The New Deal famously built a great number of public buildings. It also furnished those buildings, turning out an incredible quantity of decorative arts. In New Mexico, the Federal Art Project worked in concert with other New Deal programs and state vocational schools to set up workshops employing mostly Hispano artists to produce Spanish Colonial–style furniture and other items for newly constructed buildings across the state. This bench and an identical duplicate were created for the historic McKinley County Courthouse, which was built through the Public Works Administration in 1938.
