The following is an excerpt from Sin Nombre: Hispana & Hispano Artists of the New Deal Era by Tey Marianna Nunn (University of New Mexico Press, 2001), here published with the permission of the author. Additional commentary in italics by Kathy Flynn. Please note that any reproduction of the following without the author's permission is unauthorized.
FEDERAL WRITERS PROJECT echoed the ideals of the Federal Art Project in its effort to document cultural history before its disappearance. The national director was Harry G. Alsberg. The FWP hired unemployed writers to record the lore, stories, and customs of America's past. A series of guidebooks called the "American Guide Series" were researched, collected, and written, providing Americans with an expanding knowledge of their country. ---The series, now highly collectible, included guidebooks from every state and some of the larger cities of the nation. In some states, those guidebooks have been reprinted with additional, updated material. Among the more well-known contributions of the FWP were slave narratives collected from ex-slaves in the southern United States.