Art Institute of Zanesville photograph

Dated ca. 1930-1939, this photograph shows a man walking by the Art Institute of Zanesville, Ohio. This institute was established in 1936 by Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. Ayers, founders of the Ayers Mineral Company in Zanesville. The Ayers were avid art collectors and donated their personal collection to the Institute, which included European master paintings, glass, ceramics, sculpture, and prints. In 1975, the institution relocated to its current location at 620 Military Road in Zanesville and its name changed to the Zanesville Art Center. In 2009, the building was renamed the Zanesville Museum of Art. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939