Vermont, The Green Mountain State: American Pictorial Guide Series

NORTHEAST. 
Federal Writers' Project Photographic Tour Book. 

The American Guide Series is one of the great cultural accomplishments in American history. Originating out of the larger and equally impressive Federal Project One, known in the day as simply: “Federal One,” this program was specifically designed to provide jobs for out of work creative artists during the Great Depression (and was itself a tiny sliver of the sweeping Works Progress Administration). It would provide opportunities for thousands of writers, researchers, photographers, painters, musicians, and actors to support themselves in their crafts from the mid-1930s and on into the 1940s. Costing about 1% of the WPA’s total budget allocation, the mountains of material and scope of entertainment that Federal One churned out makes it one of the most cost-effective government programs ever. Mobile theatrical productions, jazz to orchestral concerts, and the celebrated post office mural project would come primarily to small towns and localities the country over, providing a proud cultural boost to a nation struggling through lean times. Designed to bring art “to the masses,” Federal One was New Deal to its core, its mass popularity showing just how hungry Americans of all stripes were for “the arts”. Federal One was also responsible for funding and staffing the individual state units that would produce the ambitious American Guide Series. The Writer’s Project segment would eventually produce thick heavily-researched and history-rich hard-bound tour guides for all 48 states, most territories, city guides for metropolises, mid, and small-sized cities alike, and a number of national parks to boot. Its sheer scope is still amazing to consider given that it was all accomplished inside a decade and long before digital word processing, photography, and design layout made such rapid productivity routine … The American Pictorial Guide Series was born from that larger American Guide Series program. Its origin seems a natural offshoot, in that being inundated with so much solid content there proved any number of avenues by which to organize and publish it. And since the arrival of the first daguerreotypes in the 1800s, Americans have loved photography. In step, Americans love a good picture book. These slim select collections are brimming with black-and-white photos, most of which we suspect found their way into the full multi-hundred page guides. But here, one can get the visual summary. The volumes that we have come into were all released in the early 1940s. Vermont’s leads with the quintessential New England “Village Green”, including some aerial shots. Beautiful shots of churches and historic buildings in rich B&W contrast lead to “Highways and Byways”, photos that crisscross this most beautiful state. As with the WPA guides, there is a full section covering work in the state, with a focus on its quarries and farms; no guide to Vermont being complete without showcasing its late-winter “maple sugar time”. All seasons are represented: the state’s harsh if visually beautiful winter, skiing, sleigh rides, and ice-boat racing; the thaw delivering flowering fruit trees in springtime; regenerative views of lakeside summer vacation lands, as well as a hike down “The Long Trail”; it all coming full circle with the falls’ ample harvest. This trim volume is, indeed, a visual feast. [Condition: Used Good. At 80+ years, this slim volume is in solid shape. There is some sun-bleach and wear on the spine’s fabric, with a small tear on the top end (hence the downgrade to “Used Good”). The interior pages are in perfect shape, with only the slightest bit of age discoloration on their outer edges.] 

Condition: Used Good. 
Travel / Touring. 
Vermont Writer's Project / WPA. 
Fleming Publishing Company, 1941. 
Hardcover (First Edition), 6.25 x 7.25”, 30 pgs / 8 oz