Great Depression and New Deal: A General Resource
The Library of Congress has digitized primary source materials from its collections documenting life in the United States from the beginning of the Great Depression (c.1929), through the New Deal period and economic recovery (c.1933-39), and the country's preparation for and entry into World War II (1939-1945).
This guide highlights collections of books, historical newspapers, images, interviews and recordings, among other formats documenting this period. It offers tips and strategies to find additional resources through searching the Library's digital collections more broadly by format. This guide also provides links to information on the Library's website related to key events from this time in U.S. history—the stock market crash and its economic reverberations throughout the country; the impact of the Dust Bowl on the economy and lives of rural communities; and, the federal government's response to these challenges. These responses included work relief in its many forms and the blossoming of cultural documentation projects, produced by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and other New Deal agencies, in which the Library's holdings are particularly rich.
The gallery below highlights images from the time period, including photographs and posters from the Prints & Photographs Division at the Library of Congress.
John Collier, Jr., photographer. Bridgeton, New Jersey. FSA (Farm Security Administration) agricultural workers' camp. Children of migrant workers. 1942. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Save your eyes - use your goggles. 1936 or 1937. Work Projects Administration Poster Collection. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Arthur Rothstein, photographer. Children in nursery. Tulare migrant camp. Visalia, California. 1940. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Public school art, Sioux City Art Center made by WPA Federal Art Project, Iowa. Between 1936 and 1939. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division
Walker Evans, photographer. Roadside stand near Birmingham, Alabama. 1936. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Vera Bock, artist. Work pays America! Prosperity. Between 1936 and 1941. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
M. Weitzman, artist. See America Welcome to Montana M. Weitzman. Between 1936 and 1939. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division
Russell Lee, photographer. Negro boys on Easter morning. Southside, Chicago, Illinois. 1941. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
V. Donaghue, artist. For greater knowledge on more subjects use your library often! 1940. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Dorothea Lange, photographer. Eighteen year-old mother from Oklahoma, now a California migrant. 1937. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Joseph Dusek, artist. Plains farms need trees Trees prevent wind erosion, save moisture ... protect crops, contribute to human comfort and happiness. Between 1936 and 1940. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Ben Shahn, photographer. Wife and child of sharecropper, Arkansas. 1935. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Robert Muchley, artist. Protect your hands! You work with them. 1936. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Edwin Locke, photographer. Walker Evans, profile, hand up to face. 1937. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Keep your teeth clean. Between 1936 and 1938. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Robert Muchley, artist. The fly is as deadly as a bomber!! Between 1941 and 1943. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
John Collier, Jr., photographer. Escambia Farms, Florida. Boiling wash water on the McLelland farm. 1942. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Erik Hans Krause, artist. Be clean in everything that concerns your baby. Between 1936 and 1939. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Arthur Rothstein, photographer. Woman washing clothes. Tulare migrant camp. Visalia, California. 1940. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
Erik Hans Krause, artist. Unfair to babies A helpless infant can't go on strike: It depends on your care. Between 1936 and 1938. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.