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Historical Background

When the prosperous Roaring Twenties ended ab-ruptly with October, 1929’s Stock Market Crash, many Americans looked to the federal government for immediate aid and long-term economic solutions.

The New Deal was introduced by President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration in 1932. His promise to help the American people out of the Great Depression included the creation of dozens of government agen-cies that would increase employment rates, stabilize and regulate the economy, and provide relief for Americans who were suffering financially.

Many citizens supported New Deal agencies and ben-efited from their economic policies, opportunities for employment, heightened standards of living, and pub-lic facilities. However, increasing government inter-vention was also met with hesitation and at times, outright condemnation from people who viewed New Deal policies as a form of socialism.

Though the effects of the Great Depression were still evident until America’s entry in World War II, the New Deal’s tremendous impact can still be seen today in parks, bridges, schools, and lasting agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Suggestions for Teachers

This primary source set is organized thematically and includes sources related to the impact of the Great Depression, Dust Bowl, and New Deal. In addition, sources connect Roosevelt and New Deal politics, as well as the success, failure, and challenges of individual New Deal agencies.

Encourage students to critically analyze these sources and make note of their creators and pub-lication dates to determine their purpose. How were individuals affected differently by the Great Depression or New Deal? How might global events have affected policy in the United States? How did Americans view Roosevelt? How did the New Deal change the future of politics and the relationship between citizens and the federal government?

Teaching with Primary Sources — MTSU

PRIMARY SOURCE SET: GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL

Additional Links

TPS-MTSU Newsletter: February 2018

Lesson Plan: TVA Opportunities for African Americans

Cumberland Homesteads, TN & Skyline Farms, AL

Primary Source Set: Tennessee Valley Authority

Teacher’s Guide: The New Deal

WPA Poster Collection

WPA: The African-American Mosaic

One of several Great Depression-era murals mounted in the World Food Prize Hall of Laure-ates Building, once the Des Moines, Iowa, Pub-lic Library [13 Aug 2016]

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Floyd Burroughs and Tengle children, Hale County, Alabama [Summer 1936]

Oklahoma dust bowl refugees. San Fernando, California [June 1935]

Power farming displaces tenants from the land in the western dry cotton areas. Texas Panhan-dle [June 1938]

Toward Los Angeles,

California [Mar. 1937]

“Why the Newspapers Refrain From Playing

Up News of Fear-Crazy People Forcing

Banks to Close” [Jan. 8, 1932]

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Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children. Mother aged thirty-two. Father is native Californian. Nipomo, California[Feb. or Mar. 1936] Dust storm. Amarillo, Texas [Apr. 1936]

[Map of California by the Rural Reha-bilitation Division showing areas where different crops are grown, proposed location of initial camps for migrants, and routes of migra-tion] [1935?]

Stock watering hole almost completely cov-ered by shifting topsoil. Cimarron County, Ok-

lahoma [Apr. 1936]

Text The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Collecting

Expedition

Years of dust Resettlement Ad-ministration rescues victims, restores land to proper use / / Ben Shahn. [1936]

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Scene in county agent's office, San Augustine, Texas. Farmer is receiv-ing his AAA check [April 1939]

Jitterbugging in Negro juke joint, Saturday even-ing, outside Clarksdale, Mississippi [Nov. 1939]

Knox County, Tennessee (Tennessee Valley Authority

(TVA)). Mr. Bacon adjusts an elec-tric fan for his wife who is using an

electric iron. The Bacons use 500 kilowatt hours of TVA electricity a

month [June 1942]

Southern farmers demand basic principles of New Deal Farm Program be retained. Washington, D.C., Jan. 9. As two southern Senators Ellison D. Smith, left, of South Carolina, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and John H. Bankhead of Alabama, listen intently, Ranson Al-dridge, President of the Mississippi Farm Federa-tion, today told a group of Senators and Repre-sentatives that southern farmers want the basic principles of the New Deal Farm Program re-tained but at the same feel that additional funds should be allotted for benefit payments to produc-ers, 1/9/39

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“Let's go to the Trans-Lux and hiss Roosevelt!” [1936]

Mrs. Catherine Herbster budgets herself carefully. She buys those vegetables and food which are plentiful and cheap. She must see that her family of growing children get the right foods to make them strong and healthy [1941?]

Training. Work Projects Administration (WPA) vocational school. The complicated mechanism of an airplane engine will be no mystery to these District of Columbia students when they finish their WPA vocational training course in airplane mechanics. Upon completion of train-ing, they will be qualified for jobs in some phase of the construction or maintenance of the Unit-ed Nation's air armada [July 1942]

Lunchtime for young migrants at Shafter Camp, California. The nursery school for migrant children is conducted in camp under nursery school teachers trained by WPA (Work Projects Administration), and assigned to work in the camp under WPA project [Feb. 1939]

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Greenbelt cooperator.

[03 Oct 1940]

Hands and cards. Representing New Deal, ca. 1920– ca. 1950

Statue by George Segal of a citizen listening to one of President Roosevelt's "fireside chats" at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. [between 1980 and 20006]

Image 1 of Why I voted for Franklin

D. Roose-velt ... N.

Schafter. 2432 Linden Place, Chicago, Illi-

nois. Reprint-ed from the

Chicago Times. Nov. 2

-3, 1936. [1936]

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WPA mural, Cohen Building, Washington, D.C. [1939-1940]

Wilson Dam, Alabama (Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)). Civilian Conserva-tion Corps (CCC) boy weeds loblolly pine seedlings at TVA nursery [June 1942]

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Roads & Bridges, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Between Cherokee Orchard Road & U.S. Route 321, Gatlinburg vicinity, Sevier, TN [drawing; 1996]

General planning. This photograph is included in the se-ries as a vivid document on the impingement of Twenti-eth Century technology upon the neglected and backward rural scene. The meter on the wall of the rural shack indi-cates that it now receives its share of electricity from the power carried overland by the huge TVA (Tennessee Val-ley Authority) transmission line. TVA program must re-solve the conflict between between modern and ancient ways of life so that individuals, similar to those which are shown in the picture, will be benefited [ca 1933-1945]

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Girls - are you interested in a job? Find out what an occupation has to offer you in pay, employment, security, and promotion : Free classes in occupa-tions. [1936 or 1937]

CCC (Civilian Conser-vation Corps) work-ers, Prince George's County, Maryland [Nov. 1935]

Audio Home In The Government Camp [14 August 1941] “Cornfield Song” by Henry Truvillion [1939]

Annual farm and home week [1941]

Swimming pool created by CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) dam, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania [July 1941]

CITATIONS

Teachers: Providing these primary source replicas without source clues may enhance the inquiry experience for students. This list of citations is supplied for reference purposes to you and your students. We have followed the Chicago Manual of Style format, one of the formats recommended by the Library of Congress, for each entry below, minus the access date. The access date for each of these entries is February 1st, 2018.

Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. One of several Great Depression-era murals mounted in the World Food Prize

Hall of Laureates Building, once the Des Moines, Iowa, Public Library. Des Moines Iowa Polk County United

States, 2016. -08-13. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/

item/2016630744/.

Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Oklahoma dust bowl refugees. San Fernando, California. California Los Angeles

County San Fernando, 1935. June. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/

item/fsa1998018535/PP/.

Evans, Walker, photographer. Floyd Burroughs and Tengle children, Hale County, Alabama. Alabama Hale Coun-

ty, 1936. Summer. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/

fsa1998016876/PP/.

The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.), 08 Jan. 1932. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspa-

pers. Lib. of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025812/1932-01-08/ed-1/seq-1/>

Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Power farming displaces tenants from the land in the western dry cotton areas.

Texas Panhandle. Texas Texas Panhandle, 1938. June. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,

https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa2000001800/PP/.

Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Toward Los Angeles, California. California, 1937. Mar. Photograph. Retrieved

from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa2000000962/PP/ .

Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Migrant agricultural worker's family. Seven hungry children. Mother aged thirty-

two. Father is native Californian. Nipomo, California. 1936 Feb. or Mar. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library

of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa1998021557/PP/.

Rothstein, Arthur, photographer. Dust storm. Amarillo, Texas. 1936 Apr. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library

of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa1998018986/PP/.

[Map of California by the Rural Rehabilitation Division showing areas where different crops are grown, proposed

location of initial camps for migrants, and routes of migration]. 1935?. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,

https://www.loc.gov/item/2002723443/.

Shahn, Ben, Artist, and Publisher United States Resettlement Administration. Years of dust Resettlement Admin-

istration rescues victims, restores land to proper use / / Ben Shahn. United States, 1936. [Washington, D.C.: Re-

settlement Administration, Government Printing Office] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,

https://www.loc.gov/item/88706324/.

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CITATIONS

Rothstein, Arthur, Photographer. Stock watering hole almost completely covered by shifting topsoil. Cimarron

County, Oklahoma, 1936 Apr. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/

fsa1998018980/PP/.

The Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Collecting Expedition. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://

www.loc.gov/collections/todd-and-sonkin-migrant-workers-from-1940-to-1941/articles-and-essays/the-charles-l

-todd-and-robert-sonkin-collecting-expedition/.

Lee, Russell, Photographer. Scene in county agent's office, San Augustine, Texas. Farmer is receiving his AAA

check, 1939 Apr. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/

fsa2000014147/PP/.

Rothstein, Arthur, photographer. Knox County, Tennessee Tennessee Valley Authority TVA. Mr. Bacon adjusts an

electric fan for his wife who is using an electric iron. The Bacons use 500 kilowatt hours of TVA electricity a month.

Knox County Tennessee, 1942. June. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/

item/owi2001006311/PP/.

Harris & Ewing, photographer. Southern farmers demand basic principles of New Deal Farm Program be retained.

Washington, D.C., Jan. 9. As two southern Senators Ellison D. Smith, left, of South Carolina, Chairman of the

Senate Agriculture Committee, and John H. Bankhead of Alabama, listen intently, Ranson Aldridge, President of

the Mississippi Farm Federation, today told a group of Senators and Representatives that southern farmers want the

basic principles of the New Deal Farm Program retained but at the same feel that additional funds should be allotted

for benefit payments to producers, 1/9/39. District of Columbia United States Washington D.C. Washington D.C,

1939. [January 9] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/

item/2016874744/.

Wolcott, Marion Post, photographer. Jitterbugging in Negro juke joint, Saturday evening, outside Clarksdale, Mis-

sissippi, 1939 Nov. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/

fsa2000033025/PP/.

Arno, Peter, photographer. "Let's go to the Trans-Lux and hiss Roosevelt!" 1936. Photograph. Retrieved from the

Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/cartoonamerica/cartoon-punch.html#obj24.

Mrs. Catherine Herbster budgets herself carefully. She buys those vegetables and food which are plentiful and

cheap. She must see that her family of growing children get the right foods to make them strong and healthy, 1941?.

Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/oem2002000560/PP/.

Liberman, Howard, photographer. Training. Work Projects Administration (WPA) vocational school. The compli-

cated mechanism of an airplane engine will be no mystery to these District of Columbia students when they finish

their WPA vocational training course in airplane mechanics. Upon completion of training, they will be qualified for

jobs in some phase of the construction or maintenance of the United Nation's air armada, 1942 July. Photograph.

Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/oem2002004886/PP/.

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CITATIONS

Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Lunchtime for young migrants at Shafter Camp, California. The nursery school for

migrant children is conducted in camp under nursery school teachers trained by WPA (Work Projects Administra-

tion), and assigned to work in the camp under WPA project, 1939 Feb. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of

Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa2000002345/PP/.

Greenbelt cooperator. (Greenbelt, Md.), 03 Oct. 1940. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib.

of Congress. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89061521/1940-10-03/ed-1/seq-2/>

Horydczak, Theodor, Approximately, photographer. Hands and cards. Representing New Deal. Washington D.C,

None. ca. 1920-ca. 1950. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/

thc1995002631/PP/.

Schachter, N. Why I voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt ... N. Schafter. 2432 Linden Place, Chicago, Illinois. Reprint-

ed from the Chicago Times. Nov. 2-3, 1936. Chicago, 1936. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://

www.loc.gov/item/rbpe.24201900/.

Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Statue by George Segal of a citizen listening to one of President Roosevelt's

"fireside chats" at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C. United States Washington D.C,

None. [Between 1980 and 2006] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/

item/2011632182/.

Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. WPA mural, Cohen Building, Washington, D.C. United States Washington

D.C, 2008. December. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/

item/2010720417/.

General planning. This photograph is included in the series as a vivid document on the impingement of Twentieth

Century technology upon the neglected and backward rural scene. The meter on the wall of the rural shack indi-

cates that it now receives its share of electricity from the power carried overland by the huge TVA Tennessee Valley

Authority transmission line. TVA program must resolve the conflict between between modern and ancient ways of

life so that individuals, similar to those which are shown in the picture, will be benefited. Tennessee Valley, None.

Between 1933 and 1945. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/

owi2003050990/PP/.

Rothstein, Arthur, photographer. Wilson Dam, Alabama Tennessee Valley Authority TVA. Civilian Conservation

Corps CCC boy weeds loblolly pine seedlings at TVA nursery. Alabama Lauderdale County Wilson Dam, 1942.

June. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/owi2001006715/PP/.

Young, Karen, creator. Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Title Sheet - Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Roads & Bridges, Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, Between Cherokee Orchard Road & U.S. Route 321, Gat-

linburg, Sevier County, TN, 1996. Drawing. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/

resource/hhh.tn0284.sheet.

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CITATIONS

Girls - are you interested in a job? Find out what an occupation has to offer you in pay, employment, security, and promotion: Free classes in occupations. Illinois, 1936. [Illinois: Federal Art Project, or 1937] Photograph. Re-trieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/98517815/.

Annual farm and home week, 1941. WPA Art Project. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/92500875/.

Rosskam, Edwin, photographer. Swimming pool created by CCC Civilian Conservation Corps dam, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Huntingdon Pennsylvania, 1941. July. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa1997015923/PP/.

United States Resettlement Administration, Mydans, Carl, photographer. CCC Civilian Conservation Corps work-ers, Prince George's County, Maryland. Maryland Prince Georges County, 1935. Nov. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/fsa1997000061/PP/.

Todd, Charles L, Robert Sonkin, Wayne "Gene" Dinwiddie, and Wayne "Gene" Dinwiddie. Home In The Govern-ment Camp. Visalia FSA Camp, 1941. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000278/.

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