WPA Dolls
As America was in the throes of the Great Depression, the Federal government responded with a series of New Deal programs, the largest of which was the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was designed to get Americans back to work through a series of public relief projects. In Milwaukee, one of the most rewarding and successful of these was the WPA Handicraft Project. The architect of the project was Elsa Ulbrecht, an artist whose vision was to create high quality educational materials for schools that centered on the basic teachings of arts and crafts. The project recruited hundreds of women from all walks of life, most of which were uneducated and unskilled for the project’s work. Through training, the women were able to produce useful, educational tools for Milwaukee County schools and institutions.
Dolls were one such item that was created and in high demand. Variations of dolls were produced to satisfy a school’s need. Ethnic dolls were created to educate children on the different cultures around the world. Nursery rhyme dolls were created to help children associated the characters with the story. The dolls were created using a production line method and thousands were produced during the project’s seven year span. As women found private employment, the dolls became harder to produce as the number of skilled doll makers left the project. Like other items that came out of the Handicraft Project, the dolls were valued by educators and enjoyed by children all over the country.
