Soul of a People: Voices from the Federal Writers' Project - Library Outreach Programs

FAIN: LI-50366-07

ALA (Chicago, IL 60611-2729)
Susan E. Brandehoff (Project Director: January 2007 to January 2011)

Implementation of a series of reading and film discussion programs at 30 public libraries, with a companion web site, that would occur simultaneously with the broadcasting of the NEH-supported documentary film Soul of a People: Voices from the Federal Writers' Project.

The American Library Association, in cooperation with Spark Media, a Washington, D.C.-based production company which specializes in issues of social change, will develop a series of five public humanities programs for presentation in 30 libraries coinciding with the public television broadcast of Spark Media's documentary film, "Soul of a People: Voices from the Writers' Project," about the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s. The "Soul of a People" documentary has received major funding from the NEH for scripting and production. The library outreach programs are designed to complement the documentary, encourage scholar-led discussion about the importance and the impact of the FWP for succeeding generations of Americans, reveal to a national audience in libraries the scope of the works produced by the FWP, and acquaint a new audience with the many online and print resources that provide access to primary resources from the FWP.