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Our mission is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home.

    Art for All, Posters for the People

    Detail of WPA era posters hung salon style on a gallery wall

    Public housing posters from the WPA

    Photo by Joe Nolasco.

    Exhibition

    • The Living Room,
      1st floor

    • Free

    “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”
    —Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second inaugural address, 1937

    No government program has left a more visible legacy on the American landscape than the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration. Along with the construction of hundreds of federally funded buildings, including the Jane Addams Homes, the program employed thousands of artists.

    Many of these artists were tasked with creating promotional posters for the programs and social values of the New Deal. In our Living Room space, we have reproduced a collection of WPA posters centered on public housing. Many make the connection between safe, clean, and affordable housing, and other social issues such as health, safety, and crime. They reflect the underlying New Deal philosophy that each type of governmental support does not work in isolation, but rather in tandem with other public goods such as health, safety, education, and art.

    Pick up a poster

    As part of our commitment to this history, the National Public Housing Museum will also periodically commission new posters for people to take away for free. The first posters celebrate joy, community, and affordable housing and are designed by William Estrada, the Museum’s
    2019–2020 Artist as Instigator. 

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    Exhibition Resources

    Additional resources available at the front desk.

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