The National Youth Administration of Texas was an agency of the Work Projects Administration and later the Federal Security Agency and the War Manpower Commission from 1935 to 1943. It offered “work study” jobs to students and youth aged 16 to 25. For the most part, they worked on public buildings, highways and parks all over Texas. Some also were in residence at educational training centers at colleges. Inclusion in the program was based on financial need. After World War II began the agency refocused on the war effort but it was voted out of existence in 1943 as being too expensive and no longer necessary. The NYA in Texas was considered a success however, and served more than 175,000 youth during its existence. Maude H. Walker, the former owner of these photographs, was an official with the NYA in Texas from 1939-1941.
Collection includes photographs of young women being trained at a residential center in Huntsville, Texas, a group portrait of the NYA administration at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, the graduating class at Blinn College residential center, and various administrators and students at the Walker County Fair in Huntsville. Also portrayed are views of the girls’ and boys’ residential centers in Prairie View and Hempstead. One clipping related to Mrs. Walker’s retirement and two letters to Mrs. Walker and one letter from her directing that prints be made of the negatives in this collection are also included.
The collection is open for research. Negatives are accessible by appointment only. Contact repository for appointment.
National Youth Administration of Texas Photograph Collection, 1939-1941, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This collection was processed by Linda Peterson, September 2010.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with
funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
for the Briscoe Center’s