News From Around the States For 2010 and Earlier Alabama- WPA artist, Conrad Albrizio (1894-1973) became the Souths leading creator of wall paintings, frescos, and mosaics. One of NNDPA corporate members, McKay Lodge conservation Laboratory in Oberlin, OH saved a major mosaic he did in 1959 for the Mobile County Courthouse just prior to the building being demolished. Conservator Robert Lodge reports that the theme of this glass mosaic is the judgment of good from evil, right from wrong and, though originally intended for a courthouse for obvious reasons, its a theme relevant for contemplation in any environment. Removal of this 7 foot tall, 34 foot wide mosaic made of thousands of tiny pieces of thin, brittle glass was described by Conservator Stefan Dedcek as dirty, physically brutal, and requiring a very delicate touch in the use of pneumatic demolition as the primary tools for the job. They were contracted to remove the mosaic glass pieces from the courthouse interior wall and remount it on a portable substrate so that it could be installed in any future location. Alaska- Palmer, Alaska This resettlement community will be holding its annual gathering around the first of June. Last year they had their 70th anniversary celebration which included people from all over Alaska and the lower 48 states. A parade was followed by a showing of a DVD of Colonist interviews. About 400 Colonists and their descendents were present for both the banquet on Saturday night and picnic on Sunday afternoon. There were nine Colonist Parents still alive and living in the valley however three came from Minnesota and one from Kentucky. In 1935 two hundred four families with 500 children from the upper Great Lakes states (Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and one Oklahoma family) came to the Territory of Alaska after FDR signed the 1935 New Deal Resettlement Plan. David Williams was the chief architect for building this community as he did for 83 other communities and today it is one of the few surviving community centers and is under review to become a National Historic Landmark. Financing this community was carried out by the Alaska Rural Rehabilitation Corporation (ARRC). It was to dissolve itself after the Colonists and replacements had paid off their 30-year loans (cost was $3,500 including 40 acres of land) according to their contracts but after the loans were paid in full, the ARRC re- organized themselves and continue today to make farm loans. This information provided by NNDPA member, Wayne Bouwens, a 1935 Colonist. He can be reached at P. O. Box 1274, Palmer, AK 99645-1274 and is involved with the Colony House Museum http://www.customcpu.com/or call 907-745-1935. Ranger Doug has moved. For those who are interested in acquiring the beautiful silkscreened early posters done to advertise select parks in the Nat. Park Service, then you are probably familiar with Ranger Doug, a primary source. This is a dentist who has been serving up in Alaska but his other "fun" job is collecting and reprinting the Nat. Park Service posters. He also has printed them in postcard and notecard forms. We recently heard that he had spent last year in Antarctica. Another adventure has been following up on the auction of a set of the posters that sold for prices ranging from $2200 to $7500 per poster, which were out of his price range, he indicated. Let him know if you have original posters or want to buy new ones from him. His new address is Dr. Doug Leen, Buoy 54 Kupreanof Is., Wrangell Narrows, PO Box 341, Petersburg, AK 99833, 907-518-0335, www.dougleen.com [email protected] California- NNDPA Board member, Dr. Gray Bechin, from Berkeley is capturing more information about California's New Deal treasures than he, and most likely anyone else, ever knew existed. It is truly exciting what he and his volunteers have found as part of the New Deal Legacy Project activities. If you want to know more or share something you know, contact him at [email protected] or call him at 510-267-9607. His website is http://www.graybrechin.com Conneticut- Folks in West Hartford are trying to save their downtown public buildings from being transformed by developers. Contact NNDPA office for more information. Idaho- About Murals: Boise, ID finds legislators puzzling over what to do about the New Deal mural in the Ada County Courthouse, which they are renovating to use as their new "home” come 2008. Seems there are 28 murals in this building but two have depictions of the lynching of an American Indian and some others have minor problems that create concern. To remove, cover up or leave as part of the depiction of the area's history may have been decided in a recent vote, which was scheduled to decide their fate. Illinois- A group in Centralia is trying to save the unique stain glass window in the Trout Gym, a New Deal structure, prior to the destruction of the building. Contact Jim Wham at 618-532-5621. Hopefully they have accomplished this since we last heard from them. Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago will be celebrating its 100th birthday in 2008 and have many celebration events planned. During the New Deal era 25 years after the school's beginning, a large number of murals were created at this school and will be featured during our the 100th/75th celebrations. If you don't want to wait to see the murals and other art items that have been gracing this school for years, contact Carol Schencker for a group tours at 773-534-5400 x 23481. One of our members, Flora Doody, helped to bring these mural treasures "to the light of the public." Illinois University New Deal buildings sought by M.E. Thompson: This NNDPA member, Mary Emma Thompson, is attempting to identify university buildings in Illinois that were built with New Deal funds and hopefully encourage students to document this information. Of course, her first love since retiring from teaching is to identify and write about the Illinois post offices. She has been most successful with this and now has published a children's book about "finding Lincoln in the Illinois Post Offices." She can be reached at [email protected] Louisiana- Louisiana's Heritage Tourism Development in the Louisiana Office of Tourism has just completed an identification and interpretation of the Louisiana WPA Depression Era murals in public buildings located across the state. They have compiled an outstanding website presentation with color renditions of the murals and information about each one. Check http://www.louisianatravel.com and the home page for this presentation is THE WPA-FAP PROJECT: The Great Depression & Louisiana. Contact person that put it all together so beautifully is Sharon Calcote, Director, Louisiana Heritage Tourism Development. Her email is [email protected] Maryland- Rossborough Inn Rossborough Inn, seen at right in a 1940 Baltimore Sun photograph, was built in 1798 and has been part of the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park since the university was founded. Rossborough was the first stagecoach stop between Washington and Baltimore. It was later part of the Calvert estate (descendents of Lord Baltimore), Riversdale. They used it as a guest house, and Gen. Lafayette stayed there in 1824. The Calverts gave the site and land to the university in 1856. Both Union and Confederate soldiers occupied it at different times. Articles in the University of Maryland archives reveal that WPA grants funded renovation of the building starting in 1938. The Dec. 14, 1937, issue of the Sun reported that the WPA approved $19,042 for renovation, and the Aug. 22, 1938 issue of the Washington Post reported that renovation was under way, with an expected total cost of $30,000. The university hosted a ceremonial open house on May 30, 1940. In 1940, the building housed a museum, a faculty-alumni center, and a faculty tearoom. Now the structure is used by the graduate admissions department. (Submitted by David P. Fogle, AICP, November, 2010) Gambrill State Park in Frederick, Maryland is on the lookout for the men who served in the CCC both in Maryland and in other areas of the country. They are planning a 75th CCC Celebration in 2008 and are now trying to find these men in order to document their stories and have them participate in a panel presentation. Call 301-293-4170. This project began last summer but the park staff is still interested in finding more Cs. Eric Creter, Tom Palmer, or Chris Lieberman are the contacts. Green Town news: Greenbelt, MD, one of the three New Deal "Green towns" made the news recently related to the current situation where there is a merging of the Old with the New in their Washington Suburb. Interesting article in the New York Times by C. J. Hughes on Jan. 28, 2007 is worth reading. Massachusetts- President Roosevelt visited Union Station and Worcester, Massachusetts on multiple occasions. Learn more about the visits of the President to Union Station. Sixty years ago, on January 11, 1944, in the midst of another American war, President Roosevelt spoke forcefully and eloquently about the greater meaning and higher purpose of American security in a post-war America. In 2004, the principles and ideas conveyed by FDR's words matter as much now as they did sixty years ago, and the Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center is proud to reprint a selection of FDR's vision, his "Economic Bill of Rights" for the security and economic liberty of the American people in war and peace.