The United States elected Franklin D. Roosevelt president in 1932, with the expectation that he would use the tools of government to ease the suffering then resulting from the Great Depression (1929-1940). In 1935, Roosevelt implemented the largest public works program in history, the Works Progress Administration. It eventually employed millions of Americans. One of its most unusual efforts was the Federal Writers’ Project, which produced a number of works including state guides such as this. Ever since, these guides have been highly valued for their thoroughness, coherence, and factual data. Although at the time the Massachusetts guide was accused by conservatives of having a left-wing bias for some parts of its history, it has remained a valuable resource. Here, the tours of valley towns are still usable, as is its chronology of the state’s history. The director of the guide project, Ray Allen Billington, became an honored historian of the American West. The light and occasionally irreverent tone he set for the guide is obvious from the Introduction (“One Moment, Please!”) reproduced here.
Federal Writers’ Project of WPA. Massachusetts A Guide To Its Places and People. Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1937. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l02-144/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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