DuPage County Centennial Flower Show Poster - A WPA Federal Art Project - December 2021

Posted by on
We made a stop at the Potbelly's in Willowbrook right off of Route 83 for lunch recently and sat underneath this poster that you see below.  It advertises the DuPage County Centennial Flower Show in Hinsdale on June 9,10, 11.  At the bottom it reads: "Presented by the Home Gardeners of DuPage County".    It is in a lovely vintage frame.

And, if you look even closer at the bottom, you'll see this copy that speaks to how the poster was created:  "Made by WPA Federal Art Project, Chicago, Illinois".  See below for a closeup of that section: 


Pretty cool, right?  I mean...what could be better than a vintage poster that is both LOCAL and about something that I'm into (gardening).  

A quick spin around the Web and it wasn't hard to figure out the provenance of this poster. The Library of Congress has a listing for it and even dates it: Jun 22 1939. I'm guessing that's the day it was added to the collection, so my hunch is that it was sent to DC right after it was printed. If you look around, you'll find that DuPage county split from Cook County in 1839, so 1939 is, indeed, the Centennial.

That means this poster is (or would be) 80+ years old.  Looks incredibly good for a 80-year old poster doesn't it?  That lead me to dig around even more.  Turns out, you can buy reproductions of this poster pretty easily on the Web.  This size is about fifty bucks.   The LoC listing includes an artist's name:  Charles Raymond Long.  He lived from 1909 to 1976.  And, it turns out, he did more local (to us) posters including this Panda one for the Brookfield Zoo.  

Seems that the WPA sponsored the creation of these posters.  I've posted about similar New Deal(ish) projects that I've encountered including the waterfalls at Waterfall Glen that were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps - which was the predecessor of the WPA. I also have a chair in my office that has its roots to the Farm Security Administration which also was a New Deal organization.  The FSA was tasked with creating propaganda through photography.  Neat to see these three things together in the archives here on the blog.  

As for this poster....kudos to the decorators of the Potbelly's there in Willowbrook.  Nice reproduction that sure is of interest to all of us in DuPage County.  If I wasn't thinking of my collecting mantra, it sure feels like something I'd buy RIGHT NOW.

What was it again?  Oh, that's right: "It is enough to enjoy the existence of things without possessing all of them."

Location: 7500 Kingery Hwy #83, Willowbrook, IL 60527, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Be nice to each other here.

Popular posts from this blog

Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

Posted by on
Image
Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera. I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink. I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentage...
Read more

Tom Thayer's Italian Beef Recipe

Posted by on
Image
TOM’S TAILGATER ITALIAN BEEF COURTESY OF Steve Dahl  and  DAHL.COM Ingredients: One 3 ½ to 4 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast One package of Zesty Italian Salad Dressing and Recipe Mix One 16 oz. jar of hot giardiniera One 16 oz. jar of mild giardiniera One dozen baguettes (French rolls) Directions: In a four-quart Crock-Pot, pour in one bottle of giardiniera. Place the roast on top of the layer of giardiniera. Sprinkle the salad dressing mixture on top of the roast. Add the second bottle of giardiniera to the top of the roast. Cover Crock-Pot and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. When fork tender, shred the roast in the Crock-Pot and allow it to combine with the other ingredients. Slice the baguettes in half and pile on the beef and giardiniera mixture. ------------------------------------ For the babe's baptism party, we hosted a collection of family and friends back at our house after the church proceedings. We ordered some of t...
Read more

Overwintering Disneyland Roses With Leaf Mulch - Floribunda Roses - December 2024

Posted by on
Image
Yesterday, I posted photos of how I'm attempting to overwinter some Dahlia tubers in the ground and in a couple of those pics, you might have peeked at the chicken wire cages next to the piles of mulch on the dahlia tubers.  Those chicken wire cages are full of fallen leaves and are set on top of the three Disneyland Rose crowns along the southside of our house. See below for a couple of photos showing how I set up the ring of chicken wire and filled it with mulched-up leaves: These roses struggled this year, so here's hoping this little bit of extra Winter protection is going to help them get through the cold.
Read more