While researching one of my ancestors, I discovered that she had worked as a bookbinder for the WPA in Tampa, Florida in 1940.

This is fascinating to me as I once attempted to bind my own books (a la Emily Dickinson) many years ago. It is a grueling process and no, I was not exactly successful at it, but I’ll try almost anything once.


Here is a great article written last year (not by me) about the WPA Bookbinding Project.
https://bookbindersmuseum.org/a-stitch-in-time-bookbinding-and-repair-under-the-wpa/