Polly Duncan’s Cattle Round-Up, added to the Winnemucca Main Post Office as a part of its 1940 renovation project, provides a model example of the New Deal’s Federal Art Project and its goals. Constructed in 1921 by James A. Wetmore, the Neo-Classical Winnemucca Main Post Office was the original home of Cattle Round-Up and was the first federally constructed post office in the northern Nevada town. Today, Cattle Round-Up can be viewed in the city’s new post office building located on Hanson Street.
\nPolly Duncan, a Denver-based artist, completed the mural in 1942 under the Federal Works Agency Section of Fine Arts. Duncan worked in the 1930s under the mentorship of established Coloradan muralist Frank Mechau, who highlighted the beauty of natural western landscapes in his works. Accompanied by a collective of other young artists, she lived in a cottage located in Redstone, Colorado. She assisted Mechau on his own artistic endeavors during the winter of 1936.
\nOnly one of three WPA murals in Nevada, the oil-on-canvas work depicts several cowboys in the foreground as they herd Hereford cows into a shed. In the background, the rest of the herd can be seen against the backdrop of the Nevada landscape with its expansive fields, reflecting the area’s significant local history in cattle ranching.
\nEmigrants first brought the cattle into the area during the 1840s on the Applegate and California trails, where groups founded cattle ranches in the 1850s. The vastness of the Humboldt River Valley landscape, with plenty of space for grazing, made the area a desirable location to raise cattle, and by the 1870s, the industry was thriving with the help of the Central Pacific Railroad’s shipping capabilities. The Hereford cattle depicted in Duncan’s mural were a particularly popular choice of livestock in 1890s Winnemucca for their faster maturation, which in turn enabled greater profits.
\nThe mural is a common example of the type of artwork produced under the Section of Fine Arts-Federal Works Agency and represented the federal government’s goal to provide aid to local communities through employing artists to depict optimistic American images. Indeed, the New Deal-era murals did not typically portray the Great Depression’s difficulties or create generalized images of a geographic American identity. Rather, they often represented local communities. As such, the mural reflects the goals of building American cultural identity in the Intermountain West and democratizing American art as everyday people were able to interact with the image on their regular visits to the post office.
","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"The Treasury Section of Fine Arts financed Polly Duncan to paint Cattle Round-Up in the Winnemucca Main Post Office as a part of its 1940 expansion plan. It is a model example of the regionally focused murals completed as a part of the New Deal’s Federal Art Project, and can now be found in the new Winnemucca Post Office on Hanson Street.","website":"","related_resources":["Kolva, H.J. “Jim,” and Steve Franks. “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Winnemucca Main Post Office.” National Parks Service Digital Asset Management System, 1989. https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/b1422f0a-1f97-4c11-93cc776a6f694b19. ","Mathews, Jane De Hart. “Arts and the People: The New Deal Quest for a Cultural ” The Journal of American History 62, no. 2 (September, 1975): 316–39. https://doi.org/10.2307/1903257. ","Smith, Regina C. et al. Prehistory and History of the Winnemucca District: A Cultural Resources Literature Overview, Cultural Resource Series No. 6. Reno, NV: Nevada State Office of the Bureau of Land Management, 1983. "],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/fcf3a160fc91d54cd57acb409f85430a.jpg":{"id":3108,"mime-type":"image/png","title":""Cattle Round-Up" by Polly Duncan","description":"Hanging in the Post Office, Polly Duncan's New Deal mural is on display. | Courthouselover. Post Office 89445 (Winnemucca, Nevada). July 17, 2012. Via Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/courthouselover/","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/fcf3a160fc91d54cd57acb409f85430a.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/05af9288dc265a276d9d72464a4e6c8f.jpg":{"id":3103,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"A Closer Look at "Cattle Round-Up"","description":"Polly Duncan's Cattle Round-Up is a typical example of New Deal-era murals, with its regional and realistic representation created to support local communities and employ artists in the Great Depression’s wake.
| DVM, Jimmy Emerson. “Winnemucca, Nevada Post Office Mural.” July 25, 2013. Via Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/61278305@N00/9459965115","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/05af9288dc265a276d9d72464a4e6c8f.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/f36cb4b91104f31743c56d5453d31f82.jpg":{"id":3104,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Main Post Office's Renovation","description":"This July 29, 1940, edition of Reno’s Nevada State Journal describes the Main Post Office’s renovation project that preceded Duncan’s mural. During the early 1940s, contractors remodeled the building to include an additional 2,000 square feet of space and expanded areas for governmental offices.
| “Bids Received for Alterations.” Nevada State Journal. July 29, 1940.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/f36cb4b91104f31743c56d5453d31f82.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/383cbdd2e71b329211aa1691f17c4d70.jpg":{"id":3105,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"More about Polly Duncan","description":"This newspaper clipping from a September 27, 1936, edition of Grand Junction, Colorado's Daily Sentinel describes Polly Duncan’s role in a project headed by Frank Mechau. Mechau, whose works often depicted the vast natural landscapes of the Colorado Rockies, is one influence of Duncan’s own projects like Cattle Round-Up. | “Colorado Artist Purchases Home Near Redstone.” Daily Sentinel. September 27, 1936.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/383cbdd2e71b329211aa1691f17c4d70.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/6e0fa2fe98df9dd2af1010ea7b628003.jpg":{"id":3106,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Restoration of "Cattle Round-Up"","description":"An October 21, 1990, clipping from the Reno-Gazette Journal describes Cattle Round-Up's restoration and move to the new post office on Hanson Street.
| “Across Nevada: Humboldt County.” Reno Gazette-Journal. October 21, 1990.","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/6e0fa2fe98df9dd2af1010ea7b628003.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/e8cab91fcc27c33011417e4166a4ffd5.jpg":{"id":3107,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"The Winnemucca Main Post Office","description":"The Winnemucca Main Post Office, where Cattle Round-Up originally hung. James A. Wetmore completed the 1921 building in the Neo-Classical style, indicative through its plain but proper design where the front-facing façade was the most important part of a building. Today, the city continues to use the building as its City Hall.
| NRHP Photos. 90000137-1. National Register of Historic Places, February, 1989. National Register of Historic Places via Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nrhpphotos/","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/e8cab91fcc27c33011417e4166a4ffd5.jpg"}}}