Episode Summary:

In the 1930s, the notion of making an incubator for creativity in a region devastated by the Great Depression got tested in Nebraska. This episode looks at what happened there when the Writers’ Project came to town, through a group of creatives from contrasting backgrounds, including a hobo, a nurse and a hardware store poet – all under the watchful eye of a university professor and a celebrated novelist.

Starting from chaos, they ignited a surprising alchemy and made the Lincoln office one of the most productive Writers’ Project hubs in the country. The Season 1 finale listens in as Americans face war clouds on the horizon, and a national radio show asks, “Can we count on youth to uphold the American Way?”

Speakers:

Stephen Cloyd, librarian and historian

Marilyn Holt, historian

James Reidel, biographer and poet

Douglas Brinkley, historian

Links and Resources:

Rudolph Umland and the Federal Writers' Project

The Nebraska Federal Writers' Project - Lincoln City Libraries

Mari Sandoz and the Writers' Project

Weldon Kees reads his poem, "1926"

WPA Guide to Nebraska (free PDF)

Prairie Schooner

Reading List:

Vanished Act: The Life and Art of Weldon Kees, by James Reidel

Nebraska During the New Deal, by Marilyn Irvin Holt

Soul of a People by David A. Taylor

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan

The Collected Poems of Weldon Kees, edited by Donald Justice

Crazy Horse, by Mari Sandoz

Credits

Host: Chris Haley

Director: Andrea Kalin

Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello

Writer: David A. Taylor

Editor: Ethan Oser

Assistant Editor: Amy Young

Story Editor: Michael May

Additional Voices: Jared Buggage, Sam Hanks, JoJo Drake Kalin, Antonio Macias, James Mirabello, Mariko Miyazaki, Kate Rafter and Sarah Smack

Featuring music and archival from:

Aaron Copland

Alexandria Symphony Orchestra

Joseph Vitarelli

Bradford Ellis

Mike Sayre

Ceiri Torjussen

Pond5

Library of Congress

National Archives and Records Administration

New York Public Radio Archives Collection

Nebraska Public Media

For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder

Produced with support from:

National Endowment for the Humanities

Humanities Nebraska

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Summary:

The Franklin Delano Library and Museum is an amazing place which just celebrated its 75th anniversary. President Roosevelt had the idea to build the library on his family property in Hyde Park, New York, using private funds. And then he donated the library and its historical collections, including all of his personal and official papers, to the US Government. This started the precedent of Presidential Libraries that we continue today.

Last month, we sat down with the FDR Library and its director Bill Harris and had a great discussion about the Federal Writers' Project, its impact then, and why it still matters today. Please join our host Chris Haley, writer-producers David Taylor and James Mirabello and historian Sara Rutkowski for a few highlights from that conversation.

You can see the full discussion on the FDR Library’s YouTube channel here.

Links and Resources:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library and Museum

"Rewriting America: New Essays on the Federal Writers' Project" with Sara Rutkowski

Credits:

Director: Andrea Kalin

Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello

Editor: Amy Young

Featuring music from Pond5

Featuring: Chris Haley, Bill Harris, David A. Taylor, Sara Rutkowski and James Mirabello

Produced with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Florida Humanities, Virginia Humanities, Wisconsin Humanities, California Humanities and Humanities Nebraska.

For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month, we're doing something a little different. There are some amazing podcasts out there that give us a view of America through a distinctive lens. One of our favorites is Sidedoor: A podcast from the Smithsonian.

Every episode, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through Smithsonian's side door to search for stories that can't be found anywhere else.

We're excited to share one of those stories. “King’s Speech” is about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the evolution of his iconic I Have a Dream speech. It’s fascinating to chart the history of his speech and to hear how Dr. King was influenced by poet Langston Hughes, who worked with the Federal Theatre Project in the 1930s and co-wrote a play with one of the writers featured in the People's Recorder, Zora Neale Hurston.

Guests:

Kevin Young, Director of Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture

W. Jason Miller, Author of Origins of the Dream: Hughes's Poetry and King's Rhetoric

Enjoy the episode! To hear more, search for Sidedoor wherever you get your podcasts or go to www.si.edu/sidedoor.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.