Personnel File for the Works Progress Administration

Certification of Eligibility
Works Progress Administration file of Clifford Lutter

From the National Archives and Records Administration ("NARA"), I received nineteen pages of the personnel file of my paternal grandfather, Clifford Lutter (1915-1980), for his work with the Works Progress Administration ("WPA"). I knew he worked for the WPA because he wrote them as his employer when he applied for a Social Security number in 1936. (You can request a copy of this application for a deceased person, no relation necessary.)

Form SS-5 "Application for account number"
Clifford Charles Lutter, dated December 1, 1936.

The information was originally requested on October 14, 2023 via postal mail using NARA's form 14137 (found here on their website).

On January 9, 2024 NARA sent an email indicating that the file was located and the fee for copying was $70. I remitted payment the same day.

Email from NARA
"Please allow time for the scanning and uploading process to be completed. Our staff is minimal and all requested records need to be digitized and redacted prior to delivery, so we care currently looking at a much longer turnaround than is typical."

On January 11, 2024 the file was received via an email link.

Email from NARA
"We apologize for the quality of the documents. Our WPA records were microfilmed and the originals destroyed several decades ago. The images we provide are the best possible quality that we can produce."

The Works Progress Administration, later renamed the Work Projects Administration, was created in 1935 to ease the high unemployment rate in the United States during the Great Depression.

Clifford Lutter entered his adulthood during the Great Depression. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1915 to Howard Lutter (1889-1959) and Ethel Laurel "Laura" Winterton (1891-1962). They lived in Newark, New Jersey, but Howard was performing as a musician in Philadelphia, hence the out-of-state birth. His sister, Beryl, was born in 1918. His parents divorced in 1927. His father remarried in 1928. Clifford resided with his father's newly created blended family.

1930 federal census: 171 Ampere Parkway, Bloomfield, Essex County, New Jersey

Howard Lutter, head; owns a home worth $8,000; owns a radio; age 41; first married at age 23; born in New Jersey.

Fiorita Lutter, wife; age 40; first married at age 21; born in Germany.

Rita Lutter, daughter; age 16; born in New Jersey.

Clifford Lutter, son, age 15; born in Pennsylvania.

Beryl Lutter, daughter; age 12; born in New Jersey.

*Rita was Fiorita's daughter from her first marriage.*

The Great Depression was in full swing as Clifford finished high school and sought employment as a young man.

In 1935, he sought relief from his unemployment through the WPA. He resided in Newark, New Jersey at 8 Gouverneur Avenue with his mother. He began work in December of 1935 as a laborer in Newark at a rate of $55 per month.

Clifford Lutter with his mother, Laura Winterton

Clifford stopped working for the WPA on June 18, 1937 because he became privately employed. He was working as an observer at City Hall Annex in Newark.

A "Reassignment Slip" appears a few times in the file. This informed of a new job title, location, and rate of pay.

Clifford Lutter reassigned to work as a laborer at Port Newark on April 8, 1936
under the WPA.

On September 4, 1936, Clifford was laid-off from his position as a junior statistical field clerk.

At the end of September of 1936, Clifford was reinstated as a junior clerk on the Radio Survey project at the firehouse on Congress and Lafayette Streets in Newark. His salary was 55 cents per hour and 130 hours were allotted. This is the first time that a new home address was used- 55 Chester Avenue.

On November 2, 1936 Clifford signed a Review of Workers Status. He was unemployed for one and a half years. His household grew from two people to three with the addition of his maternal grandmother, Kate Winterton, age 72.

Clifford Lutter's grandmother and mother-
left: Catherine Butterfoss Dunn, wife of William Winterton, (1865-1944)
right: Ethel Laurel "Laura" Winterton, wife of Howard Lutter, (1891-1962)

The most informative page was the Questionnaire filled out on November 10, 1936. Clifford provided information on his background that I did not know. He attended schooling after high school. I cannot make out the name of the school's initials- looks like "N. I. A. (N.Y.C.) 9 months newspaper co." He also attended the American School of Graphology, where he studied handwriting classification for one year. (I'm not sure where this was located.) He worked as a police reporter for the Star Eagle newspaper in Newark for two years before leaving in 1934. His rate was $22 per week. His other occupation was hand writing expert.

In the 1940 census, Clifford was still living at 55 Chester Avenue in Newark with his grandmother and mother. I think that his employment line was misattributed to this mother. He was working as a photographer for the N.Y.A. Project and earned $360 for working 26 weeks in the previous year. This would average out around $13.85 per week, far less than the $22 per week he reported earning when he worked for the newspaper in the early 1930s. N.Y.A. probably stood for National Youth Administration, another program to ease unemployment.

Note: As of this writing, the newspaper Star Eagle is not online. At Newspapers.com is a collection with this title for the years 1907-1916, but is actually the predecessor, The Evening Star.

If your person of interest lived his or her working years in the 1930s in the United States, you may want to inquire of NARA for a WPA personnel file.