In the wake of a disheartening election, we should recall FDR’s first inaugural address to a nation in the depths of the Great Depression.
“This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.”
The New Deal gave Americans hope and brought the country back from the brink. Rest assured, the Living New Deal will continue to keep the New Deal flame burning through our research, education and outreach.
WE WELCOME THREE NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Over the past year, the Living New Deal has added three new members to our Board of Directors. Dominique Bravo of New York City is an attorney and former Counsel General for the Roosevelt Institute. She serves on the Boards of several nonprofits. Michael Ettema, an art dealer in Santa Fe, is a former museum curator active in the Living New Deal’s New Mexico chapter. Sarah Peskin serves on the Board of the Frances Perkins Center in Newcastle, Maine, which honors FDR’s Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet; Sarah splits her time between Walpole, Maine and Brookline, Massachusetts. Welcome to the Living New Deal!
"YOUR ROSE GARDEN" FILM DEBUTS
Built by New Deal relief workers, the Berkeley Rose garden opened on September 26, 1937 and has been enjoyed by Berkeleyans ever since. The Living New Deal is the fiscal sponsor of “Your Rose Garden,” a short film produced by Alexis Harte and Josh Petersen and inspired by a song Harte composed about Berkeley’s beloved public garden. In celebration of the garden’s 87th anniversary, the Living New Deal and Friends of the Rose Garden co-hosted a screening to raise funds to complete the film, which will premier in December at the Amarcort Film Festival in Rimini, Italy. More screenings and festivals are in the works.
We envision “Your Rose Garden” as the pilot for a series of short films highlighting other outstanding New Deal sites around the West, such as the Timberline Lodge in Oregon and California’s Yosemite National Park. Stay tuned!
TOUR CELEBRATES THE COIT TOWER MURALS
In tribute to the 90th anniversary of some of the New Deal’s most famous artworks, the Living New Deal held a special mural tour at San Francisco’s landmark Coit Tower. The 27 murals ringing the interior of the tower were the first in the country commissioned under the New Deal’s Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). New Deal historian and Living New Deal board member Harvey Smith and Jon Golinger, founder of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers, guided some 50 guests around the tower, highlighting the artists’ backgrounds, the variety of styles and themes of the murals and the controversy surrounding the artworks, which were completed during the San Francisco General Strike of 1934. As a result, some of the murals were censored and altered, delaying the public opening of the murals.
OUR ONLINE MAP GETS AN UPGRADE
The Living New Deal’s continues to uncover, document and map thousands of New Deal public works and artworks around the country. This year, we added some 500 new sites to our online map with the help of our National Associates, other volunteers and team members Elena Ion, Evan Kalish, Judith Kenny and Dick Walker. Shoutouts to Jim Reed in Oregon and Drew Laverdiere in Maine for their tenacity digging up lost CCC camps. Special thanks to Barbara Bernstein, who is integrating her online New Deal Art Registry with our database and map and upgrading hundreds of sites and photographs on our website.
Our New Deal map now displays almost 19,000 sites and has undergone a makeover, led by webmaster Lisa Thompson. Many of the improvements involve reprogramming and are “behind the curtain,” but several new features will be readily apparent to users—clearer navigation buttons, a better information slider and improved labeling of the map elements. You can search, sort, filter or eyeball them all, or find sites nearby using “auto-locate.”
A NEW "RED STATES/RURAL AMERICA" INITIATIVE
LND is launching a new initiative intended to address the political alienation of millions of voters in rural America. Such places have faced decades of deindustrialization and disinvestment with little help from government. The failure of political leadership led to widespread despair and resentment, much of it channeled into the MAGA movement.
The New Deal invested heavily in rural America, restoring the land and improving people's lives and their communities. That effort reached deep into the heartland and brought the nation together. Our new rural initiative will highlight what the New Deal provided—from schools and bridges to Social Security and soil conservation—investments still working for rural Americans today.
Built by New Deal relief workers, the Berkeley Rose garden opened on September 26, 1937 and has been enjoyed by Berkeleyans ever since. The Living New Deal is the fiscal sponsor of “Your Rose Garden,” a short film produced by Alexis Harte and Josh Petersen and inspired by a song Harte composed about Berkeley’s beloved public garden. In celebration of the garden’s 87th anniversary, the Living New Deal and Friends of the Rose Garden co-hosted a screening to raise funds to complete the film, which will premier in December at the Amarcort Film Festival in Rimini, Italy. More screenings and festivals are in the works.
In tribute to the 90th anniversary of some of the New Deal’s most famous artworks, the Living New Deal held a special mural tour at San Francisco’s landmark Coit Tower. The 27 murals ringing the interior of the tower were the first in the country commissioned under the New Deal’s Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). New Deal historian and Living New Deal board member Harvey Smith and Jon Golinger, founder of the Telegraph Hill Dwellers, guided some 50 guests around the tower, highlighting the artists’ backgrounds, the variety of styles and themes of the murals and the controversy surrounding the artworks, which were completed during the San Francisco General Strike of 1934. As a result, some of the murals were censored and altered, delaying the public opening of the murals.
The Living New Deal’s continues to uncover, document and map thousands of New Deal public works and artworks around the country. This year, we added some 500 new sites to our online map with the help of our National Associates, other volunteers and team members Elena Ion, Evan Kalish, Judith Kenny and Dick Walker. Shoutouts to Jim Reed in Oregon and Drew Laverdiere in Maine for their tenacity digging up lost CCC camps. Special thanks to Barbara Bernstein, who is integrating her online New Deal Art Registry with our database and map and upgrading hundreds of sites and photographs on our website.
LND is launching a new initiative intended to address the political alienation of millions of voters in rural America. Such places have faced decades of deindustrialization and disinvestment with little help from government. The failure of political leadership led to widespread despair and resentment, much of it channeled into the MAGA movement.
