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Register of the WPA San Joaquin County Projects files, 1935-1941
MS 104
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Table of contents
Title: WPA San Joaquin County Projects Files,
Date (inclusive): 1935-1941
Collection number: MS 104
Creator:
Works Projects Administration, San Joaquin County
Extent: 2 boxes
Repository:
University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
Stockton, CA 95211
Shelf location: For current information on the location of
these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Collection is open for research.
[Identification of item], WPA San Joaquin County Projects files, MS 104, Holt-Atherton
Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
The U.S. Congress established the Works Progress Administration (later the Work Projects
Administration) in Spring 1935. The Congress appropriated over $1 billion for this
agency, which paid wages ranging from fifteen to ninety dollars per month to trans-form
individuals then on direct relief into "work relief" public employees. The WPA carried an
average of 2.1 million workers on its rolls each year between 1935 and 1941. These
government employees engaged in tasks as widely varied as hoeing weeds and creating
bibliographies.
Various county agencies submitted work proposals to the county Board of Supervisors,
which, when approved by the board, were passed on to the WPA administration in San
Francisco for final approval. The county was expected to pay some proportion of the work
costs. Many projects failed to materialize due to lack of federal funds. The WPA was
sometimes obliged to offer wages lower than they had expected to provide in order to
salvage local projects.
The files in this collection date from July 1935 to April 1941. They consist of WPA
project proposal application forms, San Joaquin County Supervisor's resolutions on
individual projects, and general correspondence relating to WPA policies, total county
WPA expenditures, and approved or cancelled projects. Because project numbering varies
from year to year and because numbering is sometimes lacking altogether on the official
forms, the papers relating to specific project proposals are arranged by project proposal
date.