On a recent trip to Martin to see my daughter, I mixed business with pleasure, and took the time to find two more of the FAP murals that were painted by women. (Though I should confess that is doesn’t feel like business at all to me, because I love these adventures I’ve been on lately, and am thoroughly enjoying spending hours immersed in research.)

The first of two murals I found that day, was this one in the tiny town of Gleason, TN. I have quickly learned that one of the greatest things about going to find these murals in person is that I’m visiting little towns that I don’t otherwise see. In TN, as in much of America, the highways now go around small downtown areas, and unless you go out of your way to find them, there are some really great places you will otherwise never experience. Technically, I drive through the edge of Gleason on Rt. 22 every time I go to Martin, but I had never seen the town itself. It had a time stands still feel to it, with a little square that was completely charming on the beautiful day that I visited, where I literally watched neighbors stop to catch up with each other. (I forgot to get pictures of the square, but maybe I’ll make a return trip someday to explore more.)

While the exterior of the post office has a more modern look than the one in Livingston I had previously visited, as soon as I stepped through the doors I knew where to find the mural, because on the inside the layout was exactly the same as the first post office, which seemed quite a lucky coincidence. There the mural was, hanging over the postmaster’s door, for the people of this tiny town to enjoy every day.

This particular mural was painted in 1942 by the Artist, Anne Poor, who would go on to join the Women’s Army Corps during WWII as one of the only female war correspondent/ artists. (Look for more on her in a later post.) This mural was one of the last to be installed in Tennessee before the nation’s focus shifted to the war effort. In it it shows the history of the agriculture in the area, based on the cultivation of sweet potato plants, developed by Mr. W.R. Hawks.¹ with a classic Train Depot in the background, and a market scene in the front.

I really liked this one, in the way that it reminded me of The Wizard of OZ movie, where it starts in black and white and then changed to color once they reach OZ. On the right is the representation of Hawkes the “father” of of sweet potato culture.² In my opinion, much like in the movie, I feel like the black and white section is showing how the area was undeveloped and experiencing hard times, and then Hawks comes in and hands the planter a sweet potato slip, and the rest of the colorful portion of the painting is showing Gleason as a place of progress and prosperity after the town began cultivating this profitable crop. I feel like this technique really helps Poor tell a story of the area in one panel, and I think it’s well done.

1. Hull, Howard. Tennessee Post Office Murals. Johnson City, TN: Overmountain Press, 1996.
2. Ibid.

Last week, while enjoying my youngest daughter’s college spring break, we kicked off our mural hunting adventure on our trip to Standing Stone State Park. We were able to view two of the Modern DMA Walls For Women murals, the FAP mural in Livingston, TN, and this one, located in the Manchester, TN post office on our way back. We have found it’s fun to pop into a post office and ask to photograph their mural, and most locals seem to still be proud to have such beautiful works on the walls of their small rural post offices. I’ve compared it to playing Pokémon Go for history nerds.

This mural was part of the “Forty-Eight State Competition” of 1939 which required that the murals reflect the “American Scene.”₁ American Painter Minna Citron, accomplished this by featuring the Manchester square in the background, and by giving a nod to Tennessee Walking Horses. One of the horses in the painting is said to be modeled after Gene Autry’s famous horse, Champ, Jr. Already an accomplished artist by this time, Minna Citron, participated in several New Deal programs both as an instructor and as an artist. I look forward to seeing her other Tennessee mural located in Newport, TN, in the future.

The original Manchester post office was located at the intersection of McLean and Spring Streets, from 1921 to 1931, when it was moved across the street to the intersection of North Spring and East Fort streets. Originally, the mural was installed at the 1939 WPA constructed post office located at 200 N Spring Street, on the side of the Manchester town square. Today, the mural is housed in the modern postal facility located at 1601 Hillsboro Blvd.₂

1. Hull, Howard. Tennessee Post Office Murals. Johnson City, TN: Overmountain Press, 1996.
2. Campbell, Jane Banks, and Lori Jill Smith. Manchester. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2013.

On our recent trip to Standing Stone State Park, we visited the post office in Livingston, TN to see this fantastic mural, the first of the 10 painted by women that I’m looking to visit across Tennessee. It was painted in 1940 as part of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts (TSFA) program. The Section, as it was known, held a competition for artists to submit their work to be chosen to decorate hundreds of new post offices across the country that were built as part of WPA work projects. In an attempt to create jobs for artists as well as laborers, it was agreed that one percent of the building funds for each new federal building project would go to ornamentation.₁

This particular mural was created by artist, Margaret Covey Chisolm, who chose the classic image of a cabin raising and new pioneers being welcomed to Tennessee by their neighbors, who come bearing gifts of livestock as her subject matter. Despite being painted on the same wall as two other murals I have since visited, this one felt much larger due to the way it extends down between the postmaster’s door and the bulletin boards, and also all the way up to the ceiling. All of the records I have found of the artwork say that it is oil on canvas, but I wonder about that a little, with the way it extends down the wall. Perhaps this one was painted directly on the wall, or maybe the canvas was applied somewhat like wall paper? I’m not sure but it’s interesting trying to find out, either way.

The woodwork and architecture of these old post offices are nearly as interesting as the murals themselves, and I find it interesting that three of the four I’ve visited so far have identical layouts. I’ll have to check and see if they were all designed by the same architect or not. (That’s right, I’ve already visited two more post offices since last week, so you know there will be more tales of my adventures coming soon.) As always, thanks for reading, and maybe I’ll see you out there.

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One part of The New Deal Program that I find particularly interesting is the murals that were commissioned as part of the Federal Art Project (FAP) under the WPA. The works were often installed in newly constructed post offices or other public buildings, and the program was responsible for returning thousands of artists back to work during the Depression years. According to the book Tennessee Post Office Murals one of the interesting things about this program was the way in which the artists were selected to do the work. In an effort to control favoritism and cronyism, there was a blind selection process, where artists submitted their ideas for the project anonymously, therefore their work was selected based on its merit alone. This opened up opportunities for women and artists of color that were otherwise limited to them in the Depression Era. As a result, there are a number of wonderful murals out there that were created by some famous, and some not so famous female artists.

In Tennessee alone, there are twenty-eight murals in TN post offices that were created as part of the FAP project. Ten of these were created by women. Knowing me, you probably see what is coming… I’ve started visiting post offices that contain the murals to see them for myself. There’s something inspiring for me about standing in a Depression Era building viewing a piece of public art that also gives a sense of history of that time. Below you will find a list of the towns in TN with women’s murals, and I will include links to photos from my adventures as I get a chance to visit each of them. If you are curious if there might be a FAP mural near you, be sure to go check out the Living New Deal website, which is a fantastic database of nationwide New Deal projects. Keep exploring, and maybe I’ll see you out there.

• Crossville
• Dresden
• Gleason
• Lafollette
• Lexington
• Livingston
• Manchester
• Newport
• Ripley
• Sweetwater