The Greenbelt Museum includes an original International Style house near
the town's center that is restored and furnished with objects from the
period of 1936-1946. It is one of the original structures in the planned
town built under Roosevelt's Resettlement Administration. There are no
display cases. Instead, the house has been restored with furniture and
objects of the simple life which characterized the Great Depression and
the New Deal. Much of the furniture - designed and built to fit these
homes by the New Deal's Special Skills Division - and artifacts in the
collection was bought, used, and has now been donated to the Museum by
Greenbelt citizens. The home also includes objects associated with
everyday life of a middle-class family during these years such as Fiesta
ware and depression glass dishware, kitchen utensils, children's toys,
clothes, and linens. The walls are hung with original architectural
renderings and artwork of Greenbelt created by New Deal artists and
architects. Thours of the house provide visitors with a view of homelife
for ordinary Americans of modest means during the Great Depression and
World War II. Permanent exhibits are of historic and artistic interest. Temporary exhibits focus on specialized aspects of life during that time. The current special exhibit, "“"Living the Healthy Life: Sports, Health and Fitness in the New Deal Era,"”explores the extraordinary changes in fitness and body image that occurred in the 1930s and 1940s.
