Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the Francis Bosworth papers must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation note

Francis Bosworth papers, C0220, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Francis Bosworth to Special Collections and Archives on October 21, 1978.

Processing Information

Processing and EAD markup completed in November 2012 by Greta Kuriger Suiter.

Biographical note

Francis Bosworth was born in St. Paul Minnesota on November 6, 1904. He attended the University of Minnesota before moving to New York City in 1929. In New York he was the author of several plays, the Head of the Drama Department of the New College at Columbia, and was the Director of the National Play Bureau of the Federal Theatre Project.

The Federal Theatre Project was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided employment for large numbers of artists, writers, and performers during the Great Depression (1929-1939). The Federal Theatre began in 1935 and, until its end in 1939, flourished as the first and only federally sponsored and subsidized theater program in the United States. Directed by Hallie Flanagan (1880-1969), it was a way for theatrical professionals to gain employment during the Depression.

Scope and Content

The Francis Bosworth papers contain personal papers collected by Bosworth from the 1930s to the 1980s. About three-fourths of the material in this collection is about the Federal Theatre Project, other material consists of projects Bosworth worked on for the World's Fair in New York City in 1940, the National Council of Teachers of English 27th annual meeting, a Report of an Experiment in the use of Documentary Playwriting for the teaching of Intercultural Education carried on in Selected Secondary Schools of Westchester County, and correspondence and papers about non-Federal Theatre Project employment. Federal Theatre Project material includes correspondence, memorandums, material on the production It Can't Happen Here, articles written by Bosworth, a radio script, and a collection of National Youth Administration letters.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Related Material

The Works Progress Administration oral histories collection, the Federal Theatre Project collection, the Federal Theatre Project photograph collection, as well as numerous other personal papers.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Federal Theatre Project (U.S.)

Subjects:

• New Deal, 1933-1939.
• Theater--United States.