Creator: Federal Writers’ Project.
Collection number: 3709
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Abstract: W. T. Couch (b. 1901), while director of the University of North Carolina Press, was also a part-time official of the Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration, as assistant and associate director for North Carolina, 1936-1937, and as director for the southern region, 1938-1939. These papers include his correspondence relating to the project, and the life histories of about 1,200 individuals, written by about 60 members of the project after one or more interviews with the subjects. Persons interviewed, many of them African Americans, described life in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. There is a partial index to the many occupations of those interviewed. Also included, on microfilm, are ghost stories, local legends, etc., gathered in the project.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Many of the individuals interviewed for the Federal Writers Project were African American, some of who were formerly enslaved. Race is typically used to identify the interviewee in the notes.
Materials from this collection have been digitized and are available online. Click here to link to the finding aid for this collection and to access the digital items.