Archives West Finding Aid

Agency of Federal Writers' Project, later named Writers' Program. The Federal Writers' Project in Washington State was an agency funded by the Works Progress Administration, one of many nationwide programs which employed local writers to research various aspects of state history and contemporary life. Initially, the project was funded and supervised by the state office of the WPA, but this sponsorship terminated August 31, 1939 because the field work and research was completed. The Washington State Planning council was persuaded to sponsor the project through the completion of the Guide and the project became known as the "Washington Writers' Project." The Planning Council withdrew its sponsorship January 31, 1940 and the Federal Writers' Project closed its offices in Washington State in February 1941 with the Guide unpublished and without sponsorship. In February 1941, the Washington State Historical Society agreed to sponsor the completion and publication of the Guide. Only a small portion of the material amassed by the project was published. The rest was moved to the WPA Zone Office in Ballard March 7, 1940. Presumably, those papers comprise this accession, which seems to have been received in September 1954.