Member Meeting

PSBA Members Meeting

October 6

Archives & Special Collections

Collins Memorial Library

2:00 –  2:30:  Short Business Meeting with Updates about the Organization

2:30 - 4:00 Program and Light Refreshments 

There is no Registration but space is limited to 40

Nancy Brones:  The WPA Sewing Rooms

PSBA Member Nancy Brones will share her journey of research and discovery associated with the creation of her book:  Stitching a Living – The WPA Sewing Rooms, currently on display in the All Stitched Up exhibit at Collins Library.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, sewing rooms, established by President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the Works Progress Administration  Women’s and Professional Projects Division became life sustaining work for women.  The sewing rooms became the backbone of the division. The sewing rooms were the largest employer in the New Deal--56% of all women working for the WPA were employed in the sewing room projects.  Sewing rooms were the largest non-construction project in the WPA, accounting for more than 7% of the total WPA activity.  Sewing rooms could be found in rural areas and large cities alike. As the United States geared up for World War II, many women found better paying jobs in the defense industries. The WPA and the sewing rooms were disbanded in 1943, ending a successful and popular program that gave women not only the means to provide for themselves and their families, but also skills, camaraderie, and a sense of self-worth. Nancy’s extensive research about women and the impact of the sewing rooms has been beautifully translated to her stitched fabric book filled with embroidery floss, silk and metallic threads and vintage quilt pieces.

Nancy shares the following statement:  Needle and thread are as natural to me as writing my name.  I inherited the handwork and textile gene from my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother.  My mother taught me to embroider.  I find the quiet work of needle passing through fabric calming.