Now, I'd like to give a more detailed look at the WPA holdings. Although there are other records and resources, let's focus on which states can be found under the following topics:
1. Federal records and archives surveyed
2. Vital statistics surveyed
3. Public records and archives surveyed
4. State records and archives surveyed
5. Municipal and town records/archives surveyed
6. County records and archives surveyed
7. Directories of churches and religious organizations
8. Church records and archives surveyed
9. Microfilmed records and archives surveyed
This information includes only the 48 continental United States and Washington, DC. Excluded are the possessions (Alaska, Hawaii, Virgin Islands, etc.). Please recall that the WPA was terminated during WW2 in 1942.
1. Federal Records and Archives (ship registers and enrollments)
California (Eureka)
Louisiana (New Orleans)
Maine (Machias)
Massachusetts (Barnstable, Boston, Charleston, New Bedford and Plymouth)
Oregon (Marshfield and Portland)
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
Rhode Island (Bristol-Warren and Providence)
2. Vital Statistics
Alabama
Arizona
California
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
Oklahoma
North Carolina
North Dakota
New York
Oregon
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Texas
Utah
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
3. Public Records and Archives
Mississippi (Adams County)
New Jersey (Gloucester County)
New York (Staten Island and Newtown)
Tennessee (Knox and Shelbt Counties)
4. State Records and Archives
California (Northern - Immigration and Housing)
Illinois (State Council of Defense)
Maryland (Allegany, Anne Arundel, Carroll, Garrett, Howard,
Montgomery, Washington, Wicomico Counties)
Michigan (State Police)
New Jersey (Naturalization Records)
Oklahoma
Rhode Island (Legislation Concerning Vital Statistics)
Utah (Census of Weber County and State of Deseret)
5. Municipal and Town Records/Archives
Connecticut (Inventories of Fairfield, Hartford, and New Haven Counties)
Georgia (Inventories of Cook County)
Indiana (Municipal Government in Indiana)
Louisiana (Inventories of Municipal Archives for Franklinton and Thibodaux)
Massachusetts (Inventories of Berksire, Franklin, Hampden, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Worcester Counties)
Michigan (Inventories of Wayne County)
New Hampshire (Inventories of Belknap, Hillsboro, Merrimack, and Rockingham Counties)
New Jersey (Inventories of Essex, Hudson, Monmouth, and Morris Counties)
New York City (Inventories of Bronx and Richmond Boroughs)
Ohio (Inventories of Cuyahoga County)
Rhode Island (Inventories of Kent and Providence Counties)
Texas (Inventory of Brazoria County)
Utah (Inventory of Ogden County)
Vermont (Inventories of Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Grand Isle,
Lamoille, Orleans, Rutland, Windham, and Windsor Counties)
Wisconsin (Inventories of Cudahy, Wauwatosa, and Greendale Counties)
6. County Records and Archives
Alabama (Clay, Colbert, Cinecuh, Cullman, Green, Hale, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Madison, Marengo, Sumpter, Talladega, Wilcox, and Winston Counties)
Arizona (Maricopa, Pima, Santa Cruz Counties)
Arkansas (Baxter, Benton, Carroll, Cleburne, Cleveland, Cross, Faulkner, Hot Springs, Izard, Jackson, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Polk, Saline, Scott, Searcy)
California (Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Mono, Napa, San Benito, San Bernadino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, and Ventura Counties)
Colorado (Alamosa, Arapahoe, Bent, Conejos, Castilla, Fremont, Garfield, Hinsdale, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Prowers, San Miguel, Washington, and Yuma Counties)
Delaware (New Castle County)
Florida (Charlotte, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Hardee, Hendry, Leon, Okaloosa, Pinellas, Sarasota, and Wakulla Counties)
Georgia (Chatham, Clinch, Cook, Dougherty, Echols, Jefferson, Lee, Muscogee, and Richmond Counties)
Idaho (Bingham, Boundary, Clark, Kostenai, Lemhi, Minidoka, Nez Perce, Power, and Teton Counties)
Illinois (Adams, Brown, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Cumberland, Dewitt, Douglas, Effingham, Fayette, Franklin, Jackson, Jo Daviess, Knox, Livingston, Logan, Macopin, Menard, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Piatt, Pike, Rock Island, Salina, Sangamon, Scott, Shelby, St. Clair, Stephenson, and Vermilion Counties.)
Indiana (Allen, Blackford, Boone, Clay, Delaware, Fulton, Greene, Howard, Jay, LaPorte, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Morgan, Posey, St. Joseph, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vanderburgh, Warrick, and Wells Counties)
Iowa (Carroll, Cherokee, Dallas, Dubuque, Ada, Jasper, Montgomery, Polk, Sac, Taylor, and Woodbury Counties)
Kansas (Bourbon, Cherokee, Franklin, Gove, Graham, Gray, Greenwood, Johnson, Montgomery, Morris, Osage, Phillips, Seward, and Shawnee Counties)
Louisiana (Allen, Assumption, Beauregard, Bossier, Caleasien, Grant, Jefferson, Lafayette, Lafourche, Morehouse, Natchitoches, and Orleans Parishes)
Massachusetts (Essex County)
Michigan (Alger, Alpena, Baraga, Bay, Calhoun, Cheboygan, Genesee, Iosco, Iron, Jackson, Marquette, and Muskegon Counties)
Minnesota (Aiken, Anoka, Beltrami, Benton, Big Stone, Blue Earth, Cass, Chippewa, Dakota, Dodge, Douglas, Fairbault, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Grant, Houston, Hubbard, Jackson, Kanabac, Lincoln, Marshall, Martin, Meeker, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Murray, Nicollet, Nobles, Olmsted, Otter Tail, Pipestone, Redwood, Renville, Rice, Rock, Scott, Sherburne, Stearns, Traverse, Wabasha, Washington, Wright, and Yellow Medicine Counties)
Mississippi (Amite, Forrest, Grenada, Humphreys, Lamar, Pearl River, Tippah, Tunica, and Walthall Counties)
Missouri (Cass, Cole, Dallas, Henry, Johnson, Linn, McDonald, Marion, Jasper, Pettis, Pike, Reynolds, Ripley, and Shelby Counties)
Montana (Beverhead, Carbon, Flathead, Gallatin, Lincoln, Madison, Mineral Lake, Missoula, Park, Ravalli, Sanders, Silver Bow, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, and Toole Counties)
Nebraska (Gosper, Greeley, Howard, Loup, Merrick, Seward, and Webster Counties)
Nevada (Douglas, Elko, Eureka, Mineral, Nye, Ormsby, and Washoe Counties)
New Hampshire (Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, Coos, Grafton, and Merrimack Counties)
New Jersey (Bergen, Morris, Ocean, and Passaic Counties)
New Mexico ( Bernalillo, Colfax, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Mora, Otero, Sandoval, San Miguel, Sierra, Torrance, Union, and Valencia Counties)
New York City (Bronx, Kings and Richmond Borough and Counties)
New York State Albany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, and Ulster Counties)
North Carolina (All counties - 3 volumes)
North Dakota (Golden Valley, Mercer, and Williams Counties)
Ohio (Adams, Allen, Ashland, Athens, Brown, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Fayette, Franklin, Geauga, Hamilton, Hancock, Jackson, Knox, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Montgomery, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trunbull, and Washington Counties)
Oklahoma (Atoka, Beckham, Cherokee, Cimarron, Haskell, Lincoln, McIntosh, Mayes, Muskogee, Pittsburg, and Pushmataha County)
Oregon (Benton, Clatsop, Coos, Hood River, Josephine, Klamath, Linn, Morrow, Multnomah, Tillamook, Umatilla, Wasco, and Washington Counties)
Pennsylvania (Adams, Beaver, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Lancaster, Lawrence, Luzerne, Warren, Washington, Wayne, and Westmoreland Counties)
South Carolina (Bennett, Buffalo, Clark, Faulk, Haakon, Jackson, Millette, Miner, and Washabaugh Counties)
Tennessee (Anderson, Bedford, Blount, Bradley, Cheatham, Crockett, Hamilton, Haywood, Loudon, Rutherford, Sullivan, Tipton, and Wilson Counties)
Texas (Bandera, Bastrop, Brown, Caldwell, Calhoun, Denton, DeWItt, Fayettte, Gillespie, Gregg, Guadalupe, Hays, Hood, Jackson, Marion, Milam, Mills, Orange, Robertson, Rockwall, Sabine, Somervell, Uvalde, and Wilson Counties)
Utah (Box Elder, Carbon, Daggett, Emery, Grand, Morgan, Sanpete, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, and Weber Counties)
Vermont (Lamoille County)
Virginia (Ameilia, Brunswick, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Isle of Wight, Middlesex, Powhatan, Prince George, and Southampton Counties)
Washington (Adams, Asotin, Benton, Chelan, Cowlitz, Garfield, Lewis, Lincoln, Pond Oreille, Skagit, Spokane, Stevens, and Yakima Counties)
West Virginia (Gilmer, Grant, Lincoln, Marion, Mineral, Monroe, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Putnam, Randolph, Ritchie, Roane, and Taylor Counties)
Wisconsin (Barron, Buffalo, Chippewa, Clark, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Grant, Jackson, LaCross, Marathon, Monroe, Oneida, Pepin, and Polk Counties)
Wyoming (Goshen, Laramie, Lincoln, Park, Platte, and Sweetwater Counties)
7. Directories of Churches and Religious Organizations
| Arizona | Iowa | Oregon |
| Arkansas | Louisiana | Rhode Island |
| California | Maine | Tennessee |
| Delaware | Michigan | Utah |
| District of Columbia | Minnesota | Vermont |
| Florida | Montana | Wisconsin |
| Idaho | New Jersey | Wyoming |
| Illinois | New Mexico | |
| Indiana | Oklahoma |
8. Church Records and Archives
| Alabama | Massachusetts | North Dakota |
| Arizona | Michigan | Ohio |
| Arkansas | Minnesota | Oklahoma |
| California (Northern) | Mississippi | Pennsylvania |
| Colorado | Missouri | Rhode Island |
| Connecticut | Montana | Tennessee |
| Delaware | Nevada | Utah |
| District of Columbia | Nebraska | Vermont |
| Florida | New Hampshire | Washington |
| Georgia | New Jersey | West Virginia |
| Illinois | New York City | Wisconsin |
| Louisiana | New York State | Wyoming |
| Maryland | North Carolina |
9. Microfilmed Records and Archives
A = Apprentice Records M = Marriages
B = Births S = Slave Registers
I = Immigration T = Tax Lists
L = Land or Deeds W = Wills or Probates
Indiana Allen County Rolls 61 - 64 BLMW
Clark County Rolls 17 - 19, 58 BIW
Dearborn County Rolls 54 - 57 BLM
Floyd County Rolls 13 - 16 BM
Franklin County Rolls 48 - 53 ALMW
Gibson County Rolls 34 - 37 BMW
Harrison County Rolls 7 - 12 BMW
Jefferson County Rolls 20 - 24 BLMTW
Jennings County Rolls 25 - 27 BLMW
Knox County Rolls 28 - 33, 65 BLMSW
Perry County Rolls 59 - 60 LM
Posey County Rolls 38 - 40 BLMW
Scott County Rolls 1 & 2 BLMW
Spencer County Rolls 46 - 47 MW
Warrick County Rolls 41 - 46 BLMW
Washington County Rolls 3 - 6 LMW
Louisiana State: 1911 - 1941 B
New Orleans 1847 - 1901 B
New Jersey Feb 1852 I
1666 - 1786 L
1851 - 1873 I (minors)
Again, this is not a complete list of WPA holdings, but I think the above should give you some areas that are ripe for research. As you can see, some states have a waterfall of information while others a mere trickle.
In conclusion, I've added some websites where you can find WPA information.
WPA-Related Sites
General
- American Life Histories, Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940
(American Memory Project, Library of Congress)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/
- NARA: RG 69--Records of the Work Projects Administration (holdings!)
http://www.nara.gov/guide/rg069.html
- WPA Exhibition (order form)
http://205.166.161.4/lii10200.htm
African American
- African American Mosaic--WPA, Library of Congress (portraits & posters)
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/wpa.html
- American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology University of Virginia (oral histories)
American Slave Narratives: An Online Anthology
- Slave Narrative database at Ancestry.com (oral histories)
(Ancestry subscriber database)
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/biohist/slavnarr/main.htm
And here is a State-by-State listing (sorry, not all states were found):
- List by State (life histories)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/wpastate.html
- Alabama
WPA Life Histories, Alabama
WPA Life Histories from Alabama
- Arizona
Arizona WPA Records, by Jeannie Rogers
Arizona WPA Interview RecordsArizona Territorial Census, 1864
(Ancestry subscriber database)
http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/inddbs/3121.htm
- Colorado
WPA Photo Collection at the Colorado State Archives
http://www.archives.state.co.us/wpa/home.htm
- Connecticut
WPA Life Histories, Connecticut
WPA Life Histories from Connecticut
- Florida
WPA Life Histories, Florida
WPA Life Histories from Florida
- Georgia
Work Progress Administration (WPA) projects in Georgia
http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/selections/index.html
- Illinois
Illinois Historical Records Survey of the Works Projects Administration Record Group 954.00
http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/di/954__002.htm
- Indiana
Indiana WPA Indices
(Tri-State Genealogical Society)
http://www.rootsweb.com/~intsgs/wpa.html
Cass County, Indiana WPA Birth Record Index for 1882-1920
http://www.garlic.com/~marshall/CassCoBR/index.htm
- Louisiana
New Orleans Public Library, WPA Photograph Collection, Louisiana Division
http://nutrias.org/~nopl/photos/wpa/wpaphotos.htm
- Maine
WPA Life Histories, Maine
WPA Life Histories from Maine
- Massachusetts
WPA Life Histories, Massachusetts
WPA Life Histories from Massachusetts
- Minnesota
Index to Rochester, MN newspapers (1859-1912)
(Olmsted County Historical Society)
http://catalog.selco.lib.mn.us/data/ochs/wpasub.cfm
- Missouri
WPA Guide to the "Show Me" State
(Publication for sale)
http://system.missouri.edu/upress/fall1998/wpa.htm
- Montana
Montana State University Libraries, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections WPA records, 1935-1942
http://www.lib.montana.edu/collect/spcoll/findaid/2336.htmlWPA Print Collection, University of Montana/Missoula
http://www.umt.edu/partv/famus/print/wpa/wpa.htm
- Nebraska
WPA Life Histories, Nebraska
WPA Life Histories from Nebraska
- New Hampshire
Works Project Administration: Historic American Buildings Survey of New Hampshire Papers, 1935-1941 (MC 33), Index of Names of People and Places
http://www.izaak.unh.edu/specoll/mancoll/wpahabs4.htm
- New Mexico
WPA Life Histories, New Mexico
WPA Life Histories from New Mexico
- New York
WPA Life Histories, New York
WPA Life Histories from New York
- North Carolina
WPA Life Histories, North Carolina
WPA Life Histories from North Carolina
- Oregon
WPA Life Histories, Oregon
WPA Life Histories from Oregon
- Rhode Island
WPA Life Histories, Rhode Island
WPA Life Histories from Rhode Island
- South Carolina
WPA Life Histories, South Carolina
WPA Life Histories from South Carolina
- Texas
WPA Life Histories, Texas
WPA Life Histories from Texas
- Utah
Works Progress Administration Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah
http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/p169/p169.htmlInventory of the WPA Collection at the Utah State Historical Society
http://history.utah.org/findaids/B00057/
- Vermont
WPA Life Histories, Vermont
WPA Life Histories from Vermont
- Virginia
Virginia WPA Life Histories
http://image.vtls.com:8000/bibdatabases/wpalhabout.htmlPetersburg Public Library Newspaper Index
http://image.vtls.com/collectionsV/PNabout.html
- Washington
WPA Life Histories, Washington
WPA Life Histories from Washington
- Wisconsin
WPA Life Histories, Wisconsin
WPA Life Histories from Wisconsin
OK, there you have it! I hope you will enjoy researching the records of the WPA.
Happy Dae.