Federal Writers' Project Quiz

Slave Narratives Collection

• The Library of Congress holds over 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery.
• Fifty hundred black-and-white photographs of former slaves are also part of the collection.
• Collected by the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s.
• The narratives were edited and microfilmed into seventeen volumes titled "Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves" in 1941.
• The collection was digitized from microfilm and original photographic prints in 2000-2001, with support from the Citigroup Foundation.
• The collection is a joint effort of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs divisions.
• No copyright restrictions apply for the materials in this collection, in the US.
• Materials produced by U.S. government employees are typically not subject to copyright protection in the US. However, copyright may apply in foreign countries.
• The individuals interviewed weren't government employees.
• Privacy and publicity rights may apply to the individuals.

Narrative Organization

• Narratives are organized alphabetically by interview location state, and then by surname.
• Administrative files are located at the beginning of Volume 1.
• Administrative files detail FWP instructions and concerns from state directors.
• The original narratives were organized by state, and then alphabetically by informant name within each state.

Historical Context

• The project started in four states (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia) in 1936 to collect individual accounts of life in slavery.
• John A. Lomax, National Advisor on Folklore and Folkways, directed the remaining states to interview former slaves, starting in 1937.
• Field workers were instructed on interview question types and capturing dialect.
• Interviewers often visited informants twice to gather richer accounts.
• Photographs of informants and their homes were often taken.
• Funding for the FWP project ended in 1939.
• Benjamin A. Botkin compiled remaining manuscripts, completed editing, indexing, and selected photographs, all for inclusion.
• The seventeen-volume collection was finalized in 1941..

Related Materials

• Other WPA records exist at the National Archives and Records Administration.
• "The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography" by George P. Rawick contains this data.
• "Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery" and "Voices from Slavery" are based on the Library of Congress collection.

Copyright and Additional Information

• The Library of Congress is not aware of any copyright restrictions on this collection for U.S. use.
• U.S. government employees created the materials.
• Generally, works created by U.S. government employees are not protected by copyright in the U.S., though copyright restrictions may apply in some foreign countries.
• The individuals interviewed were not typically U.S. government employees.
• Privacy and publicity rights might apply to individuals.
• Suggested credit lines:
  • For digital images of typewritten narratives: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division.
  • For digital images of photographs: Library of Congress, [name of custodial division]. (Note: Photograph origin is in the individual photograph record).