Susan Weininger

Professor Weininger currently is a Professor of Art History at Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL where she recently celebrated 35 years of service. She is the author of many articles and books related to the New Deal, including "Chicago Modern 1893-1945: Pursuit of the New," "BlockPoints: The Annual Journal and Report of the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Volume III and IV, 1996/1998," "The Lost Paintings of Tunis Ponsen (1891-1968) -[Exhibition]," "Ivan Albright," and "Chicago Painting, 1895 TO 1945; The Bridges Collection" among others.

Heather Becker

Heather Becker is an artist, author, historian, educator and entrepreneur. She studied painting and art history on scholarship at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the International School of Art in Italy. She has exhibited her figurative oil paintings nationally and in Europe for over a decade. As an extension of her painting career, she went into the field of art preservation. In 1989 she developed a national business plan for The Chicago Conservation Center, Inc.

The company has become one of the largest private art conservation facilities in the country. Becker purchased The Center from the founder in August 2003. In an effort to bring art back into public education, Becker co-founded the largest mural preservation project in the country's history, restoring hundreds of early twentieth century murals in Chicago. She is also the co-founder of New Deal Preservation Association-Midwest Chapter, a non-for-profit organization which records and preserves works from the New Deal Era.

Mary Emma Thompson

Dr. Thompson has a website on the New Deal art projects at www.rr1.net/users/methomwi/. Her new book has recently been published, "Let's Look for Mail Dellivery in Illinois Post Offices," a companion book to "Let's Look for Lincoln in Illinois Post Offices." You can contact Dr. Thompson for information on obtaining copies via her email address: methomwi@rr1.net. Her list of publications also includes "Depression Era Art in Illinois Post Offices," a video about Illinois Post Office New Deal Art and "A Guide to Depression Era Art in Illinois Post Offices," an informational book with the address, the artist, the title, and, in most cases, the commission and date of Illinois Post Office New Deal art.

Margaret Rung

Margaret Rung teaches American history and directs the Center for New Deal Studies at Roosevelt University. Before coming to Roosevelt, she taught at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada and during the 2000-2001 academic year, she served as a visiting Fulbright lecturer at the University of Latvia in Riga, Latvia. A specialist in 20th century political history, she is also interested in urban and labor history. Her book, Servants of the State: Managing Diversity and Democracy in the Federal Civil Service, 1933-1953, was published by the University of Georgia Press in 2002. She has also written numerous articles concerning the construction of the civil service, Richard Nixon's relationship to bureaucracy, and the historiography of the Progressive Era and New Deal.

Nancy Lorance/Flannery (sometimes Lorance, sometimes Flannery)

Nancy has had a checked career. She began as a psychiatric social worker, then became an air traffic controller before progressing into video production and teaching. After a number of years during which she had a video production company and specialized in heavy metal band live performance videos, she now is an avocational historian and maintains a website devoted to New Deal art project information (http://www.wpamurals.com/) plus does public speaking on the subject.