Renovation of Person Hall, 1934

Graham’s friendship with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt meant that the campus received its share of New Deal funds. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the National Youth Administration, and the Civil Works Administration provided money for many physical improvements on campus; students remodeled Person Hall into an art museum, they built new rock walls, and they organized library materials. The Public Works Administration sent the university almost $1.5 million for the erection and renovation of buildings. These funds paid for six new dormitories, Lenoir Dining Hall, and Woollen Gymnasium. With aid from a new federal program to combat disease, the university added a division to train public health workers, which eventually became the School of Public Heath.