Public Education
ERA funds and workers were used to further public education, arts and surveys in the state. Many libraries in North Carolina were aided with card catalog indexing and book repair. Various state and local agencies were supplied with clerical help. Typical of these projects is one for re-indexing all of the records in the register of deeds office in Mitchell County. Writers and researchers were given jobs through the Federal Writer's Project and the Historical Records Survey. The Federal Art Project created 5,000 jobs for artists nationally and gave the American people 225,000 works of art. Many of these are murals that can still be seen decorating our public buildings. The State Symphony Orchestra was used as a work relief project providing income for unemployed musicians. North Carolina, using Reconstruction Finance Corporation funds, was one of the first states to use engineers and instrument men on relief for making Coast and Geodetic Surveys.
List of Images:
- WPA Public Library Poster, Informed America.
- WPA Public Library Poster, Book Week.
- From inside a tobacco packing house, a farmer selects books from the Richard B. Harrison Library bookmobile, 1946.
- Muralist James McLean painting a mural for Cannon Memorial Library.
- Construction of the Mint Museum of Arts in Charlotte.
- Project application for Geodetic Control Survey.
- Geodetic survey marker.
- NC Symphony rehearsal for the concert to be given March 15, 1940 in the Meredith College Auditorium.