During the 1930's, at the very height of the Great Depression, the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration set out to employ thousands of collar workers as researchers and writers, as a part of the WPA's relief projects (responding to the 25% unemployment rate of the time). The goal was ambitious and unprecedented - to put unemployed citizens to work developing comprehensive heritage tourist guides to every state in the Union. Despite much controversy and many a misstep, the endeavor was very successful. Christened the American Guide Series, this voluminous set of public domain books, amounting to well over 31,000 pages, is now recognized as a seminal work in American heritage travel literature, history & folklore.  

Although once celebrated by the American public, most have slowly gathered dust on library shelves or disappeared into the hands of book collectors, except for occasional reprints by scholarly publishers or state historical societies. Even libraries have disposed of many perfectly good copies, and most Americans remain quite unaware of their existence. We believe this important body of work deserves to be made available to the American People, by and for whom they were originally written.

Each volume covers the highways and "backroads" of America, following both famous and forgotten routes such as US 66, US 40, Highway 1 and many lesser-known side roads, and including many smaller towns & cities across America, not to mention some forgotten characters and incidents from local history, memory and folklore.

Fortunately, the format of the American Guides lends itself to a much wider online exploration of local American heritage. Without the space limitations of a physical book, we can fulfill the dream of the original Project, and create a truly comprehensive view of American heritage at a local level.

We hope you enjoy our new, improved versions of the American Guides, both online and in print!