{"id":2602,"date":"2011-08-29T15:12:03","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T20:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=2602"},"modified":"2011-10-24T11:51:04","modified_gmt":"2011-10-24T16:51:04","slug":"researcher-profile-suzanne-walker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=2602","title":{"rendered":"Researcher Profile: Suzanne Walker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Suzanne Walker has been in our reading room diligently working with the Federal Theatre Project collections<\/a> for the last three weeks. Suzanne was kind enough to allow me to interview her about her project. This is the first in what will become a frequent series of profiles with some of our researchers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Please tell us a little about yourself:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am twenty-one years old and go to school at Barnard College. I am majoring
\nin American Studies, concentrating in media and popular culture 1900-1945.<\/p>\n

Can you describe your research project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My research project centers on the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), which operated from 1935-1939 under the umbrella of the Works Progress Administration, and remains the only instance in the United States\u2019 history of a federally funded andoperated theatre. This project will culminate in the writing of my senior thesis for the American Studies major at Barnard. Ever since I learned of the Federal Theatre Project\u2019s existence, I\u2019ve been fascinated by the possibilities and contradictions inherent in the creation of a national theatre. As I learned more about the history of the FTP, I became particularly interested in the relationship between director Hallie Flanagan\u2019s artistic goals and the day-to-day operations of the small regional theatres. As national director of the Federal Theatre Project, Flanagan harbored ambitious goals both to provide relief to unemployed actors and to create a uniquely \u201cAmerican\u201d theatre relevant to its audience. Flanagan\u2019s definition of an \u201cAmerican\u201d theatre relied on the development of homegrown, local theatres with distinctly regional characters, and my thesis explores to what extent her vision was actually carried out. By focusing on the relationship among
\nFlanagan, her administration, and the numerous regional directors scattered across the country, I hope to demonstrate that Flanagan\u2019s vision of what constituted American theatre could not always be universally applied, and that artistic minds across the country were forced to modify her vision for political, artistic, and economic purposes.<\/p>\n

How did you find the collections here at George Mason University’s archives?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nearly all the bibliographies in books about the Federal Theatre Project reference the playscript and Oral History collections at SC&A, so it seemed like a good place to come to!<\/p>\n

How did you learn about primary source research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My first real experience conducting primary source research was when I worked as a research assistant last summer. One of the archivists showed me how to search for particular sources with the online catalogue, and very patiently showed me how to use the microfilm machine. From there it was a lot of diving in and learning through my own trial and error.<\/p>\n

Do you have any advice on primary source research for other undergraduate students or first-time researchers?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be discouraged if you can\u2019t find what you\u2019re looking for right away\u2014sometimes you\u2019ll find something you were looking for days ago in a place where you least expected it. Also, don\u2019t necessarily start off with a specific idea or thesis. The deeper you get into research the more you will realize that your preconceived notions are never quite in line with how things actually played out. Start out with a very broad idea of what you\u2019re looking for\u2014the documents will speak for themselves.<\/p>\n

What are your impressions of George Mason University? The archives? The DC area?<\/strong><\/p>\n

All three seem absolutely lovely! I\u2019ve been quite impressed with the GMU campus\/facilities, and everyone at the archives has been incredibly friendly and helpful. I still haven\u2019t done much in the DC area other than touristy history stuff, but I\u2019m excited to keep exploring!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suzanne Walker has been in our reading room diligently working with the Federal Theatre Project collections for the last three weeks. Suzanne was kind enough to allow me to interview her about her project. This is the first in what will become a frequent series of profiles with some of our researchers. Please tell us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[256,5],"tags":[25,257,212,214,258],"class_list":["post-2602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-researcher-profile","category-scrc-interest","tag-federal-theatre-project","tag-ftp","tag-primary-source-research","tag-undergraduate-students","tag-wpa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ep5i-FY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3791,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3791","url_meta":{"origin":2602,"position":0},"title":"Federal Theatre Project personal papers","author":"admin","date":"December 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A number of personal collections related to the Federal Theatre Project are now processed and finding aids are available online.\u00a0 The J. Howard Miller papers include custom-made\u00a0 scrapbooks bound by the Milwaukee Handicraft Project, part of the Works Progress Administration of Wisconsin. Inside the scrapbooks are programs, photographs, posters, flyers,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/millerScrapbook1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3461,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3461","url_meta":{"origin":2602,"position":1},"title":"Reprocessing the Federal Theatre Project – Viewshare","author":"admin","date":"June 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Digital projects are a great way to promote collections. At SC&A we having been adding new ways to interact with materials from our collections online. One online tool we are using to highlight the Federal Theatre Project collection is the Library of Congress endorsed Viewshare. Viewshare is a dynamic tool\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-01-at-12.05.26-PM-300x258.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4668,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=4668","url_meta":{"origin":2602,"position":2},"title":"Set models in the Federal Theatre Project personal papers","author":"admin","date":"November 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a number of recent additions to the FTP personal papers collection. The number of boxes in the collection has gone from 9 to 29 since the finding aid was originally created in October 2012. This is mainly due to a processing decision that instead of processing each collection\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"Leve_CherokeeNights","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Leve_CherokeeNights.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6149,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=6149","url_meta":{"origin":2602,"position":3},"title":"The Swing Mikado: Gilbert and Sullivan Reinvented in 1938","author":"admin","date":"February 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here in the Special Collections Research Center, we are gearing up for #GandS2017 - our celebration of all things Gilbert and Sullivan, culminating in the opening of an exhibit of materials from the David and Annabelle Stone Gilbert and Sullivan Collection. One of Gilbert and Sullivan's popular comic operas is\u00a0The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "exhibits"","block_context":{"text":"exhibits","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=22"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/mikado_01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3272,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3272","url_meta":{"origin":2602,"position":4},"title":"Reprocessing the Federal Theatre Project – Playscripts","author":"admin","date":"March 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the first in a new series of blog posts focusing on the reprocessing of The Federal Theatre Project collection. The Federal Theatre Project was a government sponsored large scale arts endeavor that created jobs for thousands of unemployed theatre professionals during the years 1935 to 1939. George Mason\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/swing_socko_vagabond.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3577,"url":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?p=3577","url_meta":{"origin":2602,"position":5},"title":"New FTP finding aid available!","author":"admin","date":"August 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I am happy to announce that a new finding aid for the Federal Theatre Project collection is available! In total the collection numbers 363 boxes of material created by the Federal Theatre Project and donated to George Mason University from the Library of Congress. Originally the collection was much larger\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Federal Theatre Project"","block_context":{"text":"Federal Theatre Project","link":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/?cat=25"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vault217.gmu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/ftp_gifts1-169x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2602"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2777,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions\/2777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vault217.gmu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}