The WPA & the Golden Age · Reading & the Stage
Federal Theatre Project presents 10 acts all star vaudeville
Federal Theatre Project / Work Projects Administration, 1938
What it is
This 1938 Federal Theatre Project poster advertises ten acts of vaudeville at the Now and Then Hall in Salem, Massachusetts, showing dancing girls above an orchestra.
Why it matters
Like most WPA poster-shop output it was hand silkscreened in flat colour on board, a method chosen because a few dozen copies could be pulled cheaply without a press. No designer is recorded; the Library of Congress credits only the Work Projects Administration Poster Collection.
What to notice
Ten acts, a chorus line and an orchestra pressed onto one silkscreened sheet for a hall in Salem, Massachusetts.
Made by artists on the public payroll — art the country already owned.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Format
- Theater poster
- Poster published
- Federal Theatre Project / Work Projects Administration, 1938
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN 98516896 (cph.3f05470)
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
