Created in 1935 as part of the United States Work Progress Administration, the Federal Writers’ Project was created to provide employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians and other white-collar workers. John Steinbeck, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Saul Bellow and John Cheever all participated in the program. In this talk Nate Pedersen, Deschutes Public Library community librarian, discusses the Federal Writers' Project.