The Sixteen Regions
To manage the unprecedented scale of the CWA art program, the federal government divided the nation into sixteen regional districts. Each region was placed under the leadership of a museum director or cultural figure with deep ties to their local art communities. This structure ensured that decisions were made by people who understood the artists, institutions, and public needs of their area.
The regional system became the backbone of the entire project. It shaped hiring, assignments, oversight, and the distribution of murals, prints, sculptures, and craftwork across the country. It also became the template for the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and later the WPA Federal Art Project.
The Sixteen Districts and Their Chairmen
Below is the full list of the sixteen regions as announced by Forbes Watson, technical director of the project.
Region 1 — New England
Francis H. Taylor, Boston
New England states (excluding metropolitan Connecticut)
Region 2 — New York City & State
Juliana Force, Whitney Museum of Art
New York City, New York State, metropolitan Connecticut, and New Jersey metro area
Region 3 — Eastern Pennsylvania & Delaware
Fiske Kimball, Pennsylvania Museum of Art
Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, and non‑metro New Jersey
Region 4 — Washington, D.C. & Mid‑Atlantic
Duncan Phillips, Phillips Memorial Gallery
District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia
Region 5 — The Southeast
J. J. Haverty, High Museum of Art
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida
Region 6 — The Deep South
Ellsworth Woodward, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art
Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama
Region 7 — Missouri & the Central Midwest
Louis La Beaume, City Art Museum of St. Louis
Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa
This is the region most directly connected to the artists documented in the American Regionalism Archive.
Region 8 — Western Pennsylvania & West Virginia
Homer Saint‑Gaudens, Carnegie Institute of Art
Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia
Region 9 — The Great Lakes
William Milliken, Cleveland Museum of Art
Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan
Region 10 — Upper Midwest
Walter S. Brewster, Chicago
Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota
Region 11 — The Mountain Plains
George H. Williamson, Denver
Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota
Region 12 — Texas & Oklahoma
John S. Ankeney, Dallas
Texas, Oklahoma
Region 13 — The Southwest
Jesse L. Nusbaum, Santa Fe
New Mexico, Arizona
Region 14 — Southern California
Merle Armitage, Los Angeles
Southern California including Paso Robles and Hot Springs
Region 15 — Northern California & the Great Basin
Walter Heil, San Francisco
Northern California, Nevada, Utah
Region 16 — The Pacific Northwest
Burt Brown Barker, Portland
Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana
A National Framework
The sixteen‑region system was more than administrative convenience—it was a cultural map of the United States in 1933. It reflected regional identities, artistic traditions, and the museum leadership that shaped public taste. This structure ensured that the CWA art program reached every corner of the country, from New England to the Pacific Northwest.
For Missouri and the central Midwest, Region 7 became the foundation for the artists whose work now fills this archive. Their stories unfold in the pages that follow.