Major historical feature · New Deal music
The Federal Music Project was not simply an orchestra program. In Oklahoma it connected professional relief employment, symphonic organizations, dance bands, music education, small-town activity and a statewide argument over where federal music resources should be centered.
The WPA’s 1938 Inventory: An Appraisal of Results of the Works Progress Administration described the Federal Music Project as public work for trained musicians and teachers. At one point the national project employed nearly 16,000 people; by the report date it employed about 10,000.
The report described 40 symphony orchestras, roughly twice as many smaller concert orchestras, 69 bands, 52 dance orchestras, 30 opera and choral units, and additional choruses and vocal groups. It reported more than 4,500 performances per month with average monthly attendance above 3.1 million, plus a large teaching program.
Oklahoma Historical Society research places the Tulsa Federal Music Project symphony approximately from January 1936 through August 1937. The precise legal continuity between Tulsa’s earlier civic symphony and the federally supported orchestra remains unresolved.
Oklahoma City’s federal orchestra was licensed in 1937 to serve the state. Ralph Rose was its first conductor, and its first Oklahoma City concert was January 3, 1938. The first season included more than fifty concerts, including children’s and statewide programs.
The Oklahoma Historical Society identifies Federal Music Project dance bands in Ardmore and Shawnee. These were professional relief-program ensembles and should not be merged with unrelated civic or school bands in the same communities.
Oklahoma research reports that Federal Music Project teachers were placed in 92 small Oklahoma schools. This makes school-music infrastructure—not only public performance—a major part of the project’s Oklahoma legacy.
Oklahoma project descriptions include an African American dance band. The record belongs within the broader history of Black professional and institutional music in Oklahoma and requires continued source-level reconstruction.
Dean Richardson’s proposed Oklahoma program included an Okmulgee band. The proposal is documented; completed operation of that specific ensemble has not yet been independently established and remains a research lead.
The reviewed Oklahoma research reports that Dean Richardson identified roughly 500 people claiming to be professional musicians who were on relief and proposed symphonic groups for Tulsa and Oklahoma City along with recreation workers, an African American dance band, an Okmulgee band and other projects. A separate Oklahoma WPA overview reports more than 200 musicians participating through teaching, music research, small-town orchestras and dance-band work.
Those figures describe different points and categories in the program and should not be treated as a single headcount. They do, however, show that Oklahoma’s Federal Music Project was broader than the two principal symphony stories.
The National Archives identifies Federal Music Project records in Record Group 69, including state narrative reports, education and employment files, performance and attendance records, folk-music material, programs, schedules, press clippings and correspondence. The Oklahoma research package identifies Oklahoma File 651.311 and several 1937 correspondence leads, but those underlying letters were not included in the recovered collection.
Expanded statewide context
This record integrates Federal Music Project and later WPA Music Program material across Oklahoma while preserving city, county, ensemble, and institutional identities as separate records.
The Federal Music Project and Its Oklahoma Program