The WPA & the Golden Age · See America / The Parks
Protect your parks
Works Progress Administration, 1938
What it is
A 1938 silkscreen poster reading "Protect your parks," produced unattributed by the Works Progress Administration and held by the Library of Congress. It was printed onto board rather than paper.
Why it matters
It belongs to the WPA's Depression-era conservation posters out of Ohio, work made by government artists to put a public message on a public wall. The argument is civic and blunt: the parks are yours, so keep them. It is one voice in the vast anonymous output of a program that paid artists to design for everyone at once.
What to notice
Look at how flat and dense the colour sits — that is the silkscreen laid onto board, not the thinner wash paper would have given.
Two words, no illustration of consequence — just the instruction, and the trees it stands for.
Provenance
- School
- WPA — Federal Art Project (United States)
- Format
- Travel poster
- Poster published
- Works Progress Administration, 1938
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · LCCN 98517128; digital ID cph.3f05415
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
