Promoting Tourism for the United States Travel Bureau (1936-1939) The Federal Art Project (FAP) was a Works Progress Administration (WPA) Depression Era New Deal program that employed artists in New York City and across the United States to create art during the Great Depression. The See America posters were published by the New York poster project and was separate from the WPA National Park Posters which were published in Berkeley California at the Western Museum Laboratory (WML). Under the New Deal, the U.S. Travel Bureau set out to awaken Americans’ interest in their homeland. Given the conditions of the time – much of Europe and Asia were embroiled in war in the late 1930s – Americans’ opportunities for travel abroad were severely limited and, in any case, the harsh economic realities faced by most U.S. Citizens made distant travel a mere pipe dream. The See America campaign redefined local travel as patriotic and a cornerstone of US national identity. They explicitly urged viewers to, See America, but they also asked that we re-see America as a land capable of providing sustenance and a rebirth of spirit. This spirit was a resource the nation badly needed in its struggle during trying economic circumstance. These posters typically promoted visiting America’s natural wonders and the country’s national parks like Arches National Park in Utah featuring weathered natural sandstone arches, and the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico filled with magnificent stalactites and stalagmites. The original archival images were provided to Buffalo River Co courtesy of The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Our digital archivist has lightly restored and enhanced the images in preparation for printing your Giclee print order. We print the entire image as it was created many years ago. That means we also reproduce the artworks aged patina, subtle imperfections, and signs of aging. Our Giclee prints are created to look like the original, as if you wandered into a vintage store and saw it hanging on the wall with an aged patina that only the vestige of time can impart … so that their timeless essence is evoked for display in your home, office, mountain cabin, or lake house.