Research Guides: U.S. History: Primary Source Collections Online: Depression, Dust Bowl, & New Deal

Great Depression & New Deal: Primary Source Collections

More collections/pieces for New Deal period in the Library of Congress list of New Deal Program resources.

1930s & 40s America in Color
(Library of Congress via Flickr)
America from the Great Depression to World War II: Color Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1939-1945
(Library of Congress)
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project 1936-1940
(Library of Congress)
Built in America: Historic American Buildings Survey / Historic American Engineering Record 1933-present
(Library of Congress)
Bureau of Economic Analysis Includes economic surveys, data, and articles from the 1920s and 1930s, as well as later decades. Look at the National, International, and Regional tabs. (Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Dept. of Commerce)
Civil Works Administration: Photos Photos documenting CWA construction and labor projects in Washington State in the 1930s, under Roosevelt's New Deal. (Univ. of Washington)
Documents from Roosevelt's First One Hundred Days
(Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum)
FERA (Federal Emergency Relief Administration): Photos Approximately 250 photos document FERA contruction and labor projects in Washington State in the 1930s, under Roosevelt's New Deal. (Univ. of Washington)
Fireside Chat Documents from DocsTeach
(National Archives)
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
(Marist College, National Archives and Records Administration)
Great Depression Interviews 110+ hours of interviews with 148 people who experienced the Great Depression (originating from The Great Depression a seven-part documentary series from Blackside, Inc., which first aired on PBS in 1993). (Washington Univ.)
Hoover Dam Construction and History: Photos
New Deal Documents from DocsTeach
(National Archives)
Photogrammar: Explore Great Depression Photos Web-based platform for organizing, searching, and visualizing the 170,000 photographs from 1935 to 1945 created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (FSA-OWI) and held by the Library of Congress. Although the photos are available in numerous places, these tools make it easier to explore them. (Yale Univ.)
Work Projects Administration (WPA) Posters 1936-1943
(Library of Congress)

Dust Bowl Sources Online

California Odyssey: Dustbowl Migration Archives Includes 57 oral history interviews with residents who migrated to the San Joaquin Valley from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas between 1924 and 1939, as well as related historical photographs and other supporting materials. (California State University Bakersfield)
Caroline A. Henderson Digital Collection "Caroline A. Henderson, Mount Holyoke College Class of 1901, farmed a land claim in the Oklahoma Panhandle from 1907 until 1966. She struggled against recurring droughts, dust storms, extreme blizzards, and other disasters. And yet, through all of these troubles, she and her husband chose to stay on their land. Henderson’s firsthand accounts of the Dust Bowl years are preserved in the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections through the letters that she wrote to friends and family members, along with other writings that she published in Practical Farmer and the Atlantic Monthly." (Mount Holyoke)
Dust Bowl Photos: Wind Erosion Multimedia Archive 1930s dust storm photos. (United Stated Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service)
The Plow that Broke the Plains (Film) A 25-minute documentary from the Farm Security Administration in 139, aims to justify New Deal programs that aided farmers hit hard by the Dust Bowl. Includes historical video footage of the devastation.
Voices from the Dust Bowl: Migrant Worker Collection, 1940-41 Experiences of Dust Bowl Refugees in Farm Security Administration migrant work camps in California. (Library of Congress)