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Frederick M. Logan WPA photographs and clippings

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Creator:

  • Frederick M. Logan, compiler
  • unknown, photographer 

Date range:

Circa 1936-1943, bulk 1936

Call number:

AG111 

Abstract: 

Collection of 8 pages with photographs and press clippings mounted on one side of each paper, 9.5” x 13”. All pertain to the maps and building models created that Perkins School for the Blind built and shipped to schools for the blind throughout the United States. Funds for this project were obtained from the W.P.A. The materials were compiled by Frederick M. Logan who is featured in two of the photographs and who worked on the projects.

Extent:

1.25 linear feet, one clamshell box.

Language:

English

Processed by:

Jane Pipik, 2020 and Jen Hale 2022

Biographical/Historical note:

From 1935-1938 the Howe Press ran two Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects during the Great Depression designed to create instructional materials for students who were blind. The Works Progress Administration (WPA, renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) employed millions of Americans, mostly men, to work on public works projects during the Great Depression. Between 40 and 50 men and women were employed as part of two WPA projects managed at the Howe Press. This includes 15 who were blind and 14 former pupils of Perkins. The first of these projects (WPA Project Number 7251) involved designing and embossing 350 geographical and historical maps which were to be distributed to schools for the blind throughout the country. On March 4, 1936, the Director of the Second WPA district of MA received final approval to make braille maps of cities of the USA, awarding $15,000 to hire 25 more technicians.  The work was completed June 30,1936. Maps were 22” x 28” with new devices in embossing with extensive notations in Braille helping students to distinguish between, as Dr. Farrell said, “boundaries and rivers, as well as oceans and mountains”. In total, the Howe Press completed 350 maps with the 1936 first WPA grant, resulting in embossed maps of different countries, as well as models of bridges and buildings.

The second project was overseen by the WPA (Project Number 9506) also employed 40 workers and produced educational models that included several types of bridges, buildings, ships, and models use to teach mathematics. Maps of all states and foreign countries and of large cities were annotated in braille and bound in volumes for every school for the blind-similar to atlases used in seeing schools. Additional sheets were run for “in-class” use. In December 1937 Perkins received an additional $49,829 from the WPA to “design and manufacture models for use in educating the blind” and create current events “map of the month” for national distribution.

Sources of information:

Restrictions:

The Perkins Archives reserves the right to deny physical access to materials available in a digital format. 

Copyright:

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Perkins School for the Blind, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright. 

Credit line/Citation:

AG11 Frederick M. Logan WPA photographs and clippings. Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA.

Scope and contents:

This collection documents the WPA projects partnerships with Perkins, circa 1935-1938, particularly the models project number 16661. The bulk of the materials are five photographs documenting architectural models with a WPA Projects label printed directly on them. The two other photographs are a 1936 staff group portrait and one of Tad Chapman, a Perkins student with deafblindness exploring a WPA model, alongside Frederick M. Logan. The clippings document tactile maps and other projects worked on in Massachusetts. There is one clipping of a poem submitted to a newspaper column addressing complaints about the WPA program by “tax-payers” who think the workers are “loafing”.

Arrangement:

1 box

Container list: 

Box: 1 

  • Page 1: Three clippings about the WPA, undated, 1936
  • Page 2: Group photograph of supervisors, embossers, proofreaders, and clerical force of map project at Perkins, 1936
  • Page 3: A clipping featuring tactile map use and a photograph of Perkins student Tad Chapman exploring the model.
  • Page 4: Photograph of “New England waterfront”, circa 1936-1943
  • Page 5: Photograph of “Baseball diamond”, circa 1936-1943
  • Page 6: Photograph of “Ancient castle”, circa 1936-1943
  • Page 7: Photograph of “Ancient castle”, circa 1936-1943
  • Page 8: Photograph of “Ancient castle”, circa 1936-1943

Related collections:

Digitized copies of the entire Frederick M. Logan WPA photographs and clippings collection is available on Perkins Flickr Collections, where it is described and transcribed. 

Provenance:

Donated by the grandson of Richard W. Logan, to whom these materials once belonged and whom worked on these WPA projects.

Subject headings:

  • Depressions–1929.
  • Howe Memorial Press.
  • Models and model making.
  • Perkins School for the Blind.
  • Perkins School for the Blind–History.
  • Public service employment.

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Learn more about our collections, including digitized materials, and resources related to the history of Perkins School for the Blind and the history of education for people with blindness or deafblindness.

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