Michael Hartman with Julie Cronan (left) and Summer Hirtzel (right) at the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, Mass. Photographed by Denise A. Gray.

Michael Hartman with Julie Cronan (left) and Summer Hirtzel (right) at the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, Mass. Photographed by Denise A. Gray.

The University Libraries’ special collections department has awarded honors alumnus Michael Hartman the 2013 Lioneld Jordan Fellowship in Labor and Working Class Studies.

Hartman’s research explores the impact of the post office murals produced during the Depression era and funded by the New Deal’s Work Projects Administration. Twenty-one of the 1,500 murals were created for post offices in Arkansas. The scenes depicted were meant to inspire hope and restore faith in broken financial and political systems. Read More