The WPA & the Golden Age · See America / Cities & States
This is an adult world, its problems are up to you!
Work Projects Administration Poster Collection, 1938
What it is
Dated 1938, with a verso date stamp of April 9 of that year, this silkscreen advertises free adult education classes.
Why it matters
A globe and a compass carry the design - the instrument of measurement set against the thing to be measured. The exclamation mark does the rest of the work: Depression-era adult schooling sold as civic obligation rather than self-improvement.
What to notice
A globe and a draughtsman's compass, and a slogan that hands the reader the bill for the century.
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
- Work Projects Administration Poster Collection, 1938
- Source
- Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division · 98517060
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
