN ILLINOIS Much has been accomplished, but a tremendous task remains —■ to improve and refine — to enlarge and intensify the program content and operation. To stop the program now would be harmful in many communities. Given a chance to carry on for another eight months to a year will afford opportunity to sell the permanency of the program on a much larger scale. Lack of trained leaders has been a stumbling block from the very beginning. For that reason, every effort has been made and will continue to be made toward improving and training project personnel while in service. Summer Recreation Training Gamps are contemplated in each district and in these camps the project personnel will be given an intensive two weeks training course. Upon the termination of the training period, the camps will be used for the youngsters in the various districts. _ I ■ ■ ' , ■ pi¬ pe ac Th de th in . . Co at as pr An an On sp on re wi th ex . f: ■ . CO 9 Every effort is being made to enlarge the scope of the program of activities, but this can be done only at the rate that project personnel can be trained to organize, teach and administer new types of activity. The physical program, as already stated, is no longer a problem. The cultural aspects of the program will receive emphasis to a far greater degree and if the cooperation of the Federal Project #1 is forthcoming, that phase of the program should, before long, rival the physical program in scope. Special Holiday Celebrations, Folk Dance Festivals, Community Sings, Circuses, and Water Carnivals will receive considerable attention during the summer program, and that, together with the desire to assist in developing programs for county fairs, should do much to sell the program to the communities. Each district presents local problems regarding N.Y.A.. Any duplication on the part of N.Y.A. or W.P.A. is not a healthy condition, and effort is made constantly to restrict such duplication. The program in Illinois has, of course, many weak spots, On the other hand, much splendid work has/done — the program is so widely spread geographically, and in such a variety of types of communities that no one general pattern will suffice for all rural or for all urban areas. One thing certain — Illinois communities are more recreation conscious than ever before and we in the program have been, and will continue to be proud to carry on — proud to be part of an organization that is bringing to the people of this state an enrichment undreamed of, except in the minds of those who dwell in Utopian heights. . : , £ _ 10 WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION (ILLINOIS) RECREATION ACTIVITIES NUMBER OF NUMBER OF NUMBER OF TOTAL PARTICIPATION AVERAGE PARTICIPATION PROJECTS RELIEF NON*RELIEF IN FROGRAM PER WEEK DISTRICT OPERATING EMPLOYED EMPLOYED TO DATE AT PRESENT I 19 723 68 2,031,815 225,157 II 29 859 106 840,000 115,000 III 2 3,056 341 5,000,000 400,000 IV 18 412 44 255,147 42,524 V 9 158 17 234,861 33,551 VI 19 634 56 575,872 52,352 VII 21 230 22 328,328 21,221 TOTAL FOR STATE 117 6,072 654 9,266,023 889,805 CODEi DISTRICT I II III IV V VI VII - Rockford - Cook County - Chicago - Decatur - Harrisburg - Peoria - East St. Louis '**-?ft* ---rr. r: 5*T? • •. •■• i.. .• • i • 7 ' - ' '• •• RECREATION ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION WORKS FROGRE3S ADMINISTRATION - ILLINOIS M.G.Moon State Director W. & P. Projects. T. Rickman, Jr.Ass't. State Dir. for Recreation Ass't. Ass't. Iss't. As s't. Ass 't Ass't. Ass't Sup. Dist.Sup. Dist.Sup. Dist.Sup. Dist. Sup. Dist.Sup. Dist. Sup. District Recreation Recreation Recreation Recreation Recreation Recreation Recreation District District District District District District District # 1 # 2 # 3 # 4 # 5 # 6 # 7 comprises comprises comprises comprises comprises comprises comprises 21 counties f counties Chicago 22 counties 22 counties 23 counties 9 counties I CO * c ■ • • £ ' , - t V -• 12 EDUCATION DIVISION TYPE OF PROJECTS The following projects classified as to type are now in operation in this States A. Operating in accordance with provisions of Federal Bulletin $ 19. 1. General Education and Nursery School project sponsored by the Chicago Board of Education bearing State Serial EE3-419 with OP numbers from 65-54-4334 to 65-54-4354 inclusive. Approved under Presidential Letter # 1206. 2. General Education and Nursery School project sponsored by State Department of Public Instruction, Springfield, Illinois operating in District 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and bearing State Serial numbers E3-9998 and E3-9999 with OP numbers from 65-54-4129 to 65-54-4132 inclusive. Approved under Presidential Letts* # 1206. B. Not approved under provisions of Federal Bulletin # 19 but operating under general supervision of Education Department 1. Research Project in Education sponsored by Chicago Board of Education with University of Chicago as cooperating sponsor and bearing State Serial number E3-9993 with OP number 6554-4092 and approved under Presidential Letter $ 1195. 2. Project for preparation of relief maps sponsored by Chicago Board of Education bearing State Serial number E3-629 with OP number 65-54-2612 and approved under Presidential Letter $ 2612 3. Project for binding damaged books of public schools sponsored by the Chicago Board of Education, bearing State Serial number E3-9 with OP number 65-54-253 and approved under Presidential Letter f 441. 4. Project for Development of Colored Community on Chicago south side sponsored by the Chicago Board of Education, bearing State Serial number E3-762 with OP number 65-54-3444 and approved under Presidential Letter § 933. I -s; ■ - • i \ti rot. - > ?» ) - : 13 5. Eye testing Project for Chicago school children, sponsored by Chicago Board of Education, bearing State Serial number E3-3287 with CP number 65-54-3315 and approved under Presidential Letter $ 861 6. Project for Development of Fublic School Program of Naturalization sponsored by Chicago Board of Education, bearing State Serial number E3-483 with OP number 65-54-4265 and approved under Presidential Letter jf 1216. 7. Project to provide Leisure Time Recreation Leaders sponsored by the Chicago Board of Education, approved under Presidential Letters § 1330 and 1339 and bearing State Serial and OP numbers as follows: STATE SERIAL NUMBER OP NUMBER E3-5096 65-54-4430 E3-5097 65-54-4432 E3-5098 65-54-4429 E3-5099 65-54-4478 E3-5100 65-54-4475 E3-5101 65-54-4477 INITIATION AND OPERATION OF PROJECTS Education projects operating under the provisions of Bulletin § 19 were delayed in starting operations by various factors pertaining to approval and authorization in the Federal office. Presidential approval was secured under date of December 4, 1935, and the Treasury Authorization was received on January 3, 1936. In the meantime, the Chicago (District $3) Project was started into operation under Recreation Project § 2780 on December 10, 1935 and was carried on this project up to approximately February 1, 1S36, at which time it was transferred to the regular Education Project for Chicago. For District outside of Chicago No. 1 was the first to start operation, the first assignments being made about January 20, 1936. The last start was District No. 5 which got under way during the week ending March 1936. District in all cases were delayed in starting Educational projects because of time required in Districts to complete arrangements for transfer of allotments of funds. During the period from January 20, 1936 to March 31, 1936, all districts have been building up the number of personnel on the project. This has been accomplished by the assignment of persons not previously assigned and by the transfer of teachers and others qualified to teach from various other type3 of projects. ■HH I 14 Of the other projects not organized under Bulletin § 19 but supervised by the Education Department the Book Binding Project § 248 was initiated about October 28, 1935. Others in this group have been started at varying intervals since that date. SUPERVISION OF PROJECTS Administrative details on Education projects are handled in the seven W.P.A. District of the State by the following Assistant Supervisors of W. & P. Projects in charge of Education: District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7 Harold P. Lucy Mrs. Mamie Newfield Norman A. Hedenberg Watson B. Dickerman Raymond A. Leydig Vincent E. Freehill Harold Wolfe A staff of State Consultants or Supervisors is provided for the supervision of the state-wide General Education and Nursery School Education Projects. These are: 1. Joseph L. Thalman 2. Joseph Suter 3. Mrs. Nellie B. Bails 4. Fred S. Ladd 5. B.F. Holscher 6. Gordon E. Cook 7. Miss Anna Marian Williams- 8. Miss Jean M. Hess Chief State Consultant Assistant State Consultant for Vocational Training Assistant State Consultant for Citizenship and Naturalization Training Assistant State Consultant for General Adult Education Assistant State Consultant for General State Consultant Assistant State Consultant for Literacy Assistant State Consultant for Parent Education Assistant State Consultant for Nursery Schools The headquarters of this staff is in the office of the itate Superintendent of Public Instruction at Springfield. Local supervision •s provided also by local Project Superintendents and agents of local sponsors isually the Superintendents of Schools for the county or city. I tfii J- .;Si/C ' J : ; 5*3 . . ' » .1 ■ . i :i . . cc . HYPE OF WORK A. Frojects operating under provisions of Federal Bulletin $ 19 Under the Board of Education Froject for Chicago and the State Department of Public Instruction for districts outside of Chicago the same type of work is being done in all the major fields of the forks Progress Administration Education Program a3 outlined in Bulletin § 19. This includes work in Literacy, Vocational Training, Parent Education, General Adult Education, •forkers' Education, Junior Colleges and Nursery School Education. Important emphasis is given to Literacy Training, Parent Education, Nursery School Education and Occupations classes operated in conjunction with the National Youth Administra¬ tion under Vocational Training. B. Frojects not operating under provisions of Federal Bulletin $ 19. 1. Project § E3-9993 - Research in Preparation of Course and Lesson Materials in Adult Education This project is collecting and preparing materials for the use in Works Progress Administration classes. Lesson materials worked out under FERA for Adult Learners with accompanying Manual for teachers has been revised and production is under way on 4,000 copies. Work is under way on lessons to form a series on Health, Parent Education, Citizenship and Naturalization. 2.Project $ E3-3287 - Eye testing for public school children - forty-two testers have tested the eyes of 60,000 school children to date. 3.Project $ E3-9 - Bookbinding and repair of damaged books - Workers on this project up to the end of March have rebound and repaired a total of 400,000 books. 125,000 books have been inspected and 235,000 returned to publishers for 20% credit on purchase of new books. 4.Project § E3-762 - Community development in colored communities of Chicago - Under this project classes are conducted on the arts and crafts, cooking, sewing, housekeeping, health and sanitation, shoe repairing and recreation. Approximately 4,000 Boys and Girls and 2,000 Adults are in attendance weekly in 195 separate gpups assembled in public buildings, stores and private residences in the colored communities. 5.Project $E3-483 - Development of Naturalization Program of Chicago Public Schools - those employed on this program make personal contact .91 ait el ■ a mi itikltiso si.- fflBigoi1* ' i aoi?l i-u ?f!.' j ion atoe(o"ri . 91 n r ; u t , : - . -il. 1.. ' oil «I s 1*3.**r3J; ii£ * r - t io-Ll :> : ,• ■' ir eb T ■ ... ■ .bAOQ' 0-. o' - with aliens, most of whom have been rejected by the Naturalization Bureau because of the lack of knowledge of English and of our Government and enroll them in classes under public school supervision in which they are trained for Citizenship. To date 7,739 persons have been so serviced. 6.Project $ E3-5G96 to 5101 - Leisure Time Recreation Leaders. These projects while set up under six separate units are operating as one from a central executive office, the units embracing schools in six established districts throughout the city. Those employed on these projects servd as safety guards and play supervisors before and after school hours in the protection of life and property on and adjoining some 175 public school playgrounds and other vacant properties where children congregate for group recreation. 7.Project E3-629 - Preparation of Relief Maps. This project has in process a relief map of the City of Chicago showing all waterways principal bridges, parks, streets and buildings, both public and private in outline and relief; and a similar map of the State of Illinois showing physical features, highways, rivers, roads and all cities and towns. CURRENT STATISTICAL REPORTS The following tables give current statistics on projects now in operation. 1. Projects operating under provisions of Bulletin $ 19. Field of Education Number of Teachers Number of Supervisors Number of Classes Number of Enrollees General Adult Ed. 521 64 1,932 25,498 Parent Education 112 7 352 5,561 Vocational Training 251 9 621 9,431 Workers* Education 24 1 120 2,100 Literacy Education 262 8 724 9,757 Freshman Colleges 11 4 centers 111 Nursery Schools 185 6 76 units 2084 TOTALS 1,366 95 3,829 54,542 rs - • • ;0. . j Froject no. Name of Supervisor Specialist Other TOTAL State Serial Froject Workers Workers Types WPA WORKERS 1 CO & Bookbinding 3 65 31 99 13-629 Relief Maps 4 35 1 40 E3-762 Community Development 16 109 18 143 E3-3287 Eye Testing 3 236 100 339 E3-483 Naturalization Program 1 35 1 37 E3-S993 Research - Adult 1 Education Materials 5 3 9 E3-5096-5101 Leisure Time Recreation Leaders 21 52 3,205 3,278 TOTALS 49 537 3,359 3,945 . - 0 19 EDUCATIONAL DIVISION Citizenship class studying reading and .vriting - Hull House 800 S. Halsted Street Puppet and Marionette Ihow being put on at Bull House Lip reading class being instructed by teacher at Goodwill Industries - 1841 ?1. Congress Street Industries Group making braided rugs from rags at Goodwill Women patients jir/eaving baskets md making rugs jnder Occupational Therapy. View of boy patient studying astronomy by using an umbrella. The teacher made a diagram on the inside of the umbrella showing stars and constel aticns. (This boy ha3 tuberculosis of the spine.) S'.- View of pott6 class at jvorli Hull House View of chess set made of clay in pottery class 23 STATISTICAL DIVISION ter rk The State office staff of this department consists of Assistant Director and his Assistant and Secretary. In the districts we work through the W. & P. Supervisor and generally with some Assistant of hers, a project technician, charged with the responsibility of servicing statistical projects. Our responsibilities are outlined in general in Section 2 of Federal Bulletin § 17, issued July 17, 1935. In Illinois, these duties have come to entail approximately the foil owing 1. To encourage and help in the submission of sound research projects. 2. To help in getting these projects into operation. 13. To offer technical suggestions and take responsibility for reporting to the head of the . & P. Division-the State office and in the districts, the cases of projects which are not technically sound. Responsibility for changes made in the operation of projects lie with the district. 4. Avoid duplication of work among research projects. Recently, this Department was charged with the responsibility of making or directing necessary contacts between Supervisors of Federal Research Projects and the W.P.A. State and district offices. Because these projects generally have the supervision of some cooperating Federal Agency and are national in scope, thus allowing for more trained supervision than is generally available to State projects, I am of the opinion that these Federal Survey Projects will grow more in importance as this Program progresses. Because the present routine (as outlined by their head offices, usually in Washington) which is followed in making contacts with the W.P.A. Organization is so meager, persons in charge of these projects are characteristically "lost" when contacting the W.P.A.. For these reasons because the projects have such promising futures and because the development of a routine for fitting them into the W.P.A. Program is undeveloped at the present time, I feel that this side of our work will increase in importance; we will have no responsibility regarding the technical operation of these projects but avoiding duplication of these projects with local and state projects will be our responsibility. It should be expected that this problem will become important, not only from a technical standpoint but also from a diplomatic standpoint, since objections will undoubtedly be raised following any suggestions to terminate or limit local ' ' * i- U 6. * BOOK BINDING PROJECTS Standing high for training qualities are our book-binding projects. As one elderly lady said to the writer, "I wish I had learned this twenty years ago and I would never have had to go on relief.'1 The libraries in most cases BLaiil ha'v u Books on display in Champaign Public Library showing "before" and "after" repairing have purchased the binding iterials from their own "funds. If they buy their materials from Gaylords Brothers Inc., the company sends out a representative who thoroughly instructs the workers. The projects employ from ten to thirty workers. The supervisor checks the books, measures out materials and instructs the workers. One or two girls "tear" the books, one drills holes, and sews the books, the remaining workers paste on new cardboard covers, rebind them and place in pressing machines and the last worker titles the books with an electric styllus and pastes in the pockets. tomen repairing books and magazines at library. Women without experience in this work are making excellent progress. * . v *tr. [i * ' J" ;.v Exhibit of books which have been repaired by WFA workers Urbana, Illinois This last job is difficult but the workers have learned it on the project and are doing excellent work. Large libraries use workers to read shelves, index and catalog books. The two libraries in lhampaign and Urbana have had four thousand books rebound, many of which would have gone out of circulation permanently. The libraries are saving from three hundred to four hundred dollars per year as their books cost them only 7-g£ each to rebind. "This figure does not include labor costs of project.) The book shelves appear to be covered with loads of new books in their bright red, green, blue, brown and black jackets. Women cataloging books and filing records at Rockford Public Library. Winnebago County " ■ 27 BRAILLE TRANSCRIPTION PROJECT In Chicago there is a city within a city — a colony of blind people who live in a few square blocks around the Industrial School for the Blind. And Chicago, one of the largest piano manufacturing cities, looks to this group for the bulk of its piano tuning work. Therefore, their need for piano tuning instruction books is very great but nationally the demand does not warrant the government's printing these books. So once again flf.P.A. funds have bridged the gap between dependency and self-support for a group of people. On November 5, 1936 five blind workers were assigned to the work of transcribing these instruction books from American to Standard English Braille, adopted in 1932 by all English speaking countries. The first knowledge we have of Braille is the use of the Dot system as a code by Mr. Barbier of the French Intelligence Service in 1820. He also invented a slate which is still used by the blind for writing and is now known as the Braille slate. This system of communication was never made public until Lewis Braille, a student at the Institute Nationalle in Paris, used it for mting music. It was first used by the Institute for literary purposes in 1860. During this period Braille was also adopted by English, German and other continental nations. A Mr. Smith, an instructor at the Massachusetts School for the Blind, invented the American Braille. Simultaneously an entirely different system — the Point System — was started by Mr. Waite, Superintendent of the New York School for the Blind. From 1860 until 1917 there was constant warfare between the supporters of the American Braille and the New York Point System. At that time a modified form of the American Braille was adopted in America. This form still did not agree with the Standard English system; and in 1932 all English speaking countries finally adopted what is known as the Standard English Braille. Everything that English speaking blind people use is now being translated into Standard Braille. To return to the W.P.A. project, this small group of workers has completed twenty-five technical volumes on piano tuning and subjects relative thereto — such as accoustics. (They use the Braille f/riter for their work. This machine was invented by Frank Hall, Superintendent of the School for the Blind at Jacksonville, Illinois in 1890. Braille Writers are manufactured and sold at cost to blind users by the National Association for the Blind.) The transcribed sheets are shellacked on the back by a sighted clerk so that they can be used indefinitely without wearing down the Braille. Norman Robinson, one of the workers on the Chicago Project, who has learned to read and write the Standard Braille since being assigned, is studying law but he is unable to find enough text bocks in Braille to complete his work. There are many scientific and professional books which are net printed in Braille by the government because the demand is too small. From personal observation and from talking with Mr. Menke (Supervisor of this project and author of many of the books) it is easy to see the great need for such projects in all parts of the country. The value of the work is obvious as many blind persons could be trained to become self-supporting instead of being forced into idleness, dependence or into the acceptance of blind pensions. . . I o ! 'io .< . j o»?i e iiml , ar.iJ' nJt - .Od X : j «dilXAl .... . Ho "tlarii no. . eXIisTci ni bjSooo rfeuoaa bail o& etdjtmi ax an tuo si ,; vi^feijj8 ai ' .*■ I • -. •' .' • > 0 i ■ ' BRAILLE TRANSCRIPTION 29 CONVALESCENT HOME FOR .YQMEN Project 3375 District III CHICAGO The Convalescent Home project was opened on February 17, 1936. The project was written up to care for three hundred women patients. However, the buildings originally planned to house the project had been taken over by the NYA Resident School for Girls in October, and only one small building was available at the time the project was approved. This unit could accommodate only twenty-seven patients, but because of the great need for this type of care for relief clients in Cook County, the sponsor was extremely eager to make this small beginning, subject to expansion on April 3, when the NYA School closed. The staff consists of two physicians, one head nurse, four supervising nurses, one for each six-hour shift, other nurses, attendants, maid3, laundresses, etc.. The necessity for giving twenty-four hour service seven days a week, made it necessary to work out a very flexible timekeeping schedule. This presented many difficulties at first, but none were unsurmountable, and all have now been ironed out. Curtains for the rooms, and uniforms for the attendants were supplied by the Sewing Project. Hospital beds, bedding, furniture and medical supplies were contributed by the sponsor. A very pleasant working relationship was established with the NYA School whereby all the cooking during this early period was done in the school kitchen, except for special diets, which were prepared in the diet kitchen in our own unit. Since the type of medical care to be given must be restricted, of necessity, to purely convalescent cases, it is usually necessary for the doctor to see each person in the hospital or the home before admission, as the Home cannot take responsibility for cases serious enough to warrant hospital care. The following cases present a picture of the type of medical and social problems now being cared for at the Convalescent Homes Mary X - (16 years of age (Referred by Fresbyterian Hospital after a six weeks period of hospital care (Diagnosis: Rheumatic fever with heart involvement. (Recommendations by the hospital included partial bed rest, medication, good wholesome food, and a pleasant, restful environment. The patient is one of six children of a relief family living in five small rooms. The home was found to be entirely inadequate for proper convalescence. The Convalescent Home for Women was approved as a suitable placement for this patient. The medical treatment includes daily supervision of diet, rest, medication, and occupational therapy. The girl is very happy and progressing rapidly toward recovery. . . . . ojs (8i-a8»ni)f0jeX tOibi . . ■ 30 Mrs. S - (35 years of age (Referred by Lying-in Hospital (Diagnosis: Anxiety neurosis; surgical menopause; extreme malnutrition; secondary anemia. (Recommendations by hospital included psycho-therapy, rest, medication and special diet. Mrs. 5 was admitted to the Convalescent Home for Women in a highly nervous state and suffering from extreme weakness. The report from the relief office indicated a great deal of domestic difficulty due to the physical and mental abuse of the patient by her husband. He was reported to be a habitual drunkard and entirely irresponsible. The home consisted of Mr. and Mrs. S., Mr. S's mother and sister; because of the constant conflict, a social plan was evolved with the recommendations that a separate home be established for Mr. and Mrs. S. During Mrs. S's stay in the convalescent home, the social agency hoped to carry out these recommendations. Along with the regular medical supervision, Mrs. S. is receiving occupational therapy which would be stimulating but not tiring. The doctor reports her condition greatly improved. She is gaining weight and seem3 much more relaxed. ************************ ******** ************************************ Mrs. C - (60 years of age (Referred by Grant Hospital after a period of seven weeks hospital care. ! (Diagnosis: Fracture of hip (Recommendations: Rest and medical supervision Mrs. C is a single woman on relief who, up to the time of her injury, was living alone in a basement room. She had managed to care for herself, and her living arrangements were adequate. Due to the injury it would not have been possible for her to return to her own room as she needed someone to prepare her seals and help her get about. It was therefore recommended that she be placed in the Convalescent Home for Women, where she is receiving care and treatment. ************* *********. ********************************** ********** Due to the splendid cooperation among the medical, nursing and administrative staffs, the Convalescent Home has an atmosphere of •quiet and serenity, which is essential in any plan for the convalescent. There are twenty patients being cared for at the present time, and others waiting for idmission. The Sponsor's representatives, Mrs. Lucille Smith and Mrs. Rose Kobak of the Medical Relief Service of the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission have given unsparingly of their time and experience to the sound organization of the project. As the project continues its successful operation, We believe we shall be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this service i3 of inestimable value to the community to the end that it may be taken over by some established agency on a permanent basis. ■H . ,1 . ■..''Si .91ll ' . >1 ' ' - ■ ■ 111 tt >i ;K •; . a i . . a. • i a : >£> . ,j . - . oi< , i I 32 DOMESTIC TRAINING COURSES This we feel is one of the most important phases of the Women's Work Program because there is a large labor market demand for well-trained household workers. The projects are sponsored by the Illinois State Employment Service. Trained Home Economic teachers are in charge of the classes. A complete outline of courses of instruction has been prepared by the Illinois University Extension Service and includes the following subjects! Foods and cookery (Meal planning, table serving and care of foods,) Care of the House (dishwashing, bedmaking, dusting, care of furniture, and laundering,) the Person and the Job, Child Care, Marketing, First Aid, and the use of electrical Equipment. Classes usually contain from ten to sixteen girls and the courses last seven weeks. Referrals for classes are made by the Illinois State Employment Service and are not limited to members of relief families. The community interest is reported to be very high throughout the state and the teachers and girls are working far over-time because of their interest in the work. District I reports that so many requests from private homes have already been received that undoubtedly all the girls will be placed immediately upon completion of the course. There are one hundred and twenty-one women now employed as teachers and clerical workers which means that approximately eighteen hundred girls are being trained to handle responsible positions in private homes. These figures will be doubled as soon as possible. t ' . ft 33 EXCERPT FROM ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 1935 Through the efforts of the many relief workers the Museum has made great gains in the completion of important cataloguing and recording tasks, sorting and preparation of specimens, repairing of specimens, issuance of publications, indexing, typing and general clerical work, and other work of a routine nature. Most of this work would not have been possible of accomplishment for years to come if the regular Museum Staff had been unaided. For years it has not been possible for internal activity to keep pace with the great collections accumulated by the many expeditions which the institution had in operation during its most active period of field work, which reached its greatest expansion, after steady growth, in the period between 1925 and 1931. The relief workers have been a great boon in assisting the Staff in the vast undertaking of classifying and recording all this material, which numbers many thousands of specimens of myriad kinds, and was congesting the storage facilities of all the scientific departments. But not only have the relief workers aided in such routine tasks as those above indicated -- many have proved also to be skilled artisans, or at least to possess native ability making them susceptible of training for taks requiring meticulous skill, and under the supervision of the regular Staff they have been able to give valuable assistance in the preparation of new exhibits or accessories for exhibits. Further, a few others are men and women who have actually had scientific or other professional training and formerly held responsible positions in institutions such as universities and libraries, and some of these have been given important research tasks to work upon. Officials of the relief agencies have expressed the opinion that the Field Museum project is one of the most outstanding and satisfactory of all the projects in the national program for social rehabili¬ tation. Frequent visits of inspection were made by various officials of the forks Progress Administration. To record the activities of the f.P.A. workers assigned to the institution both motion and still pictures were made at the instance of the Federal government. While, compared to many other projects of the more usual public works character, the Museum project is on a small scale, it represents an ideal among work relief enterprises because of the wide variety of types of employment embraced, the high objectives of the work, the conditions under which it has been carried out, and the huge total of successful accomplishments it has produced. In 1935 (for details of relief work in previous years, see Annual report of the Director, 1933, p. 27 and 1934, p. 164) from the beginning of the year to about the end of April, and again from the middle of June until nearly the end of September, the Museum had workers assigned by the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission. These men and women were assigned in groups ranging from 48 to 117 in number. Their working time totaled 40,014 hours. The wages they received, paid by the state, amounted to $24,394. Beginning October 16, and continuing to the end of the year (under arrangements which are expected to continue during a considerable part of 1936) the relief workers assigned to the Museum came under the authority of the tforks Progress Administration. The number of these W.P.A. workers has ranged from 140 to 188, and their total working time to December 31 amounted to 50,239 hours, sifages paid by the Federal government, amounted during the oeriod indicated to B27.724. . ■ , , ' : ; ' . ■ - . ■ The permanent value to the Museum of the work undertaken by these forces of relief workers in the aggregate, during the year, 1935, is estimated at approximately $95,000. This estimate is based upon the value computed by the heads of each Department and Division involved, and arrived at after consideration of the production of the workers and the probable cost to the Museum of a similar quantity and character of work if it were possible and desirable to employ privately a force of workers to do it at prevailing wages. While there has been no payroll expense to the Museum as a result of this large additional personnel in its offices, laboratories, and shops, there has, naturally, been some expense to the institution to provide materials, tools, and supplies of various kinds needed in the work. This cost in 1935 amounted to upwards of $4,000. Following will be found brief summaries of the accomplish¬ ments by the relief work forces in the various Departments and Divisions of the Museum during 1935: DEFARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY. - This department had the services of five women under I.E.R.C.5 six men and four women under W.P.A.. The total number of hours worked amounted to more than 5,100. A major task undertaken was the assembling of the many parts of a great stucco gateway from ancient Kish, Iraq, to restore it for exhibition in Hall K, where a new series of exhibits is projected. This work is still under way. Other work in this Department includes the mounting of more than 300 Feruvian textiles on linen, the mounting of more than 11,000 photographs on cards or in albums, writing captions for 2,700 of the photographs, typing more than 1,200 index cards, and 750 pages of notes, manuscripts, labels and other matter; the washing of 400 pieces of pottery and of 250 bones and teeth and numbering and wrapping same; the cleaning of 475 pieces of Sasanian stucco and repairing of a number of these; a large amount of proof-reading, and much work such as cataloguing, and clerical work of a wide variety. Estimated value of the work is placed at $3,884. As a part of the art project of the .forks Progress Administration, certain important work for this institution was undertaken also outside the Museum building. This work consists of a series of sixteen enlarged reproductions in plaster of historic cylinder seals representing events from the Archaic to the Achaemenid periods in Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, and other ancient countries of the Near East area. These are joined together to form a frieze, 119 feet long and two and one-half feet wide, which will be installed on the walls of Hall K, now under preparation for archaeological exhibits. Other exhibits in this hall will be composed principally of material acquired by various Museum expeditions of recent years, especially the collections obtained by the Field Museum-Oxford University Joint Expedition to Mesopotamia (l922-32)in excavations at Kish. Value of the frieze is placed at about $15,000. DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY. - From I.E.R.C. this Department was assigned thirteen men and fifty-three women; from W.P.A. eighteen men and seventy women; time worked amounted to more than 29,300 hours. Largest activity was in the Herbarium where more than 61,000 plants were mounted, 30,000 packets for plants made, and 146 shipments of plants packed, this work occupying the time of from 30 to 36 workers. Approximately 142,! 00 index cards were written. , ' ' . . . - . . -mv' . '"it . . a .... if: • . . . 3 . • , .... - . . . , , «... 01 .... . ■ ■ . . • Bindery girls working on outgoing printed material. Aged woman in Herbarium Department. All plant life that are to be kept for years are poisoned here, then classified and treated. FIELD MUSEUM of NATURAL HISTORY ' ■ 39 THE ILLINOIS EYE & EAR. INFIRMARY The description of this project reads: "To give much needed extra help to various departments of this hospital, as all T.E.R.C. cases in need of treatment (including unemployable) are sent here for treatment and hospital¬ ization. To provide a means of training for the people classified as aides by their working with the floor nurses, cooks and laundry supervisor in order that they might be better fitted to secure positions of similar nature in private employment. To give treatment to children and adults afflicted with eye diseases such as amblyopia and strabismus." In a hospital or clinic the first concern should always be the patient and yet during the last few years the public health centers have had such a terrific load that the staff has not been able to keep this in mind. So many people had to be cared for that no one had time to stop and realize how bewildered the patient might be or to answer his many frightened questions. Wandering through the Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary and stopping every few feet to be told by our guide that this work or that person was possible because of W.P.A., the thought occured over and over again in my mind - How did they operate without this help? Well - the doctors had to call their own patients to the examining rooms, the patients had to find their own way around the hospital with their half or totally blinded eyes, hospital patients had to wait and wait for some one to find time to care for them, and cfespite the hard efforts of the staff, the patients did not have a very happy time of it. Now you see a kindly woman talking to each person, as he arrives for examination directing each one to his particular ward, registered nurses assisting the over¬ worked doctors, matrons supervising the needs of the hospital corridors, waitresses helping the children with bandaged eyes find the food on their plates and trained orthoptic clinical assistants instructing patients on their exercises with the complicated orthoptic machines. Formerly the Infirmary had been able to care for one-third as many patients in the orthoptic clinic as they can at present. Orthoptic machines are the latest improvement in correcting eye difficulties and require many weeks of treatment for each patient. As for the workers themselves, the following excellent plan has been put into effect. Four units of four women each are rotated. Each unit works in the kitchen for three months, then in the dining room for three months, in the laundry for three months and as nurses' aides for three months, thus giving them all around training in institutional work. A supervising matron is in charge and it is her job to see that the experience of these people is of real value. Once again, whether this project stops tomorrow or continues indefinitely, tf.F.A. is doing work that has future value. . . ' J ■■■ ■■ ■ 40 -m by double image type machine. Attending nurse giving instruction to the child. Group of three children now being treated for cross eye or Strabismus '*■: . . ii -3t vo 41 THE JUVENILE DETENTION HOP OF COOK COUNTY The Juvenile Detention Home of Cook County keeps busy a variety of workers, nurses, matrons, seamstresses, clerks, play leaders, nursery leaders and child specialists. The home, although a modern building, is located in a very congested area of Chicago, and is directly in back of the Juvenile Court surrounded by an atmosphere that does not permit of healthy developed children. The nurse explained in answer to our question, that the children wearing caps had "buggy heads" and we saw only three or four children without caps. The long, barren halls with heavy wooden barred doors opening on square, plain unimaginative rooms are the daily fare of these unfortunate boys and girls. The fenced yard is also a barren dirt field broken only by plain wooded portables where schoolroom classes are held. The HT.P.A. workers do a great deal to brighten the lives of the children during their short commitments 2 to 4 weeks) to the home — children who would otherwise sit in their locked rooms with folded hands. During a recent inspection we found one of the W.P.A. matrons in the boys' dormitory sitting on the floor helping and teaching the boys to repaint the furniture for their sleeping and eating quarters; a nursery leader havingtea for her small starved-looking five year olds with some broken cookies she had purchased; several girls practicing songs and making 3tage sets for their Christmas play. Flay leaders organize games in the enclosed field teaching cooperation and sportsmanship. It did seem to us, and naturally we are proud to say it, that the only cheerful spots in the otherwise depressing scene, were furnished by the workers of the forks Progress Administration, fe do rri mean to indicate that the grand staff of the Juvenile Detention Home is not conscious of the holes in its program. Naturally they are but their budget does not permit anything beyond housing needs and limited case work service. These delinquent and abandoned children of today are our criminals of tomorrow unless we can help them acquire a balanced social viewpoint and this the Federal Government through SPA is trying to do. . . , ; . 42 LIBRARY EXTENSION IN DISTRICT II During the past month the Women's Division has been opening the first of the 'Work Progress rural libraries - 18 locations have been started in rural Cook County. These are all in communities where there were no existing library facilities. In Midlothian, however, we were given a collection of books that had formerly been in the library the American Legion had operated in the village. These projects have met with community response and enthusiasm which has been extremely gratifying. In each case, the Village Board has procured space, rent free, and has made arrangements for heating and lighting. Works Progress workers assigned are, for the most part, women formerly employed on sewing projects. They are very enthused about their work and have been making curtains, oilcloth table covers and posters in an effort to make the rooms as attractive as possible. The project is supervised by three trained librarians. These persons are non-relief persons. Remainder of the personnel are from relief rolls. The regular procedures used in all libraries are being employed. All books were originally collected by the Central Deposit Station, Old Bloom Township High School, Chicago Heights. There we have built shelves for the entire collection. It is the plan to have the books which were sent to each unit brought in at the end of six weeks and transferred to another unit. Cleaning and mending will be done at Chicago Heights. The books which we are using came from three sources:- a large donation was received from the Shelter Division of the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission. These are books from the Chicago Public Library which were cleaned and rebound as part of the Occupational Therapy Program at the Ken's Shelter. The second group of books were supplied by the sponsor, The Rural Library Extension Service of the State of Illinois. The third group are books which are being purchased by the #orks Frogress Administration. Difficulties in procurement have delayed the orders of these books and they are not yet on the job. We have been especially pleased with the cooperation from the existing libraries in our district; equipment such as book cards which were not on the job when we needed them were loaned by the Public Library at Evanston in order that we might go ahead without further delay. The Oak Park Public Library is giving us books for which they do not have shelf space. These volumes are, for the most part, four or five copies of different books which have a sudden popularity because of a moving picture version. The circulation reports in the various units convince us that these libraries are comparing favorably with established institutions. This is particularly true of the Juvenile Section. We feel that if we were not doing anything else, the joy manifested by the youngsters who dash into the library after school, either to read there or take a book home, is well worth establishing the library. . ■ ,30 ■; ; ■ -j\. . it . ■ 1~ ■ < n, . <: /r. . v ■ J :i. v .fS fi ! "J ■>& tic--' (law : e» >n a© - o ■/-•-.j TRACHOMA CLINICS Trachoma is an infectious eye disease that travels throughout he country in belt areas. Illinois' area is the extreme southern tip of the itate — Johnson, Williamson, Gallatin, Union, and Saline counties. Five years igo the Illinois Society for Prevention of Blindness secured the cooperation of he State Department of Public Welfare and set up five clinics for preventive ind curative treatment which are now operating under W.P.A.. Trachoma is a serious disease of the eyelids ^hat leads to eventual blindness and spreads apidly through entire families/the area affected. Although there are only thirty - eight persons employed on these projects we consider them of great importance from the community health standpoint. it the present time. There are approximately seven thousand patients under care Treatments are given three times weekly. This treatment in general consists of a special massage and a prepared eye wash which the patient lses at home and which is supplied by the clinic free of cost. Operations are :erformed, if necessary by skilled eye doctors. Patients are brought to and rom the clinics by a bus service -operating as part of the W.P.A. project. This project like many others should be a permanent part of the state's work and some day probably will be. Until then, however, the ederal Government through W.P.A. is seeing to it that hundreds of people do not lose their sight and thus lose not only one of life's greatest gifts but self- :onfidence, independence and all hope of being self-supporting again. ' . .I. ■ . 46 VISITING HOUSEKEEPING PROJECTS Visiting Housekeeping Projects are another example of programs that are brightening up hundreds of discouraging spots throughout the state. Women who do not have a specific vocational background or training are assigned to the Visiting Housekeeping projects. The first few weeks of the assignment are taken up with classes in housework, cooking, health habits and simple sewing conducted by trained teachers. The training consists of many of the same subjects included in the Domestic Aid Program, reported last month but the immediate aim is different in this respect: Domestic Aides are young girls trained for immediate placement as domestics in private homes; Visiting Housekeepers are older women being trained for immediate placement in homes with children who are being kept from school by parental illness. A trained case worker handles the placements of the housekeepers in the homes. Homes where help is needed are reported by various agencies — VNA, Public Hospital, Mother's Pension, JSSB, Douglas Smith, CFW, U.C., The Board of Education, Infant Welfare etc.. She always tries to place a housekeeper in a home where she will have the best opportunity of fitting into the home atmosphere. Visiting Housekeepers are paid $55.00 per month W.P.A. from the time of their assignment to the project. If the housekeeper does not adjust a change is made. After the assignment brained case workers visit the homes once a week talking with the housekeeper to ascertain whether or not a friendly feeling exists and whether there is a real need for the service. The real story, however, is to be found in the homes themselves; In one home recently visited we find three small children, the oldest a girl of thirteen, who has been "mother" of the family for three years: her own mother having been committed to the Psychopathic Hospital. The home consisted of three barren unpapered rooms heated by a coal stove. The girl was too busy with school work to keep the home in a livable condition. When we knocked we found the visiting housekeeper hard at work scrubbing every inch of the floor chatting to the children in their native Polish tongue. In another home the mother of a family of five children, the oldest 16, was confined to bed with a very serious heart condition. The apartment had been in unspeakable condition, not because the oldest girl did not care about her home but because she had four small brothers and sisters to feed, send to school, her sick mother to care for and her own school work to do. The housekeeper had thoroughly cleaned the apartment, moved the mother's bed to the front windows where she could get some air and sunshine and lifted an unbearable load from the mother's and daughter's shoulders. The doctor on the case is trying to have the mother admitted to a private hospital and this will leave the children parentless but with the help of the visiting house¬ keeper the children will be fed and kept clean. Needless to say the mother will have a 100$ chance of recovery and rest knowing that her children are not suffering from lack of proper care. ' * . And briefly glancing into two other homes we find in one eight email children all under fourteen years of age with the mother too weak to be out of bed because of having given four blood transfusions to her six weeks old baby. And in the other a reunited family that had been broken up because the husband could not stand the half-hearted housekeeping of his ill wife. The organization brought by the housekeeper so thoroughly changed the atmosphere in the home that the father returned and is now taking a great deal of interest in the management of the housework and the care of the children. If only everyone could see these hundreds of homes before the advent of the' visiting housekeepers they would realize the immeasurable peace, calm and hope they have brought with them. The work they are doing now is a great deal but it is the example set for the children and the parents that will not die out with the completion of their particular assignments or the completion of the W.P.A. Program. . . . . . ' k 1o irox. »I aoc WARREN COUNTY HOSFITAL Fifteen persons in Yarren County constitute a hospital staff. To those of you who think the pioneering days are over and everything new that is to be — has been, I advise a trip to tfarren County. About four miles out of Monmouth in the 7arren County Home a wing has been converted into a hospital housing from fourteen to eighteen patients. lie do not mean to intimate by pioneering that this hospital is in tents or wooden shacks but ,iust imagine yourself converting an ordinary floor of a brick building into a hospital with nothing but labor provided you — making room numbers out of tin cans, converting a wash tub into a sterilization vat by the addition of a fitted tin cover, small sterilizers from large tin cookie cans with tight lids, raising ordinary cots to hospital height with the addition of sawed off gate posts as props, scrapping and painting white old bits of furniture, making wooden trays with diet markers, screens for the seriously ill and on ad infinitum. The patients are referred by public relief agencies, patient: that would otherwise receive very inadequate care in their homes. Serious T.B. patients are under care and are showing marked improvement, (carefully kept hospital charts tell their own story) post-operative cases, ■ 49 children recuperating from tonsilectomies (performed in an operating room about five by nine feet with a wheeling cart for an operating- table) patients with broken bones and cancer. It would cost the county $65.00 per month for each T.B. patient now cared for. The hospital staff is most anxious to secure several small cottages for their T.B.patients. The home has acres of ground that would be ideal for outdoor care of tubercular patients, and we think we're going to be able to do it. The community is extremely interested in this project and there is little doubt in our minds that this small project will some day be a county hospital supported by the community itself. 82 Note large cookie tin for sterilization of smaller articles. Outdoor porch for T.B.patients. Radiators have been installed so porch can be used twenty- four hours of the day. 51 THE SANITARY DISTRICT OF CHICAGO PROJECT #3195 INVESTIGATIONS - UTILIZATION OF SEWAGE SLUDGE - SANITARY Conditions of Channels and Illinois River W.F.A. project is operated by the Sanitary District of Chicago as a laboratory investigation of the utilization of sewage sludge, and the ash of such sludge, primarily for fertilizing purposes. The work also includes a study of any other possible uses for this material produced in the sewage treatment plants of the Sanitary District of Chicago. In addition to this work, eight laborers are used for collection of samples from the Des Flaines River and the Drainage Canal, and these samples are analyzed by chemists in the Main Laboratory. A hydraulic engineer works up records of 3tream flow and results of analysis of the Illinois River. The disposal of the sewage sludge from the large treatment plants of the Sanitary District of Chicago is a tremendous problem. Until recently, the solids removed from the sewage were stored in large tanks until such solids approached the condition of humus. When the wet material is withdrawn and dried on sand beds, this material, the socalled Imhoff sludge, is similar to loam after it is dried, and in such a condition it is piled up in tremendous sludge banks in the vicinity of the Southwest Side Sewage Treatment Works. This sludge is of some value as fertilizer, but it has lost a good deal of its value during the process of storage. In a new process of sludge disposal worked out by the Sanitary District, the sewage solids are filtered, dried and burned to an ash. In this rapid, simple and odorless process, the sewage solids may be diverted before being burned. There will, therefore, be the dried sludge, or the sludge ash available for disposal. The Sanitary District is much interested in the disposal of these materials under as favorable conditions as possible, and therefore studies of the use of sludge or ash for fertilizer are of value. Preliminary work must be done by chemists to determine the character of the sludge, and the amount of fertilizer ingredients contained in the same. The chemists working on Froject 3195 are making analysis of present types of sludge produced in the 5anitary District, and more particularly, they are analyzing samples obtained from the new type of disposal. The main fertilizing ingredients in sewage sludge are nitrogen as ammonia and also phosphoric acid. There is very little potash in sewage sludge. It is necessary to analyze the sludge for nitrogen, and also availability of the nitrogen, by certain chemical methods. Likewise, the availability of the phosphoric acid must be determined. It is quite necessary to know the daily variations in quality of sludge, since the quality may be changed considerably by influx of gritty material or street wash. Continuous record of analytical results is therefore quite desirable. The chemists on the .V.F.A. Froject are making daily analysis of sludge and determining the availability of the fertilizer constituents of such sludge. In addition, they are investigating the character and properties of the ash which remains after incineration of the sludge. This ash may have uses, as for example, in concrete or as a low grade fertilizer. Several of the chemists are working on this material. " ■ . . . . ■ The other phase of the investigations is concerned with a study of the sanitary condition of the Des Plaines River and the Drainage Canal. In both cases, samples are collected at significant stations where, heretofore, sewage has been discharged. Jithin a short time, it is planned to intercept this sewage by means of intercepting sewers, and tc treat it at the sewage treatment works. Two situations are being studied — First, the south branch of the Chicago River and the Drainage Canal, and Second, the upper Des Plaines River. Intercepting sewers built under P.W.A., in whole or in part, have been or are being constructed along the south branch of the Chicago River, and along the upper Des Plaines River. When these sewers are in operation and the sewage is removed from the Rivers, sampling similar to the present schedule will be carried on, and the results will determine the degree of improvement in these public channels, brought about by the removal of sewage pollution. In this work four samplers are collecting samples from the Des Plaines River and four more from the south branch of the Chicago River beyond the bridges operated by the City of Chicago. Additional samples have been collected for some time by the bridge tenders of the City, where available. Samples from these various stations are brought to the Main Laboratory and analyzed as to their sanitary condition. Further work on the condition of the streams is carried on by a study of the flow conditions in the Illinois River as related to the analysis of samples collected and analyzed by the Sanitary District. This work which is carried on by only one engineer is of a statistical nature. Additional office work includes: translation of foreign articles on sewage sludge, timekeeping, typing and compilation of records. The project is made up of the following personnel 1 Superintendent 9 Laborers 10 Chemists 1 Hydraulic Engineer 1 Senior Clerk and Timekeeper 1 Typist , _ ■ ~ ' '' 5 ' ■ ...... . t , , • • • >,• . • i-ti-.i-.iUUU-.