The Works Progress Administration (WPA) Collection of the Illinois State Museum is a collection of almost 500 works of art in the media of paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and sculptures, and applied arts created by professional artists of Illinois between 1933 and 1943.

The 100 works of art in this online collection represent the vision that artists of Illinois and elsewhere had about our culture in a time of economic depression and recovery.

This Web presentation contains:

a Living Museum article (pdf) on the WPA in Illinois

a link to a Web exhibit called Depression Era Art

a Photo Gallery of WPA works from the ISM collection

a database of the collection

a list of WPA Resources

Online interactive and hands-on activities for teachers, students, and others interested in pursuing the themes or styles of WPA artwork.