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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: 1 linear foot
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.