Government Information Exhibit

This page highlights the current display of government documents located on the 4th floor of McKeldin Library. The display is changed several times a year.

The U.S. government has a longstanding relationship with artists, both as an employer of artists and as a collector of artwork. In this exhibit, you will find government documents featuring works by a variety of artists, from writers and musicians to photographers and cartoonists. Examples include work by Thomas Moran, who accompanied government surveyors on exhibitions to the West in the 1870's sketching images of the landscape, and Dorothea Lange who photographed migratory workers for the Resettlement Agency and Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression.

You will also see work by cartoonists such as the Charles Schultz, whose "Security is an Eye Patch" featuring Charlie Brown was used by the Public Health Service, and illustrators like Norman Rockwell, whose famous "Four Freedom" posters were used by the Office of War Information to promote the U.S. war bond drive during World War II. Additionally, the exhibit includes information about U.S. government collections of artwork at the Smithsonian, National Gallery, and U.S. Capitol.

Please stop by our exhibit on the 4th floor of McKeldin Library and check out our artistic selections. A special thanks to to Kim Detterbeck for her assistance.

Art & Artists

Art

Art & History from the U.S. Senate

American Art on Postage Stamps

Bureau of Reclamation: Fine Art Collection

Library of Congress: Prints & Photographs Division

National Gallery of Art

Smithsonian American Art Museum

White House Art

Works of Art in the Capitol Complex

Artists

Boris Artzybasheff: WWII Propaganda Posters

Charles Schultz, Security is an Eye Patch

Dr. Seuss: WWII Poster

Norman Rockwell: Office of War Information (OWI)

Thomas Moran and William Henry Jackson: Yellowstone National Park

Thomas Moran at the National Gallery of Art

Will Eisner, Preventive Maintenance

James McNeill Whistler

James McNeill Whistler and the Coast Survey Office

The Life of James McNeill Whistler

Recollections of Whistler While in the Office of the U.S. Coast Survey

Disney Military Insignia

Disney Goes to War

Military Aircraft Nose Art: An American Tradition

National Museum of the USAF: Disney Pins on Wings

World War Posters

The Art of War: World War II Posters from the West Texas A&M Government Documents Collection

Powers of Persuasion: Poster Art from WWII

World War Poster Collection from the University of North Texas Digital Library

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Photography

Ever since Mathew Brady's assistant, Alexander Gardner, captured the dead at Antietam in 1862, photographers have been commissioned to document events in our nation's history. Two such photographers were Ansel Adams and Dorthea Lange, known for their work with the National Park Service, the Farm Security Administration, and the War Relocation Authority.

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams Photographs at the National Archives

Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar

Ansel Adams' Manzanar War Relocation Center Photographs

Manzanar National Historic Site: Ansel Adams Gallery

Dorthea Lange

America's Story from America's Library: Dorthea Lange

Dorthea Lange's Photographs of Migrant Workers

Dorthea Lange "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection

Manzanar National Historic Site: Dorthea Lange Gallery

Mathew Brady & Alexander Gardner

Selected Civil War Photographs

The Civil War as Photographed by Mathew Brady

Antietam National Battlefield: Photography at Antietam

Other Resources

Picturing the Century: 100 Years of Photography from the National Archives

American from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI

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Works Progress/Projects Administration (WPA)

The WPA was the largest agency created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, providing jobs and income to those without jobs during the Great Depression of the 1930's. Along with its public works projects, the WPA also funded artists, musicians, actors, and writers through the Federal Project Number One, specifically the Federal Writer's Project, the Federal Music Project, the Federal Theatre Project, and the Federal Art Project.

More Government Websites Related to Art

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

Smithsonian: Exhibitions

1934: A New Deal for Artists, February 2009 - January 2010
Official Website: Picturing 1930
Flickr Page: @1934

Exhibits Archive

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