Thematic Survey of New Deal Era Public Art in Oklahoma, 2003-2004

Department of Geography, Oklahoma State University; Greiner, Alyson; White, Mark

From introduction: "The Department of Geography at Oklahoma State University, represented by Dr. Alyson L. Greiner as the Principal Investigator and Dr. Mark A White as the art historian, conducted a Thematic Survey of New Deal Era Public Art in Oklahoma during the 2003-2004 fiscal year. This survey was carried out under contract to the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office. The survey included all 77 counties in the state. Thirty-seven examples of public art were identified, documented, and photographed.1 If this art was located within a building, that property was also minimally surveyed using the Historic Preservation Resource Inventory Form. Surveyed properties were also photographed in order to provide views of at least three elevations of each property. This document constitutes the project report for the thematic survey. It explains the research methods used, includes a discussion of the kinds of art and properties surveyed, and presents the results of the project. The historic context provides background information on the development of New Deal art programs, giving particular attention to Oklahoma's experience. An annotated bibliography reviews the essential documents and publications related to the various federal programs that sponsored New Deal art. Professor Mark White of the Department of Art at Oklahoma State University prepared narrative descriptions of the art that include short biographies of the artists, as well as a glossary defining the terminology used in reference to the artworks. Taken together, this information can be utilized to help determine the eligibility of specific properties for listing in the National Register of Historic Places." Funding was provided in part by a 2003 Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office (project number OK-03-401, grant number 40-03-18236) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Thematic Survey of New Deal Era Public Art in Oklahoma, 2003-2004

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