[1][2] The program operated from December 8, 1933, to May 20, 1934,[3] administered by Edward Bruce under the United States Treasury Department, with funding from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.

[9] The PWAP sought to produce images focused on the "American Scene", and commissioned paintings and murals that depicted "optimistic visions of America during a time of economic desperation.

"[10] However, many artists disliked the idea of creating art that focused only on the positive aspects of living in America, as people were still experiencing dire hardships and personal tragedies from the Great Depression.

On May 9, 1933, Biddle wrote a letter to newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposing that the U.S. government designate funds for murals in federal buildings "to improve the quality of American life".

When the funding source was identified as the sticking point, Biddle and Bruce met with Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes, who administered the Public Works Administration.

Ickes supported the art program that was proposed, and believed it could be funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, led by Harry L. Hopkins.

This group was made up of Charles Moore, chair of the Fine Arts Commission; Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Rexford Tugwell; Henry Hopkins; Henry T. Hunt of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration of Public Works; Frederic A. Delano, director of the National Capital Planning Commission, who chaired the committee; and Bruce, who was secretary.

Among the lead artists were Maxine Albro, Victor Arnautoff, Jane Berlandina, Ray Bertrand, Roy Boynton, Ralph Chesse, Ben Cunningham, Rinaldo Cuneo, Harold Mallette Dean, Parker Hall, Edith Hamlin, George Albert Harris, William Hesthal, John Langley Howard, Lucien Labaudt, Gordon Langdon, Jose Moya del Pino, Otis Oldfield, Frederick E. Olmsted, Suzanne Scheuer, Ralph Stackpole, Edward Terada, Frede Vidar, Clifford Wight, and Bernard Zakheim.

The structure was completed in 1940 by George Stanley, also a contributor to the Griffith Observatory's Astronomers Monument and who is better known as the sculptor who molded the original Academy Awards' Oscar statue.

[18] This 1934 painting was not recognized as being the work of Charles Sheeler until a General Services Administration art researcher found it in an Interior Department closet in 1983.

[20] Some 300 pieces were shown; Millier mentioned the following as emblematic of the "young, vigorous, colorful, varied" product of the PWAP artists: A report in the Los Angeles Post-Record said the show was drawing "huge crowds.

[28] The Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania hosted a further scaled-down version of this show from October 24 to 30, 1934, with an exhibit of 50 oil paintings and watercolors.

[29][30] In June 1934, the Birmingham Public Library exhibited an oil painting of the Tannehill Furnace by Carrie Hill, a portrait of John Herbert Phillips by Mrs. Effie Gibson, and had received but had yet to display five prints by "Eastern" artists.

[32] The Brooklyn Museum hosted a show in October 1934 of "31 contemporary artists, featuring accessions acquired through the Public Works of Art Project.