These life histories were written by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. The Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations

Listed here are only nine of the 445 stories concerning the state of Texas. I have selected only a few and of these, all have some connection with either Jack County, Clay County or Jacksboro. A few of the people in the stories were born in the area, moved to the area or passed through the area at some time in their life.

I hope you enjoy reading these stories and I also hope you gain some deeper understanding of the times when our ancestors first came into this area and started raising their families.

H. P. Cook	John W. Fletcher	W. L. Newman
Daniel Boone Sinclair	W. A. Tinney	James Thomas Wood
Mart Banta	Dan J. Wilson	Mrs. M. E. Quisenberry

The mission of the Library of Congress is to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. The goal of the Library's National Digital Library Program is to offer broad public access to a wide range of historical and cultural documents as a contribution to education and lifelong learning. The Library of Congress is not aware of any copyright in the documents in this collection. As far as is known, the documents were written by U.S. Government employees. Generally speaking, works created by U.S. Government employees are not eligible for copyright protection in the United States, although they may be under copyright in some foreign countries. The persons interviewed or whose words were transcribed were generally not employees of the U.S. Government. Privacy and publicity rights may apply.

American Life Histories, Library of Congress takes you to the Internet.

The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of the past. These primary historical documents reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress does not, nor does the author of this website, endorse the views expressed in these collections, which may contain materials offensive to some readers.