The WPA & the Golden Age · Reading & the Stage
Curb service - Chicago Public Library
Illinois WPA Art Project, Chicago, 1938
What it is
An unattributed artist for the Illinois WPA Art Project in Chicago built this poster around a single traffic signal, selling the Chicago Public Library's curb bookmobile service from the Randolph Street corridor.
Why it matters
A verified public-domain poster in this school, printed to be seen across a room.
What to notice
A traffic light stands in for a bookmobile: curb service, 10,000 current books, free.
Made by artists on the public payroll — art the country already owned.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Format
- One-sheet
- Poster published
- Illinois WPA Art Project, Chicago, 1938
- Source
- United States Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · cph.3f05168
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. government program work (WPA Federal Art Project), any year. Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 18x24" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
