Fdr's USPS New Deal Art Murals

There was an interesting article in Linn's 3/30/09 issue on pages 10-11 about an art exhibit in Pennsylvania featuring photos of the murals in USPS post offices through out the state. It made me think that I have a few pictures of some here in Illinois. They are from post offices in Staunton and Virden. I took the photos last year during one of my day trips along route 66 to acquire postmarks on my Illinois map ( I have over 30 town postmarks so far)that stretches from Chicago to East Saint Louis approx. 66 of the towns have postoffices still. Anyway, here is a link to the photos of the murals and the exteriors of some of the post offices I visited. I plan on doing a second run to obtain a photo of each post office I didn't get the 1st time. It is a labor of love and quite impressive if I do say so myself. One of these days I'll scan it in sections and post.
http://www.route66people.com/photo/...qgqt&page=14

Does anyone know if there is a list of all the New Deal murals that FDR had painted and how many still exist?

Stamperdude, the post office in a small town near me was built in the 1930's by the WPA and had a nice mural on the wall in the lobby. Unfortunately in a subsequent remodeling of the post office it was painted over. I suspect it was painted over because it was not politically correct. It showed a scene in the fields of the south with African-Americans picking cotton. ( The town is Warrenton, GA. in a very rural part of the state. I live in an even smaller town nearby.

I don't know if any photos exist of the mural.

rohumpy,
I would imagine you are correct in the reason for the mural being painted over. The one in Virden had to do with coal mining and I have a letter somewhere with details about the mural that the postmaster gave me. Once I dig it out I'll scan it and post it.

I found this awesome site that lists New Deal artwork locations by state and has good information on the projects: http://www.wpamurals.com/

Thanks Stamperdude..i hit NY and saw many towns that I can relate to growing up on Long Island and the Hudson Valley..of course Poughkeepsie being the larger neighbor of Hyde Park has many examples of the artists of the depressions work !!

Philb,
That is cool. I'm glad the site was of interest. Of course all of those post offices built at that time have a corner stone listing Farley as Postmaster General & FDR as President! That is just a nice tie to stamp collecting in and of itself.

Excellent website, stamperdude. Thanks. KirkS

You are quite welcome. I even printed the locations in IL for future reference, I was amazed at how many are in small towns(now and then). I may go back and look up others when I'm able to travel some more.

I learn something new every day. The mural of which I wrote in the Warrenton GA post office was removed to the Augusta (GA) Museum of art. Thank goodness. I will definitely have to go and see it.

Stamperdude, that is an excellent website. Thanks for finding it.

Rohumpy,
I'm glad it wasn't destroyed by being painted over.

here are some murals from a california / san francisco post office

That is a great contemporary postal image. Thanks for sharing.

its my pleasure to share :) I never leave my place without a camera..hehehe

another mural

I read a thread somewhere else about these and I had been to the same website as stamperdude found and I saw that a post office about 20 minutes from me had reliefs not murals and they were taken down now.
In that particular one, the WPA didn't pay for them, it was another branch, which a lot of the New deal art in the Post offices were. My Dad said he remembered when they were there. I don't see why they couldn't have just moved these. I really like these, as I am a coal miners daughter, and a coal miners wife, daughter-in-law, cousin, niece,lol, and on and on. Here's a link to the one that was close to me:

http://www.wpamurals.com/Jenkins.htm