LANSING—A new book will highlight Depression-era art and architecture in Michigan to commemorate next year’s 75th anniversary of the New Deal.

Dozens of buildings, sculptures and murals across the state - from East Lansing to Clare to Ann Arbor - are legacies of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The WPA was established in 1935 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. During that period, federal and state programs promoted art by commissioning artists to work on public buildings and other public areas.

Examples of works from that era can be found on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, in Clare at the high school and post office and in Ann Arbor at the Sindecuse Museum of Dental History at the University of Michigan.

The book is a project of the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).

Susan Bandes, director of the Art Museum at MSU, said WPA art was meant for public places where people wouldn’t normally encounter art.

“You don’t need to have a lot of art historical background to enjoy the work,” she said, adding that the subject matter of such works is easily recognizable and relates to the locale.

The works primarily depict the economy of the areas where they are located. For example, there is a strong agricultural influence in the art at MSU, which was founded as Michigan Agricultural College in 1855.

New Deal resources in Michigan haven’t been well documented, and Amy Arnold, a preservation planner at the SHPO who is in charge of the New Deal Anniversary Project, said publishing a book is a great way to fill the gap.

“People don’t realize how vast the government influence was,” she said, noting that many courthouses, schools and post offices were built during the Depression.

Clare Chamber of Commerce employee Kathy Vaillancourt of Farwell said, “I’ve seen the mural at the Clare post office many times- and it’s beautiful. ”

It has an “art-deco feel to it” and has been very well-preserved, she said.

The mural depicts loggers in the snow who are all wearing red and “reflects the lumbering background of the area,” said postal clerk Janeene Wilson.

Wilson has worked at the post office for nine years and passes the mural every day, “It makes me feel quite proud,” she said.

Shannon O’Dell, curator of the Sindecuse Museum, said that the U-M mural was originally in the children’s waiting room of the pediatric dental clinic.

While the museum is on the ground floor, the mural and other historic exhibits are in the atrium.

“The mural depicts the popular children’s story of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe,” she said, “When renovations were taking place in the building in 1998 and 1999, they discovered it had been covered by wallpaper.”

Such pieces of art hold a place in history, and supporters of the arts want to be certain that they aren’t forgotten.

“A book on these works of art would be lovely. Most of these murals are indoors and people don’t realize where to find them,” O’Dell said.

Bandes said, “For many years, murals have been taken down, covered up or buildings have been destroyed.”

Arnold is working with a class of MSU students who will soon go into communities across the state and document WPA works with historical background and photographs.

Cheryl Chidester, a graduate assistant working with Arnold, said the book is intended to “raise awareness of this distinctive American chapter” and to “help facilitate the restoration of the murals.”