About the 1930s

The 1930s

Farming in the 1930s - Explore farming life in the 1930s from the Wessels Living History Farm in York, Nebraska.  This site includes photographs, history, and interviews with people who farmed through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.  Quicktime Player is needed for the audio, but transcripts are available.

Portrait of America: Survey Graphic in the Thirties - Browse a collection of 1930s articles from the Survey Graphic magazine. 

1930s Timeline - Browse the political, social, scientific, cultural, and world events of the ’30s by year.

Representing America: the Ken Trevey Collection of American Realist Prints - A collection of prints from the 1930s and 1940s, information about the Federal Arts Project, and a 1930s timeline.  From the University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara.

American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940 - Search the Library of Congress collection of life histories from 24 states during the 1930s. 

The New Deal - This site celebrates the 75th anniversary of the New Deal by providing historic information and the legacy left behind the New Deal programs. 

Art & Music

This Land is Your Land: Rural Music & the Depression - Learn about the evolution of rural music during the Depression. 

Picturing the Century: Dorothea Lange - A digital archive of six of Lange’s photographs from the National Archives.

A New Deal for the Arts - An online exhibit from The National Archives featuring the Federal government’s New Deal art projects of the 1930s and ’40s.  

America from the Great Depression to World War II: Black-and-White Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945 - Search or browse for photographs from the Library of Congress collections of Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information.

Migrant Workers: Dorothea Lange - A photographic exhibit of Dorothea Lange from the Library of Congress Documenting America project.

New York City Block: Walker Evans - A photographic exhibit of Walker Evans from the Library of Congress Documenting America project.

Tenant Farmers:  Arthur Rothstein - A photographic exhibit of Arthur Rothstein from the Library of Congress Documenting America project.

FSA Migratory Labor Camp:  Arthur Rothstein - A photographic exhibit of Arthur Rothstein from the Library of Congress Documenting America project.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression FAQ - Learn about the Great Depression, unemployment, the New Deal, and President Roosevelt from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Teenage Hoboes in the Great Depression - An exhibition of the thousands of teenagers who hitchhiked on the rails during the Great Depression.  The National Heritage Museum’s site includes information on the railroads, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the life of hoboes.

Alternatives for Distressed Banks and the Panics of the Great Depression - A paper that explores the status of distressed banks during the Great Depression by Mark Carlson of the Federal Reserve Board.

The First Measured Century: Measurements and Myths of the Great Depression - A look back at the 1930s and the Great Depression with Ben Wattenberg.  Click on the “Interactivity” link for a timeline and information about the Stock Market Crash and other information.

Looking Back at the Crash of ‘29 - A compilation of articles from the New York Times about the Stock Market Crash of 1929.  Read Floyd Norris’s 1999 article and reprints of the October, 1929 articles.

Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Photographs - A searchable digital collection of photographs of New Deal relief programs from the University of Washington Libraries. 

Works Progress Administration - A collection of articles from the New York Times on the WPA.

Feature Films about the 1930s

Video Documentaries