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Description

Wonderful manuscript map of Manhattan executed for as part of the Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers Project division.

Though the maker is unfortunately unknown, we know that the map was drawn in the FWP Map Department at 7 East 38th Street, on the 5th Floor, on December 9, 1936.

The map may have been intended as an illustration for a written work on the history of Manhattan, though we have not traced it.

The map consists of a general plan of Manhattan from 1800 (possibly derived from the Randel Farm Maps or some composite thereof), a version of the Castello Plan of 1660, and an inset of the Carwitham view, among other vignettes.

Federal Writers' Project

The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It was one of a group of New Deal arts programs known collectively as Federal Project Number One or Federal One. The FWP employed thousands of people and produced hundreds of publications, including state guides, city guides, local histories, oral histories, ethnographies, and children's books. In addition to writers, the project provided jobs to unemployed librarians, clerks, researchers, editors, and historians.

Condition Description
Manuscript in black and red ink on drafting linen. Staining in the upper left corner, as illustrated.