Center For New Deal Studies

08/11/2026

The Center for New Deal Studies holds some 1500 artifacts, many from the Joe Jacobs Collection, relating to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. From ordinary household objects to tuba covers and pins, FDR's image was ubiquitous. Peruse images of the collections at the Illinois Digital Archives: https://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/roosevu

07/16/2026

We are saddened to report that the Aspen Acres fire in Colorado has claimed a beloved New Deal site: The Horseshoe lodge built by the WPA. Surrounding trails and installations, many built or maintained by the CCC, have also been destroyed or damaged.

The Horseshoe Lodge, built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration, has been "completely destroyed" in the Aspen Acres Fire.

07/09/2026

All adults who were alive between 1933 - 1945 had that three stages of life experience. These are the same adults who went to the moon, passed laws, started or led companies, wrote society cracking books, raised children, started wars, ended wars and shaped the world well into the eighties and nineties. Everything they did and thought and felt was shaped by the crucible of those years. It is the profound and awe inspiring duty of historians to peer through the flawed glass of time and try to understand their experiences, so we can tell their stories and learn from them to shape the future.
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07/09/2026

All the adults alive between 1933 - 1945 had that three life stage experience. We historians, looking through the flawed glass of time, must try, dimly, to grok their experiences and tell their stories. Ours in the job to bear witness and it is truly an awe-filled duty.
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06/14/2026

This isn't about the New Deal, but it is about the importance of local history and the humanities in general. Plus, it is a great Pride month story.

06/11/26 Find out about the graphic novel, Charity and Sylvia by Ti...

05/28/2026

Some exciting discovers at Mastodon Lake in my home town. The lake was originally the New Deal CWA project. I love to explore history in my own backyard. Don't you?

Inside of mastodon tusks first uncovered at Aurora’s Phillips Park over 90 years ago, workers recently discovered a package dated to 1935.

05/28/2026

In 1905, at the age of 25, Perkins changed her given name of Fannie to Frances and left the Congregational Church of her forebears to join the The Episcopal Church 💒

Throughout her life, Frances Perkins relied on her religious faith and the guidance of her church for the support she needed to face the challenges of public service and her personal hardships.

Her faith profoundly shaped her moral vision and policymaking and sustained her lifelong commitment to advancing a social order grounded in safety, dignity, and decency for all 🤍

In 2009, the Episcopal Church formally recognized Frances Perkins as a saint and designated May 13th as her feast day, honoring her as a Public Servant and Prophetic Witness. To learn more and find resources about her faith, visit our website (🔗 in comments)

St Andrew's Episcopal Church in Newcastle, Maine was Frances Perkins’ summer parish and is the home of her icon by Suzanne Schleck, Iconographer (reproduced below)

03/04/2026

Among the Center's amazing volumes is a copy of The Green Book, the traveling guide for African Americans that helped them stay safe while traveling. Often friendly homes whose owners rented rooms were listed. Russellville had two homes like that. One was being renovated, but the other had been lost. What was lost is now found. This video tells the story of how one high school student found the missing home. History is evolving all around us, we just have to notice it.
https://youtu.be/IzfQBOYOI7g?si=M5ULNtPjLMhOBucz

02/20/2026

On this day in 1976, President Gerald Ford did something I will always admire and thank him for. Today he signed Presidential Proclamation 4417 formally ending Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 authorizing Japanese internment and formally apologizing for the gross injustice the American people inflicted upon their fellow citizens. Thank you, President Ford. May we always act with as much grace and compassion as you did.

02/20/2026

It's the anniversary of worst thing my favorite President ever did. This is Franklin Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066 authorizing Japanese internment. It was and is a stain on the American's tapestry.