Ennis, Welcome to the Lake.

Caryn, Thank you for Hosting today’s Book Salon.

Good evening, I’m Ellen Fout, associate faculty at Collin College in Frisco, Texas. I will be co-hosting with Dr. Neumann tonight.

Hello everyone, Thank you very much for inviting me to be part of this conversation.

Welcome to the lake Ellen, and Caryn
thanks for coming.

It is a beautiful book.
Ennis, what inspired you to do this book?

Ennis, I have a question for you. Why did you decide to write this book?

Welcome to FDL Ennis, Caryn, and Ellen

Ennis, I am not financially able right now to purchase this book but it looks like one I think I want on my shelves.

In the current time of economic distress, mirroring in so many ways the troubles of the ’30s, what do you say to those folks who decry the idea of the government subsidizing art in this fashion?

Well, I see that I duplicated Elliot’s question. I guess we both are curious about your inspiration for this book.

Thank you. I have long been a fan of the WPA posters. In the 1980s I was a community organizer and found that design and strong messages were great ways to get attention for important issues. When I found out about the WPA posters, I had to learn more.

Over the years, I came across a few originals. In my research and connection to federal agencies, like the Library of Congress, I found that they didn’t have a centralized record of the posters created by the program. That inspired me to research even more and find a way to put the information back in the hands of the American public – through a virtual archive and, luckily, this book.

Is there a way to buy copies of posters that have been digitized?

sweet i digg WPA art.

Bruce Bustard of the National Archives and Records Administration and the author of A New Deal for the Arts claims that the Poster Division printed more than 2 million posters from 35,000 designs. Your book contains nearly 500 posters, including more than 100 that have never been cataloged in federal records. What happened to these posters? Why were so many lost?

Thank you, Ms Neumann, for this great introduction to a truly outstanding book.

Ms Ennis, you have put together a superb and frightfully on-topic compendium of posters for the ages. I really hope your publisher makes an effort to get your book into the hands of every department head in our new government. Every Cabinet member can find inspiration here, and much material either to reproduce or to inspire new exhortations. This era, when government was meant to inspire, unite, and exhort, is one we need to return to. The right’s denigration of the “nanny state” has helped America lose sight of the wonderful time when government was for doing good. Your terrific book is a reminder that we can recover those days, and that there’s no better time than now to do so.

Everyone should try to see or purchase this book, and if you can, donate a copy to your local or school library. It really deserves a wide audience.

Dr. Caryn Newman is in Ohio and is having some weather problems and will join us when she can – bev

Ennis — this is such a gorgeous book, and one that I have not been able to put down ever since it came in the mail. The illustrations are gorgeous, certainly, but the color reproduction of them in the book is just stunning.

Thank you so much for doing the work on this. It’s one that I’ll be picking up again and again for inspiration on posts and thoughts as we slog through this economic downturn. So much of what is in your book is still so relevant today.

One nagging question: Did you find yourself drawn to any particular artwork in the book? I know it’s tough to pick favorites, but do you have a few to share?

you would, tw3k. ;)

Yes, it is interesting how relevant a book about the 75th Anniversary of the New Deal is today! It is easier now to point out that the government often subsidizes many things that aren’t in the interest of the American people – the recent bailouts and the responses of the recipients have been a key source of that debate. Current times call us to ask about the role of government. Certainly, the government can’t subsidize all of American life and culture with tax payer money. But, what was important about the WPA period was that many vital sectors of out of work workers were put back to work through the New Deal. That included cultural workers. And that is important because it told the American people that quality of life included more than just the workday. It seems that this is still relevant today – if not more needed due to the lack of access to the arts and culture.

Such great questions. I am going to do my fastest typing to answer all of them!

I agree, Teddy. It is both a comprehensive historical record and a timely reminder of a period when the federal government took responsibility for the welfare of its citizens.

Yes, there are several sources for digitized reproductions of these posters. E-Bay is a good source. In just a few months, our project the WPA Living Archive will be launching the most comprehensive digital record of posters known to exist. At that time, we will be making available copies.

My experience as a community organizer, in the area of HIV and AIDS, is what led me to appreciate the simplicity and directness of the WPA art, as well! Too often, our public spaces are devoted to confusing commercial messages or tawdry unappealing lectures. We learned that people wanted simple, clear lists of what’s safe and what’s not.

Do you think the trend to commercialized public spaces has limited the development of public messaging? Will we be able to reclaim it as advertising revenues decline in this recession?

Those numbers are correct. 35,000 original designs and over 2 million printed nationally. Since these were done in state WPA offices, not only the record of production, but also the archives were disposed of on a state by state basis after the WPA was shut down. Many ended up in the trash, unfortunately.

But many more are in art museums, historical societies, libraries and universities. Many more than that are in private, individual collections: attics, basements, on walls, etc. The mission of the WPA Living Archive is to hunt down as many as we can and capture them digitally so we can catalog them without people having to give them up.

Get to them as you can. Trust me — we’re happy to wait.

Thank you, Teddy for such kind words. This really is a lost treasure of the American people, so I hope you are right! We just got word that a second printing is in the works after just 2 months. So, perhaps they are being bought up for use in schools, libraries, etc. Sure hope so!

McCow sez that eBay was a McCain lobbyist. Just saying.

As the recovery money is cherry-picked for examples of “pork” and “liberal project” spending, it’s important to recall the effort made during the Great Depression to ensure people with diverse skill sets got back to work. We don’t just need bridge-builders and highway-repavers to have new work during the next four years; artists, film-makers, glass-blowers, and print-makers need work too.

This book reminds Americans that everyone must share in the recovery, and that beautiful things are produced because of a successful rebound, not just glorious SUPERTRAINS and water mains.

That is an interesting question, Teddy. And one that I have been addressing in my work for the past 20 years. Soon after I became and organizer and canvasser, I started to direct my attention to the use of design & messaging to accomplish my goals. I found my calling.

I spent many years applying that to my direct action work. 13 years ago, I established Design for Social Impact in Philadelphia to focus more directly on the use of the medium as a direct competition to the commercial work you mention. Our mission is to call attention to important social issues using the tools and techniques of Public Awareness Campaigns, advertising, etc. Of course it is challenging to compete, but now more than ever – with the internet and social networks – we are able to overcome the exclusive control of info by the commercial interests.

Now, getting back the public commons… that’s a continual challenge. But as organizers we know that pounding the pavement still works. And word of mouth in our arena is just as powerful if not more so than its commercial counterpart.

Looking at the posters, I noticed that they portray average working people and everyday situations. No emphasis on the wealthy–the “fat cats” as FDR called them. Was this a concerted effort to appeal to the average American by making them believe that they were each an important part of the New Deal and World War II efforts?

Mr. Carter, I can’t wait to get a look at your book, and the stories the accumulated work will tell. It is important to carry that forward in the collective knowledge base of our society, but especially so in a time with so many parallels.

Do you also draw parallels, and if so how?

Thanks for your patience. This is such an exciting topic for me, even after all these years that I’m eager to talk about it with others who are interested too!

Yes, I can definitely say that there are pieces that really speak to me. My all time favorite is “Work with Care” by Robert Muchley (p18 and the first full flood opposite the title page). I also am drawn to Albert Bender and Richard Halls work in particular. Anthony Velonis holds a special place for me too because he brought silkscreening process to the Poster Divisions and changed that art form forever.

Why Teddy, are you saying that a “Mob Museum” in Las Vegas might have a future and be viable? /s

Of course, even if there is art and literature covered as part of an economic recovery, I dare say many of the folks in power will try to force it to be the least offensive (to them) or the most bland pablum that can be found

Although my name is deceiving, it’s Ms. Carter :-)

Oops, very sorry.

Looking again at the wonderful posters you’ve depicted, I see so many that are relevant to my own online scrivenings. Do you know if there is an online .jpg library of WPA posters? It would be such fun to use these to illustrate blog posts.

It is important to remember that these posters had a very particular purpose to not just convey an administration’s position. They were designed to convey important values and to encourage positive behavior in regard to particular social issues. For that reason, they needed to speak to everyone.

This was truly a PUBLIC awareness campaign. You’ll see a wide depiction of folks in these posters. Different ages, different ethnicities,sometimes it was just a geometric symbolic shape depicting a “human” or “tree” or “house.” This is the designers challenge and shows how skillful (or not) at speaking to the widest possible audience of viewers. Certainly, that also sends a message that the common people were important enough to be talked to in a manner that was encouraging – not judgmental or fear-inducing.

It occurs to me that a letter-writing campaign to the Smithsonian for a retrospective exhibit of this sort of artwork might be a good move in raising the issue among the Beltway crowd. Wouldn’t it be fitting to have a mass exhibition of this artwork at the National Gallery at a time when debate is ongoing regarding our nation’s economic steps forward?

What a great way to open a few eyes.

No problem bmaz! The book is a showcase of the posters themselves. There are nearly 500 reproduced. Although I did a brief introduction, I chose to have the posters really convey those parallels. And they are there. Education, health issues, the environment, fairness and even courtesy are promoted. It’s hard not to see aspects of our current needs in these posters.

In just a few months, you’ll have access to JPGs of every poster that we have been able to document. The Library of Congress has a great searchable site. But, it only has 900 posters. Out of 35,000 designs, we were eager to get a bigger collection established. When our archive goes live, we’ll start with over 2000 images. It will be searchable and people can also upload images of posters they have in their own collections for the record.

neat! what is the address going to be?

Fantastic!

Sure would be nice to do this again, today.

The WPA also paid for murals in schools. There was a nice big one in my school during the 50s and 60s, but I think that it was destroyed during remodeling. No one ever talked about what it meant, but it was common-people oriented. In the little town of Eagle Bend MN there still remains a striking Art Deco HS built by the WPA.

Thanks for those ideas! We are currently mounting an exhibit at the Constitution Center here in Philadelphia for May 2009.

Sadly, it’s been a bit of a challenge to get the attention of the national agencies and repositories and stewards of these posters. That’s why we created our research project as a “Citizen’s Initiative” Because there wasn’t any interest in expanding the knowledge base. The powers that be that oversee the documentation of the WPA/Federal ARt Project output have told us that they think the 900 in the Library of Congress is a sufficient sampling. They support our work to catalog it on our own, but don’t put resources behind anything… These are the times that it takes average folks, private interest to get things done that are really the role of government. But, since we love it, we aren’t complaining. It just takes a little longer for us to compile because we have to squeeze it in between our other “work”

http://www.wpalivingarchive.org
In the meantime, you can see what we did last year to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the New Deal with the book and a Festival here in Philadelphia – at http://www.postersforthepeople.com

John, the murals were also in public buildings. They city hall of Tyler, Texas still has a very large, very well-preserved mural.

As does the courthouse in Fairmont, WV. It’s just gorgeous.

I think there are people doing it today, just not through government sponsorship. The network of creative folks that work with Design for Social Impact work like those WPA poster artists. We are professionals, we make a decent working wage, we use all of our creative faculties to put out stuff that doesn’t require a lot of $ or resources. We are in an era where artists have a lot of vehicles to get their work out to the public. The challenge is supporting a workforce of people who have adopted it as a craft, a trade. There isn’t much cultural support for working artists. There is some notion that art is supposed to be a hobby or a volunteer activity. So, we all have to hoof it a little bit to find opportunities or make our own. But, I guess that’s not new… “starving artist” has always been a concept.

Yes, there was a very vibrant mural project under the Federal Art Project as well. While that’s not my area of expertise, we work with a few folks that have that as an area of expertise. There was just an exhibit at the Harrisburg PA state museum about the murals of Pennsylvania. A search should pull some of that stuff up.

Funding for the National Endowment for the Arts has been included in Obama’s stimulus plan. The funding is drawing criticism from conservatives, much as FDR’s WPA drew attacks in its day. Why do you believe that the federal government should support the arts?

Here is the link to the Library of Congress digitized collection. This is not everything they have. They only digitized what was on hand and don’t have the resources to digitize a new collection of over 500 images they inherited from George Mason University that lives in another part of the Library of Congress… you can see how this goes…

But these are fun to look at while you are awaiting the WPA Living Archive fuller collection: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wp…..ahome.html

Creators of art in all it’s forms, music, paint, drawing, film, literature, all contribute to the society. And music should not be limited to approved forms (such as most likely Pop and Country) but should include Rock, Metal, Punk, Rap, Chamber etc.

Literature should include Historical fiction, Detective novels, erotic fiction etc.

It all is part and parvel of the world of art and all has its place in our society.

Do you have any idea if the National Endowment for the Arts has any hiring needs for poster makers?

No, I don’t. I’ve wondered if the National Endowment for the Humanities needs historians!

Great book and wonderful effort to preserve these treasures. I think I read recently that there is additional funding for National Endowment for the Arts/Humanities in the stimulus bill, but I haven’t seen details. Do you know whether anything like the WPA effort is included? And if not, are there groups working to get it included?

The website features one of the murals you speak of.

I think we ALL should support the arts. And that includes public use of tax dollars as well as private economic sources. I think we are at a very interesting time in history where we are looking again at the role of government. The past nearly-30 years of free market economy has taken a toll.

I think average Americans probably have common values when it comes to the basics. It is interesting to see how a hopeful spirit is continuing to grow now even in the face of really desperate economic forecasts. That is a testament to a core spirit of our country. I think we, as a country, need to evaluate what is really important for our quality of life.

I am excited that the new administration is putting people before profits. But, I am concerned that the importance of culture is being lost. The FDR administration knew it was a vital part of people’s spirit – to connect to culture and quality entertainment. I’m glad that Quincy Jones started that petition to call for a cabinet position of Secretary of the Arts.

I think it’s funny that conservatives criticize ANY kind of funding for anything, since we clearly have been subsidizing things that don’t work for many, many years. Let’s spread it around and include all facets of quality of life in America.

Poster makers are not considered artists. This is a real challenge in our work, but also a space that we can fill on our own terms. Again, the notion of free market is applied here. People think that advertising and commercial interest will pick up the slack when it comes to promotional material/propaganda. The question is: at what cost? Can we depend on free market to promote important social and cultural issues if they have a profit-interest in what gets sold?

I am a google image fan: wpa art

It is interesting to note that the Arts is not one of the main categories of “The Agenda” on the White House website. It’s buried deep in the “additional issues” section. And the blurb is pretty hilarious – if it wasn’t so sad. Here it is:

Arts

Our nation’s creativity has filled the world’s libraries, museums, recital halls, movie houses, and marketplaces with works of genius. The arts embody the American spirit of self-definition. As the author of two best-selling books — Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope — President Obama uniquely appreciates the role and value of creative expression.

That’s it. No mention of any effort to support the arts. Again, Quincy Jones is pushing that agenda as are other groups.

lol :)

I was just wondering if memory.loc.goc needed someone for seo.

Poster makers are not considered artists.

Wow. I guess whomever makes that argument didn’t spend much time in the ’60s and ’70s (to say nothing about the ’30s and ’40s)

Poster art has had a large impact on the US and the world, if folks just look at things

My $.02

i loved this book! not only did it have great eye candy, i was struck by how many of the posters had progressive values in their subject.

do you see a new wpa deal emerging in these hard economic times?

Here is the Quincy Jones petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html

THANK YOU, Dakine01! Now, you could get me started on a whole long conversation about the systematic squashing of populist art if we open up that can of worms!

Luckily, poster artists never agreed with that idea and do it anyway.

Ennis, you have made a very important point. Adam Smith proposed that the “hidden hand” guides all men to the marketplace where they will each act in their own interest. Adherents to this ideology would certainly not be enthusiastic in promoting social and cultural issues if they received no profit from their promotions.

Wow. The Qunicy Jones petition now has ove 221,000 signatures.

I want a painting for Sec. de Art!

Yes, luckily there are just as many people (if not more, in my opinion) who are motivated by a higher spirit to create and contribute because it is fulfilling and makes life better for everyone.

In all sectors of society, there are people who fit that profile. In my work, that is the Artistry & Activism that is a guiding force that I believe can also be tapped through “advertising.” All people have the ability to be artisans in their respective work and all people have the ability to apply their work in an active and participatory way.

Oh boy, we’ve definitely opened the can of worms now – moved from populist art to socialism!

err, painter!

Ms. Carter – i noticed a lot of the posters in the book were from Illinois. Did the WPA have regional centers for the artists?

A lot of the money in the stimulus bill is directed towards states, to give them funding so that they don’t have to lay off teachers, medical folks, project funding, etc — usually arts/music programs in schools are the first to fall in tough budget times. Is there and hope that we can stop that trend?

I decided that the Illinois-heaviness was a subversive attempt to catch the eye of Obama!

I’m not an artist – what did you mean by the systematic squashing of populist art. Is this from a social or financial basis?

Speaking of socialism, many works of the Federal Arts Project were controversial because they were perceived as “socialist” or “communist.” Am I correct that the Poster Divison’s work proved less controversial than some of the other arts projects of the WPA? Do you think that this was true because the WPA posters portrayed positive values?

Many people have speculated about a New New Deal given what is happening in our country. It’s almost worse than the last depression because the unemployment numbers and the “working poor” aren’t tallied the way it was in the Great Depression. Over 25% of the population was unemployed and using some form of gov’t assistance then. If you add up our nearly 10% unemployment with working poor who are under poverty line and also getting assistance, you get a higher number than even that…and it just keeps going up.

It’s hard to say. But, it seems that the Obama administration has been very clear in saying that it will be a private sector effort to rebuild the economy. And not a gov’t sponsored effort. In my opinion, if they focus on SMALL, LOCAL business, that wouldn’t be a problem because those businesses (mine included) have been working for years to make sure that we balance people, planet and profit. It’s what’s good for our neighborhoods, our families, our employees, etc. it just makes sense. But, that’s unlikely given the ambitious nature of the Obama Recovery & Reinvestment Plan. Putting 4 million people back to work by 2010 with 30% in construction and 30% in retail… that signals more jobs in big companies like Wal-Mart, etc. Which isn’t INHERENTLY bad, but they don’t have a good track record of balancing their business practices.

Long winded way of saying that I don’t think we’ll have a WPA New Deal in the same way we did in the 30s.

One of the most valuable historic images/legacies of the New Deal and WPA was the sense of shared commitment, of community, that we were all in this together and we all had a contribution to make, including the artists. We have a “community organizer” for President, and yet I don’t yet hear that call to community action. He’s telling us what he and his Administration are doing, what he wants Congress to do, but his message still doesn’t seem focused on asking the country to get involved, to be part of a national effort and creating the opportunities for people to make contributions. I think that sense of communiity is the only way we’re going to get through this very difficult era, and I’m surprised this isn’t happening yet. How do you see this playing out?

i signed and it is now 221,326.

That’s a good question and there are 2 answers for that:

Yes. The WPA Poster Division was carried out in state and regional offices. There were 18 different regional offices and Chicago was the 2nd biggest next to New York City.

But the other reason we have so many posters from Illinois is that the Art Institute of Chicago so graciously opened up their deeply stored collection and gave us the right to photograph every single one of them. When it came time to use them in the book, we didn’t have to contend with expensive usage rights either. They were very giving and fair (yes, owners of the posters – even though the image is in the public domain – can determine the value of usage rights!).

That long winded answer I gave before is a good lead in for the answer to your question, Scarecrow.

There is a large local movement afoot. It was there before Obama and I think it will continue as he guides the government in pretty typical government fashion. The difference is that the ethos is now supported – if not in direct practice. His campaign ran a very tight propaganda campaign that talked about big ideas and big values. Of course, the key is making sure that people have the energy and resources to continue.

If the local sustainable communities and business movement as well as the urban justice movements can continue their work without the economy problems zapping their enthusiasm and energy, I think it will ultimately converge with the government efforts for positive results. Everybody has to just hold on through the current hard times and keep at it!

Favorite posters anyone? I can tell you about the artists/shops if we have the info.

It Can’t Happer Here: We Read Books Instead of Burning Them, page 32.

You don’t have to be an artist to see how the public commons is not as available to populist art as it once was. The field of view is cluttered with commercial advertising and rarely do we see public awareness campaigns. And certainly not many that are as striking visually as they once were.

I include TV advertising in that public commons. After the fairness doctrine got rid of the requirement to run a certain amount of public service announcements, PSAs have all but disappeared, save the 2am spots on cable networks.

Remember the Crying Indian? I attribute my environmentalism to that “commercial.” Even though it was funded by the aluminum industry, it still carried a positive public message and was pervasive.

too many favorites to choose just one but the see america series in travel and destinations section are among my favorites

Well, it’s not a poster or, really, wpa style. I tend to think that the wpa style influenced Franz Kline.

The Poster Division was very much under the radar. There were only 500 artists throughout the life of the 10 year project nationally – compared to tens of thousands of theater workers. So, people didn’t criticize the work that much.

There is evidence that some poster artists were reprimanded for “communist looking art” – like my favorite Work with Care poster. I think it wasn’t so much the values-work that got them off the hook. It was really just too small to worry about.

Odd, given that their work was probably the most prolific pound for pound.

Yes, we have the icon of the Crying Indian; but what is the icon /image that today’s adults have?

Art Institute of Chicago just got a new fan who appreciates their openness.

did you have a hard time finding posters?

It Can’t Happen Here: We Read Books Instead of Burning Them, page 132.
This is a crossover promotion for libraries but playing off of a popular WPA theater production that was being produced around the country.

The play was about Nazi Germany. And the designer/artist brilliantly uses the popular title of the play to connect to a deeper and important connection to knowledge and information. If only we could say “We read books instead of burning them” still in this country…much less Beatles records :-) Oh, I’m showing my age with that one (not really, I think I was about 6 months old when that was going on) but you get the gist.

We don’t know the artist, but this is from my personal collection so I can tell you that the picture in the book doesn’t nearly capture the power of the print. These artists had to work with cheap industrial chipboard and industrial printing inks.

It made for creative challenge, but has a wonderful by-product of long lasting durability. We are able to enjoy the remaining posters as they were then because they hold up so well due to that challenge!

See America posters are truly beautiful. The originals are MUCH larger than other WPA posters.

Standard WPA posters were 9 X 12 or 14 X 18. See America posters were 2ft X 3 ft on average because they were used in travel hubs. The artists commissioned to do these came from commercial art backgrounds. Before the depression Dux and Nicholson both worked in prestigious ad agencies.

msu has a pollock, charles that is.

Finding posters is always an adventure. I wouldn’t say we have a HARD time, but we have so much ground to cover that it’s hard to know where to start in any given city. Art Museums are not that generous, unfortunately. AIC is a rarity. Many art museums still haven’t found a way for us to access what they have because it isn’t a priority for them. Smaller Historical societies don’t have the people-power to dig out what we know they have in their collection. It’s been 75 years, so we aren’t in a rush :-) We are methodical and keep at it.

I thought I would see you here for this!

Hope I can get this book someday.

Exactly, BevW!: Yes, we have the icon of the Crying Indian; but what is the icon /image that today’s adults have?

Mostly the icons are coming from a commercial perspective. Sports and Music heroes, sneaker and clothing sellers, etc. We live in a “brand” culture as opposed to a “value” culture – which is a very different use of art in the public commons

Some historians argue that the artistic endeavors of the WPA (art, music, theater) were key to making Americans realize that they had a common culture, rather than cultures defined and divided by regionalism. How do you see the role of these posters in creating this new American common culture in the 1930s and 1940s?

As we come to the end of this great Book Salon,

Ennis, Thank you for stopping by the Lake this afternoon and discussing your book and WPA Art and social activism.

Ellen, Thank you for Hosting today’s Book Salon.

Everyone, if you haven’t bought this great book, HERE is a link.

Thanks all.

Great question!

There are some intentional ways that the posters portrayed a common culture. Artists were sent out into America to document folk arts. Exhibitions of the drawings made by those artists were commonly displayed for people in urban areas – so they could see the arts of rural areas and ethnic groups. The posters that were made to promote those exhibits served to bring the visual representation right out into the public commons. The advertising WAS an art exhibit in itself.

Another activity of the poster artists was to create educational posters for the Museum Extension Project. An effort of educators to bring historical information out to smaller schools or rural areas where kids didn’t have access to museums or other historical landmarks. Poster Division artists were responsible for working with those educators to mass produce things like “costumes through the ages” or architectural images, etc.

great topic! thanks all.

i was surprised to see posters on environmental issues (at the time called conservation and preservation). i had always thought of environmental issues as being something new to my era and did not realize efforts were taken in the depression to protect wildlife and forrests.

Amazon is sold out! You can purchase at http://www.postersforthepeople.com too!

The appropriation of the Obama logo by Pepsi is very telling in this instance, I think. The first presidential candidate with a logo, and it gets scooped up by a soft-drink maker the day of his Inauguration!

here here – this is a great book and i appreciate ms. carter taking the time to discuss it with us.

Thank you everyone! I really enjoyed our conversation. Please feel free to contact us at the WPA Living Archive.

Thank you firedoglake and to Ellen & Caryn & Bev!

Best to everyone

Thank you, Ennis. And thanks to Bev Wright for all of her technical assistance and moral support for my first hosting of this salon.

Thank you very much for this wonderful book and for taking time today to chat with us about it.

Everyone should make an effort to see this book; remember that patron requests drive library acquisitions! And it makes a wonderful gift across a whole range of interests. It’s the kind of book a child can learn history, Americana, art, and culture from. Any FDR-admirer would love it too!

Well done, Ellen — thanks for pinch-hitting!

Great discussion. thanks to both Ennis and Ellen.

Thank you, Teddy.

Thank you, too, Scarecrow.

oh crap – ms fonts, i did not mean to slight you – thank you for hosting todays book salon and bringing us this great book.

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