U. S. Work Projects Administration Arkansas Administrative Files

Collection

Identifier: MS Un3 104

Staff Only
Select files to request

Scope and Contents

Materials pertain to the development, functioning and administration of the several programs of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Work Projects Administration in Arkansas, and especially to the formation, operation and affairs of the Arkansas Rural Rehabilitation Corporation's Colonization Project No. 1 (Dyess Rural Rehabilitation Corporation, Dyess Colony, Inc.).

Principle correspondents are William R. Dyess (Arkansas State Emergency Relief Administrator and Work Projects Administrator, 1933-1936), W. Floyd Sharp (succeeding as WPA Administrator in 1936), and other national, regional and state officials of the FERA and WPA. Other correspondents represented, however, include: Homer Martin Adkins, Carl Edward Bailey, Hattie Wyatt Caraway, Howard Milton Colvin, Ben Cravens, Claude Albert Fuller, Junius Marion Futrell, Ezekiel Candler Gathings, John Elvis Miller, Joseph Taylor Robinson, and David Dickson Terry.

Dates

1933-1943

Creator

United States. Works Progress Administration. Arkansas (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Conditions Governing Use

No Use Restrictions Apply. No Interlibrary Loan. Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical / Historical

The implementation of the New Deal in 1935 resulted in older programs being replaced with newer ones in an effort to better bring relief from the effects of the Great Depression. Those programs included the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), which was succeeded by the Works Progress Administration. In Arkansas, former FERA director William Reynolds “W.R.” Dyess, a politician and cotton planter from Mississippi County, became head of the state’s WPA.

The state WPA continued FERA projects, most notably the Dyess Colony in Mississippi County. Begun in 1934 with the founding of the small town of Dyess, the colony served as a harbor for struggling white sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Because of its size, the colony was unique among resettlement projects in Arkansas.

In January 1936 tragedy struck as Dyess and his wife died in an airplane crash. Willous Floyd Sharp, the state WPA’s executive secretary, succeeded Dyess as head of the state WPA. Unfortunately, the WPA became increasingly politicized as Sharp feuded with Governor Carl Baily. The dispute resulted in the revocation of the Dyess Colony charter by the Arkansas Corporation Commission. The colony came under the authority of the Dyess Rural Rehabilitation Corporation (DRRC) and remained a non-profit entity. In 1944 the Farm Security Administration absorbed the DRRC, with federal support for the Dyess Colony ending in 1951.

Despite his feud with Baily, Sharp remained head of the state WPA. The onset of World War II dictated that federal spending be redirected towards supporting the war effort. The state WPA was dissolved in 1943.

Extent

11.44 Linear Feet (20 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in three series:

Series I. Folders Series II. Loose-leaf Binders Series III. Periodicals

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The Arkansas WPA Administrative Files were donated to the Special Collections Division, University of Arkansas Libraries, in November 1970 by Mrs. Floyd Sharp of Little Rock, Arkansas.