1. View Collection Categories List
  2. ALL COLLECTIONS
      1. ADAM BELL REWARD NOTICE FOR ESCAPED EN…
      2. AMERICAN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION RECORDS
      3. ARTHUR E. SCOTT PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
      4. ARTIST BOOK: DIRTYLAUNDRY
      5. ATCHISON UNION DEPOT & RAILROAD COMPAN…
      6. BEHIND THE WALL: IMAGES OF EAST GERMANY
      7. BROADSIDE PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
      8. BROADSIDE STUDENT NEWSPAPER COLLECTION
      9. C. HARRISON MANN JR. DIGITIZED MAP COL…
      10. CHRISTINE DRENNON EUROPEAN LANTERN SLI…
      11. COLLIS S. HOUGH CIVIL WAR LETTERS TO H…
      12. COMPLAINT AGAINST WILLIAM HALL BY JOHN PARK
      13. CONTRACT TRANSFERRING TEMPORARY SERVIC…
      14. DANIEL MONSON WORLD WAR II AVIATION CO…
      15. DEED OF GIFT FOR LUCY, AN ENSLAVED WOM…
      16. EDITH MCCHESNEY KER PAPERS
      17. FAIRFAX COUNTY COURT DEMAND TO APPREHE…
      18. FAIRFAX COUNTY COURT SUMMONS OF WITNESSES
      19. FEATURED MEDIA
      20. FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT COLLECTION
      21. FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT PHOTOGRAPH COL…
      22. GEORGE MASON LETTERS TO JOHN AUGUSTINE…
      23. GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY AND STUDENT PU…
      24. GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY PHOTOGRAPH COL…
      25. GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY YEARBOOK COLLECTION
      26. GUSTAV KLEMP GERMAN WORLD WAR I COLLECTION
      27. HAROLD SAUNDERS PAPERS
      28. HAYDEN B. PEAKE HISTORICAL INTELLIGENC…
      29. INDENTURE FOR A MILLER APPRENTICESHIP …
      30. JAMESTOWN, VIRGINIA POSTCARDS
      31. JAPANESE INVASION OF MANCHURIA COLLECTION
      32. JEROME EPSTEIN PAPERS
      33. JOHN MASON VIETNAM LOGS
      34. LAND INDENTURE FROM DENNY FAIRFAX TO A…
      35. LETTER DESCRIBING THE “SNOW RIOT,” A R…
      36. LETTER FROM CORPORAL FRANCIS RONIEN OF…
      37. LETTER FROM HARRY F. BYRD TO SAMUEL TU…
      38. LETTER FROM JOSEPH JANNEY OF LEESBURG,…
      39. LETTER FROM SENATOR JAMES M. MASON TO …
      40. LETTER FROM SENATOR JAMES MASON, LIKEL…
      41. LETTER FROM UNIDENTIFIED CONFEDERATE S…
      42. LETTER TO JAMES H. REID REGARDING THE …
      43. LORD THOMAS FAIRFAX LAND SURVEY
      44. MANUSCRIPTS
      45. MARY ELSIE FOX PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION
      46. MASON FAMILY MANUSCRIPT ACCOUNT BOOK
      47. MEDICAL SLIDES COLLECTION
      48. MIDWEST COMMERCIAL ARCHITECTURE PHOTO …
      49. MILITARY ASSISTANCE COMMAND, VIETNAM T…
      50. NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS WRITTEN BY CALV…
      51. NINETEENTH CENTURY NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRAT…
      52. NOTE FROM GEORGE WYLEY TO DANIEL CLARK…
      53. OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT RECORDS
      54. OLIVER F. ATKINS PHOTOGRAPH COLLECTION…
      55. PLANNED COMMUNITY ARCHIVES COLLECTION
      56. RALEIGH AND CAREW FAMILY CORRESPONDENCE
      57. RANDOLPH H. LYTTON HISTORICAL VIRGINIA…
      58. RENT OF LAND DOCUMENT FROM WILLIAM T. …
      59. ROUND HILL, VA SCHOOL CORRESPONDENCE
      60. STEPHEN S. FULLER PAPERS
      61. VIRGINIA WOOLF LETTER
George Mason University Collections

The Federal Theatre Project FTP was a division of the Works Progress Administration WPA which was established to provide work for unemployed citizens during the Great Depression 1929-1939. The FTP began in August 1935 and flourished as the first and only government sponsored and subsidized theater program in the United States. It was headed by Hallie Flanagan (1890-1969) and was a way for theatrical professionals to gain employment during the Depression. The repertoire of plays was vast including revivals of the classics and new and experimental works like the Living Newspaper. A photographic unit was set up to document the productions and ensure a graphic record of the FTP. The photographers who made up the unit worked in every major city and on each major production. Project photographers recorded not only the actual theater productions themselves they captured on film the reheasals the audience the behind the scenes work of the stage crew and the equipment used to produce FTP plays.