Post Office Murals - 1 (Giddings, Texas)

If the photo in this post looks familiar, it should.  I’ve posted it before.  But I’ve decided to undertake a new Texas history project within this blog (in addition to my courthouse project), and that is a visit to some of the great Post Office murals in this big state.  The murals, examples of New Deal art, were commissioned by the Section of Painting and Sculpture of the U.S. Treasury Department between 1934 and 1943.  During the Great Depression the Public Works of Art Project was developed to bring artist workers back into the job market and assure the American public that better times were on the way.  Nearly $145 million was appropriated for the construction of new buildings, including courthouses, schools, libraries, and post offices, and the Section of Painting and Sculpture focused its goal on reaching as many American citizens as possible.  Since the local post office seemed to be the most frequented government building by the public, the Section commissioned 700 murals to be put on national display.  The Post Office Murals have come to be known as the People's Art.  I discovered a wonderful book called The Texas Post Office Murals by Philip Parisi which contains photos of all the Texas murals, even original photos of a few which have become lost or were destroyed.  The book is full of history about each one.  

Texas was granted 69 murals, 61 of which still exist, although a small number of those are not available for public viewing.  I encountered three of these murals during a trip I took a year ago into Central Texas, but even more exciting I now know that there are seven right here in East Texas within a short 100 miles of where I live, so my goal is to bring the People’s Art of Texas to the people who follow this blog.  Someday perhaps I’ll get the opportunity to travel to more distant parts of the state to see the others.  I’m still lacking 35 courthouse photos of Victorian era courthouses so hopefully having two goals will make all those miles easier to accomplish.

All 50 states and Puerto Rico have Post Office Murals.  You can find a list of your state’s murals by visiting this link.

Cowboys Receiving the Mail

by Otis Dozier - 1939

Giddings, Texas

When commissioned for the Giddings mural, Dozier started with some preliminary sketches featuring Pony Express riders and cowboys receiving mail.  But when he visited Giddings, he found that cowboys in that area were few and far between.  The postmaster informed him that the town instead had one of the largest poultry processing plants in that area, so Dozier began work on some sketches featuring the poultry industry.  Upon being submitted to the Section of Painting and Sculpture, Dozier was informed that the section found the poultry business a bit unsavory and its goal was to supply the public with works of beauty.  He was encouraged to pursue his ideas of cowboys receiving the mail, which he personally felt to be a charming subject which emphasized the mail’s importance in people’s lives.

 

In this mural we see cowboys gathered around a rural mailbox as one of them opens a newly arrived package containing a pair of red cowboy boots, a second cowboy reading a letter he has received (perhaps from a sweetheart?), while the third cowboy sits astride his horse with disappointment on his face, having not received any mail.  The mural includes some mountains in the background, although the landscape around Giddings is completely flat.  Despite this error and the lack of cowboys in Giddings, the community liked the mural and the postmaster has been quoted as saying it was “a first-class job.”

(Historical information for this post has been taken directly from The Texas Post Office Murals by Philip Parisi.)