Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of New York State Directors' Correspondence and Reports Files

Arranged by type of record, then in reverse chronological order.

This series contains the small quantity of surviving administrative files of the State Director of the Federal Writers' Project. Almost all of the material relates to District Number 2 of the Writers' Project, comprising the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Greene, and Ulster.

There are four types of records included:

1) Correspondence, September 1938 - April 1940, with State WPA officials and field workers and supervisors of the Writers' Project in New York. This correspondence concerns the following subjects: filing of time reports by workers; changes in work hours; return of manuscripts by the State Director for corrections; questions from field workers or supervisors concerning research projects; and work assignments.

2) Daily Work Reports, District 2, November 1939 - April 1941. These reports give the names of each worker, work location, assignment, and number of words of copy submitted each day. Field and office staff are included.

3) WPA Personnel Record Forms, August 1939. These forms are similar to a job application and were used to screen applicants for WPA employment. They provide: name; address; personal background information; names of family members; and educational and employment history.

4) Daily Time Reports, Troy Office, August 1940 - November 1941. These daily "time sheets" provide: date; names of workers; times in and out; total hours worked; and remarks (usually concerning the work location of the worker).

These files were transferred to the State Library at an unknown date. They were subsequently transferred to the Archives as parts of boxes 49 and 54 of old collection #551, accession number -372.

Personnel Record Forms are restricted to protect personal privacy for55 years after creation of form.