Great Depression Web Sites


WWW-Virtual Library:  History:  USA: 1930-1939
http://vlib.iue.it/history/USA/ERAS/20TH/1930s.html

American History 1930-1939 - http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/decade30.html
This site abounds with links within essays to information on art and architecture, literature, fashion and fads, music, events, and people of the time.

Riding the rails - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails
During the Dust Bowl more than 250,000 teenagers took to the "rails" living as hobos.

Surviving the Dust Bowl - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl
Personal stories and poignant photographs relate the Dust Bowl experience.  From Kansas wheat country to the New Deal initiative this site effectively illustrates the extent of the Dust Bowl across the plains.

Library of Congress (United States).- http://www.loc.gov
The gateway to America's history in print (via digitization).
See also:
 

 http://memory.loc.gov/  - The LOC's American Memory site.  Contains full-text and digitized documents:  speeches, photos, Congressional papers (bills, laws, testimony), and much, much more.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html - America from the Great Depression to World War II - This site provides access to over 160,000 b&w and 1600 color photographs from the Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information Collection.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html - American Life Histories: manuscripts from the Federal Writesr Project, 1936-1940 - These life histories were written by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers Project for the U.S. Works Progress Administration from 1936-1940:  over 2900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wwghtml/wwghome.html - Woody Guthrie and the Archive of American Folk Song - A comprehensive site on Woody Gutherie, one of the first American folk singers who wrote songs about the Dust Bowl, migrant workers in Californit, and American life throughout the 1930; and 1940s.  A brief biography is also availabe in full-text:  Rambling Round: the life and times of Woody Guthrie.


National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) - http://www.archives.gov/
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent federal agency whose mission is to preserve the national history of the United States by overseeing the management of all federal records.  The Web site includes a comprehensive list of archival information maintained by various branches of the Federal government, as well as online exhibits, educational material, and information about programs and events.

New Deal Network - http://newdeal.feri.org
This is an educational guide to the Great Depression of the 1930s and is a portal to public works and arts projects of the New Deal.  Primary resources include photographs, searchable by subject, date, author or publisher. Special features include Great Depression and the Arts, and selections from the WPA Slave Narratives project.

Librarians Index to the Internet - http://lii.org/
This web site is categorized by subject headings similar to those used in library catalogs.  Supported and maintained by Californias' State Library, this site is a wonderful place to find quality resources - for information on the depression/dust bowl, search for Depressions--1929 as a subject using the advanced search page. Also check out speciality pages/links clustered under the Grapes of Web (sic Wrath) sites.

And from the University of Virginia's American Studies program:
 

America in the 1930s -
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/home_1.html

In Search of the American Hobo - http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA01/white/hobo/firstpage.html

Woody Guthrie:  this man is your myth, this man is my myth - http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/RADIO/woody/woodyhome.html


 

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