During the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration was established to help put Americans back to work. While every state used the WPA differently, Illinois and Pennsylvania employed the artists on staff to promote their local zoos. Many of the resulting posters lived on far beyond the WPA itself. Here are a few notable examples organized by artist.

Carken

Frank W. Long

Mildred Waltrip

Arlington Gregg

Hugh Stevenson

Louise Welsh

Unknown Artists

Sidney Jacobson

To be fair, this one isn’t a poster, but the cover for a natural history book created for the NYC WPA.

Who wants to go to the zoo?

[All images courtesy of The Library of Congress.]