{"product_id":"virginia-old-dominion-in-pictures-american-pictorial-guide-series","title":"Virginia, The Old Dominion in Pictures: American Pictorial Guide Series","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eATLANTIC SOUTH. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eFederal Writers' Project Photographic Tour Book. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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. Virginia’s came to us with the dustjacket. And though not in great shape (held together and protected by thin plastic sheeting), it provides this great summary: “Alone, or as companion volumes to the distinguished American Guide Series, these state picture books … are lively documentary reports, part of a national stock-taking of contemporary American life that is essential to the growth of democracy.” Of course, there is heavy coverage of Virginia’s pivotal place in our history: colonial, revolutionary, and with the birth of a new nation. There is, not surprisingly, coverage of the “Lost Cause”, the myth of an honorable Confederacy, alongside the state’s central role in the Civil War. But the beauty and industry of the state in that snapshot of time is evident, from the Appalachians out west to its border with the Potomac and Chesapeake in the east. It also includes a very interesting pencil sketch section of “Virginia Types,” by Ralph W. Lermond, with black and white faces despite the segregation of the era. [Condition: Used Good. Again, this trim volume comes with a dustjacket. If not having aged well, its inside map is a very interesting detail. The cover itself is in decent shape (probably due to the dustjacket having done its job). There is some spine stress evident in the middle pages, but pages and visuals themselves still pop.] \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition: Used Good. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTravel \/ Touring. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVirginia Writer's Project \/ WPA. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFleming Publishing Company, 1941. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHardcover (First Edition), 6.25 x 7.25”, 30 pgs \/ 8 oz\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Regionals","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49209852428545,"sku":"B1ASVIR00104","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0723\/3264\/0513\/files\/virginia-american-pictorial-guide-series-01-2541.jpg?v=1779997632","url":"https:\/\/theregionals.store\/products\/virginia-old-dominion-in-pictures-american-pictorial-guide-series","provider":"The Regionals","version":"1.0","type":"link"}