Table of Contents

OAH Magazine of History
Volume 15, No 4
Summer 2001

Copyright ©
Organization of American Historians

Using the Web to Explore the Great Depression

Paul Chamberlin

Reprinted from the OAH Magazine of History
16 (Fall 2001). ISSN 0882-228X
Copyright (c) 2001, Organization of American Historians

American Experience
The companion web site to the PBS series The American Experience, <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex>, includes numerous pages devoted to depression-era topics. These pages offer information on their respective subjects, eyewitness accounts, pictures, timelines, maps, full transcripts of the programs, and teacher’s guides to accompany the programs.

FDR: <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/nf/teach/fdr/fdrfc.html>. This page of the American Experience web site provides teachers with ideas for bringing Franklin D. Roosevelt into the classroom. Included are suggestions for teaching FDR’s early career, presidential politics, domestic policy, foreign affairs, and legacy. The result is a good overview of one of the most influential presidents in American history.

Riding the Rails: <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rails/>. This episode focuses on the experience of the more than 250,000 teenagers who were homeless during the height of the Great Depression.

Surviving the Dust Bowl: <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dustbowl/>. Surviving the Dust Bowl tells the story of the thousands of settlers who moved to the southwest in search of fertile land during the depression.

American Memory
Collection Finder: <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/finder.html>. American Memory has digitized thousands of primary sources documenting the nation’s history. The Collection Finder allows visitors to view a list of all collections pertaining to the period 1930-1949. Collections accessible from this list include manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, numerous compilations of folk music, photographs from the Farm Security Administration (FSA), and posters produced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The Learning Page: <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/index.html>. American Memory has created numerous lesson plans that utilize its vast collections in order to teach students about the Great Depression, a list of which is available from this page. “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime: The Effects of the New Deal on the Great Depression” allows students to utilize primary sources in order to understand the impact of the New Deal. “Figuring Somepin ‘Bout the Great Depression” utilizes songs, newspapers, interviews, and photographs of migrant farm workers—valuable specifically when used in conjunction with The Grapes of Wrath. “Immigration and Migration: Today and During the Great Depression” takes a comparative look at the effects of migration on peoples. “Using Oral History” contains a section on the experience of working women during the Great Depression. The site also has several lesson plans suitable for seventh- and eighth-grade students.

National Archives
The National Archives and Records Administration offers lesson plans, primary documents, and exhibits on its web site. Many of these focus on the Great Depression and the New Deal.

Constitutional Issues: Separation of Powers: <http://www.nara.gov/education/teaching/conissues/separat.html>. This lesson plan utilizes primary documents to teach about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s efforts to “pack” the Supreme Court in 1937. Designed to correlate with National History Standards, it includes background information and discussion questions.

A New Deal for the Arts: <http://www.nara.gov:80/exhall/newdeal/newdeal.html>. This exhibit focuses on artwork commissioned as part of the New Deal. It contains a good deal of information—both written and in pictures—about the cultural atmosphere in America during the 1930s.

Picturing the Century: The Great Depression and the New Deal: <http://www.nara.gov/exhall/picturing_the_century/galleries/greatdep.html>. Part of a larger exhibit on the twentieth century, this gallery contains photographs chronicling different aspects of American life during the Great Depression.

New Deal Network
Sponsored by the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute and the Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia University, the New Deal Network, <http://newdeal.feri.org/>, provides research and teaching resources on the New Deal. Sections include a document library with over seven hundred articles, speeches, and letters; a photo gallery with over four thousand images; a classroom section that includes lesson plans; a myriad of links to related sites; and much more. The site has featured pages on such subjects as student activism, art, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The site is updated every few months.

Curriculum Development Projects: <http://newdeal.feri.org/classrm/teach.htm>. This page provides a sample of student-driven web projects dealing with various aspects of the New Deal. Selections include an archive of political cartoons compiled by New York students and an oral history project by students in Indiana (including a fascinating list detailing the cost of basic items during the early 1930s).

Lesson Plans: <http://newdeal.feri.org/classrm/classlp.htm>. Five lesson plans offer opportunities for students to use the WPA Slave Narratives, learn more about the Tennessee Valley Authority’s electrification projects, interpret photographs from the National Youth Administration (NYA), and more.

Additional Sites
Building America: Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal: <http://www.marist. edu/summerscholars/96/fdrhome.htm>. Created by high school students in the Summer Scholars Program at Marist College, this site provides an overview of the Great Depression: Political/ Historical/ Economic/Social impact, an overview of the New Deal, and personal accounts.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Digital Archive: <http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/>. Part of the National Archives and Records Administration’s system of presidential libraries, this collection contains a vast array of material on Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the New Deal. The site’s digital archive features over thirteen thousand primary documents; hundreds of photographs from the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II, and the president himself; audio recordings and motion pictures; and links to other sites of interest.

Jersey Homesteads: <http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/njh/welcome.htm>. Part of the Electronic New Jersey Project, this site explores the history of Jersey Homesteads, a community constructed as part of the New Deal and designed to assist immigrants by providing the opportunity to flee the substandard housing and unemployment of New York City. Aimed directly at students, the site allows visitors to plot their own course through the information, answering questions to consider along the way. The site’s compliance with New Jersey and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) standards is also provided.

Lesson Ideas for the Great Depression Gallery: <http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/museum/techstuf/depressn/dprsidea.html>. The Michigan Historical Center has created lesson plans designed to teach precollegiate students about life during the 1930s. Although the lessons focus on Michigan, they teach historical concepts that are relevant to all students of U.S. history. Activities include an oral history project, a comparison of depression-era and modern housing, and reminiscences of those who lived through the era.

A Short History of the Tennessee Valley Authority: <http://www.tva.gov/abouttva/history.htm>. This web site, maintained by the Tennessee Valley Authority, contains a brief but informative history of this important institution, which was created by Franklin Roosevelt as part of the New Deal and brought electricity to much of rural America. Included on the site are a copy of the 1933 TVA Act establishing the agency and a decade-by-decade timeline.

Unions: Then And Now: <http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/newdeal/index.htm>. Maintained by Davison (MI) Community Schools, this site provides invaluable information on labor history. The site includes high school-level lesson plans on labor history during the New Deal, a background on labor history in general, headlines, political cartoons, and information on labor laws and current labor issues.

Voices from the Great Depression: <http://bookzone.com/wardhill/lp.html>. Created by Ward Hill Press, this teaching outline suggests activities through which students in grades 6-12 can learn about the era. Assignments use excerpts from a variety of mass-market books, most of which should be readily available from libraries.

Paul Chamberlin is a senior history major at Indiana University. During the summer of 2001, he participated in the Organization of American Historians’ undergraduate editorial internship program.