How to Celebrate New Deal 75

Four large panels were completed for a mural at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales by Nils Hogner in 1934. Currently, one of the panels is missing.

Heritage Preservation Month will be one of the focuses of HPD's celebration of the anniversary. A national occurrence each May, in New Mexico, HPD celebrates Preservation Month by publishing a poster, a Calendar of Events with approximately 65 community preservation events held in May, and hosts with the CPRC the Heritage Preservation Awards ceremony where outstanding preservation achievements are honored.

Scheduling an Event

This year, HPD encourages communities to highlight their New Deal resources by holding events that acknowledge their past and illustrate the continued significance of these buildings, infrastructure and art today. The 2008 event form is available online.

Some ideas to build on:

• Tours of buildings and structures built by the WPA
• Hikes along Civilian Conservation Corps trails or events held in parks established under the program
• Evening art strolls to New Deal sculpture, paintings and murals, much of it commissioned under the Public Works of Art Project
• Local theater or musical productions in theaters or auditoriums built during the era, perhaps featuring performers with stories to tell of the Great Depression
• Local productions and performances of plays and music from the era.
• Vintage film screenings
• Parties or receptions to honor and recognize the contributions of the people who lived during the Great Depression
• Publicize your town’s New Deal resources for heritage tourism

Submit Your Form Early

New Deal celebrations begin March 31 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the first of its programs becoming law.

HPD's 2008 events calendar will be published in March to highlight events relating to the New Deal anniversary. Events that relate directly to the anniversary that occur in April or after May also can be published in the Calendar. For an event to appear in the printed Calendar, a completed 2008 event form and any accompanying photographs must be e-mailed to tom.drake@state.nm.us on or before March 3, 2008.

To help event sponsors promote their events, HPD furnishes 10 additional copies of the events calendar and a copy of the annual Heritage Preservation Month poster, a special edition for 2008 commemorating the New Deal.

Awards

Building rehabilitations and restorations, publications, individuals, outstanding archaeology and preservation organizations all have received awards in the past. HPD encourages nominations related to the New Deal under the CPRC award categories, and will accept completed nominations through March 7, 2008. Award nomination forms are available here.

E-mail tom.drake@state.nm.us with information on your community's New Deal celebration.

The Turtle Pond Courtyard of the former Carrie Tingley Hospital for Crippled Children is in Truth or Consequences. The 15-acre facility is near thermal springs and was New Mexico’s first hospital designed for children with paralysis. It was closely connected to the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation where FDR was treated for the disabling effects of polio. The facility now is a retirement center for New Mexico veterans and six of its buildings and other features form the Carrie Tingley Hospital Historic District.