During the Great Depression, libraries all over the United States had to lay off staff members and reduce salaries of those who remained. From the mid-1930s until the outbreak of World War II, several New Deal programs provided money to improve public and school library buildings and services. In Washington state, two federally-funded bookmobiles carried reading material to communities in Grays Harbor and Spokane Counties during the summer of 1940.

This June 8, 1940 photo shows a bookmobile visiting Grayland School in Grays Harbor County. Boys and girls examine the books before checking them out. School principal Buryl Bailey talks with Librarian Frida Germanson. The bookmobile, which visited the school every two weeks, was funded by the federal government's Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.), known until 1939 as the Works Progress Administration.

Written on negative: W.P.A. Bookmobile.