Related Online Resources

The Library of Congress web resources listed below provide additional information on prominent individuals, historical events, communities, and government programs in the U.S. throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

Online Exhibitions

Since the 1990s, the Library of Congress has been providing access to its exhibitions online. While not full-fledged digital collections, these topical presentations include curated selections of both Library collection items and loaned items from other institutions.

View All Library of Congress Exhibitions
African-American Mosaic: WPA
In 1935 Roosevelt formed the Works Progress Administration (later renamed the Work Projects Administration—WPA) to create jobs that would allow individuals to maintain their sense of self-esteem. Even though inequities existed under the New Deal programs, they included ethnic and marginal groups, the financially and politically disenfranchised, the geographically dispersed, and women and children. In particular, many blacks found new employment opportunities, and special programs focused on three centuries of cultural accomplishments of African-Americans, as well as European contributions to national development.
American Treasures of the Library of Congress: Depression Era
This exhibition includes the rarest, most interesting or significant items relating to America’s past. Consisting of more than 250 items, this online exhibition is arranged in the manner of Thomas Jefferson’s own library, the seed from which the present collections grew: Memory (History); Reason (Philosophy, including Law, Science and Geography); and Imagination (Fine Arts, including Architecture, Music, Literature and Sports).
Bound for Glory: America in Color, 1939–1943
Presents color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. The photographs document not only the subjects in the pictures but also the dawn of the era of color photography
Coast to Coast: The Federal Theatre Project, 1935–1939
Explores a unique time in American history when the federal government organized and produced theater events in an effort to provide work for theater professionals who were out of work as a result of the Great Depression. The exhibition features materials from the Library’s Federal Theatre Project Collection.
Life of the People: Realist Prints and Drawings from the Ben and Beatrice Goldstein Collection, 1912-1948
Labor advocate and garment manufacturer Ben Goldstein, with the support of his wife Beatrice, left to The Library of Congress -- and the nation -- a collection of American prints and drawings informed by a sympathy for the condition of working people. A native New Yorker, over decades he collected works that stirred his very personal interest in the city of his birth, the American people, and the human condition during the first half of the twentieth century.

Research Guides

Created by Library of Congress subject specialists, these guides provide researchers with selected resources gathered from the Library's online and print collections, as well as external databases and websites for expanded research.

Consumer Advertising During the Great Depression
This guide explores primary and secondary sources that examine the advertising industry from 1929 to 1933, including advertising agencies, consumer protection groups, and topical sources on gender, race, and radio in advertising.
Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother" Photographs in the Farm Security Administration Collection
Discover more about an iconic image from the Farm Security Administration Collection. This guide discusses photographer Dorothea Lange's work, provides other views of Florence Owens Thompson (the Migrant Mother), and lists additional resources.
Dust Bowl: Topics in Chronicling America
A guide for researching the topic of the Dust Bowl in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
Fine Prints by Federal Art Project Artists in the Library of Congress
This guide summarizes the Prints & Photographs Division’s prints by artists of the Federal Art Project, Graphic Art Division, 1935-1943–part of the Work Projects Administration. Includes information about accessing the prints and related resources.
Franklin D. Roosevelt : A Resource Guide
The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This resource guide compiles links to digital materials related to Roosevelt such as photographs, manuscripts, and sound recordings that are available throughout the Library of Congress Web site.
Great Migration: Finding Pictures
From about 1915-1970, millions of African Americans moved from southern, primarily rural areas of the U.S. to urban areas in the north and west. This guide provides strategies for finding related visual resources.
Harlem Renaissance
African-American expressions of writing, music, and art during the 1920s and 1930s are well represented in the vast collections of the Library of Congress.
Herbert Hoover: A Resource Guide
Herbert Hoover served as the thirty-first President of the United States (1929-33). This guide provides access to digital materials at the Library of Congress, external websites, and a selected print bibliography.
Major Bowes and the Original Amateur Hour
A guide to researching the Original Amateur Hour Collection at the Library of Congress (onsite collection).
Milton Friedman: A Resource Guide
This guide provides background and further reading on economist Milton Friedman, the 1976 recipient of the "Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences" for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory.
National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the New Deal: A Resource Guide
Beginning in 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a series of “New Deal” programs with the goal of getting the U.S. out of the Depression. This guide provides print and electronic resources for researching the NRA and other related recovery efforts.
Rosie the Riveter: Working Women and World War II
The female icon of World War II, "Rosie the Riveter" depicted women workers during World War II. This research guide serves as an introduction to primary and secondary resources on this subject both at the Library of Congress and on the Web.
Wall Street and the Stock Exchanges: Historical Resources
In this guide you will find items that look at the history of Wall Street. Also, given the importance of the specific stock exchanges, we have also included some general titles as well as material that will look at several of the larger exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, and the NASDAQ. We have included older items which can provide a different perspective on Wall Street than we have now, by providing insight into how previous generations viewed Wall Street.
Women in Business and the Workforce
A guide to primary and secondary sources that reveal women's involvement in business, industry, commerce, and entrepreneurship throughout American history.

The Teachers Page

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Find Library of Congress lesson plans and more that meet Common Core standards, state content standards, and the standards of national organizations.

This Month in Business History

This Month in Business History - March:1933 Bank Holiday:
Print and digital resources related to the 1933 Bank Holiday. Less than 48 hours into his presidency, FDR issued Proclamation 2039 which suspended all banking activity, in an attempt to stabilize the banking system.
This Month in Business History- March: Frances Perkins Became the First Female Cabinet Member
Print and Online Resources related to the life of Frances Perkins, who became the 1st woman appointed to a presidential Cabinet when she was sworn in as Secretary of Labor on March 4, 1933.
This Month in Business History: June, 1938:Fair Labor Standards Act Signed
Print and Digital resources related to the signing of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
This Month in Business History: June: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Established
Print and digital resources related to the founding of the FDIC in 1933.
This Month in Business History - June: Signing of the Securities Exchange Act of 1938
Print and digital resources related to the signing of the Security Exchange Act of 1934.
This Month in Business History: December: The Game of Monopoly is Patented
Print and digital resources related to the creation of the game of Monopoly.

Today in History

Today in History (January 20): Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Inauguration
On January 20, 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. president sworn into office in January. It was his second of four inaugurations; the first had been held fours years earlier on March 4, 1933. Roosevelt’s first inauguration had been shadowed by the onset of the Great Depression—within a week of taking office, the new president had declared a federal bank holiday.
Today in History (April 8): Works Progress Administration
On April 8, 1935, Congress approved the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
Today in History (June 15): California Folk Music Project
On June 15, 1939, in Oakland, California, folk music collector Sidney Robertson Cowell recorded Mary MacPhee performing Gaelic songs from the Hebrides, Scotland. The collection California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collected by Sidney Robertson Cowell contains these a cappella performances as well as still photographs, drawings, and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Northern California.
Today in History (June 16): A New Deal: The First 100 Days
Following his inauguration on March 4, Roosevelt immediately sought to stem the financial panic that had begun with the stock market crash of 1929 and to restore public confidence. He started by closing the nation’s banks on March 6. On June 16, 1933, FDR signed the Banking Act, which separated commercial banking from investment banking and established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He also signed the Farm Credit Act, the Emergency Railroad Transportation Act, and the National Industrial Recovery Act (which created the Public Works Administration).
Today in History (July 8) The Depths of the Depression
On July 8, 1932, the stock market fell to its lowest point during the Great Depression.
Today in History (July16): Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
On July 16, 1936, photographer Walker Evans (1903-75) took a leave of absence from the Farm Security Administration (FSA) to accept a summer assignment with Fortune magazine.
Today in History (July 25) Macbeth
A brief feature on Orson Welles production of Macbethfor the Federal Theatre Project.
Today in History (July 28): The Bonus Army
On July 28, 1932, protesters known as the “Bonus Army,” or “Bonus Expeditionary Forces (B.E.F.),” who had gathered in the nation’s capital to demand an immediate lump-sum payment of pension funds (benefits) for their military service during World War I, were confronted by Federal troops (cavalry, machine-gunners, and infantry) following President Herbert Hoover‘s orders to evacuate.

Webcasts From the Library of Congress

About the FSA Collection (September 13, 2011)
Description of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information (FSA-OWI) Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress. History of the New Deal photographic unit and its creation of documentary images from 1935 to 1943, which portray scenes of the Great Depression, farms and small town life, and the buildup of American industry for World War I
Bonus Army: An American Epic
Paul Dickson and Thomas Allen presented a talk about their book, the compelling story of World War I veterans whose demands for better treatment became the Bonus Army March. The bonus was finally paid in 1936, but its ultimate importance lay in paving the way for the passage of the G.I. Bill of Rights on June 22, 1944. Dickson and Allen's book talk marks the 61st anniversary of that bill's passage.
Delight in What It Is to Be American: Sidney Robertson on the Road, 1935-1937 (November 3, 2016)
n her travels as a "government song woman" during the 1930s, folk-music collector Sidney Robertson recorded a wide range of musical expression that would help to shape the folk music revival in the decades that followed. Kluge Fellow Sheryl Kaskowitz discusses how beyond this important musical contribution, Robertson's letters and reports from these trips paint a vivid picture of life in Depression-era America and shed light on the government's use of music in the service of uniting the people during the New Deal.
Documenting America, 1935-1943: The Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Photo Collection
Carl Fleischhauer, co-author of a book about the FSA-OWI photo collection, uses Webcast 1, “About the FSA Collection,” to sketch the history of this famous project that documented American life from the Great Depression to the first years of World War II. In Webcast 2, “Learning from the FSA Collection,” Carl explains how to use the photographs and other materials to better understand the time, the people in the pictures, and the documentary process.
Douglas Brinkley: "Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America"
Douglas Brinkley discusses "Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America" at the 2016 Library of Congress Book Festival in Washington, D.C.
Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932
With the landmark election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as U.S. President in 1932, decades of Republican ascendancy gave way to a half century of Democratic dominance. It was nothing less than a major political realignment as the direction of federal policy shifted from conservative to liberal--and liberalism itself was redefined in the process. In his new book, the first in many decades to examine in its entirety the 1932 presidential election that ushered in the New Deal, Donald A. Ritchie explains how the Democratic Party rebuilt itself after three successive Republican landslides; where the major shifts in party affiliation took place; what contingencies contributed to FDR's victory; and why the new coalition lasted as long as it did.
Frances Perkins, the Woman Behind FDR (March 23, 2009)
Although she is no longer a household name, Frances Perkins was one of the most influential people of the 20th century. Kirstin Downey discussed her new book, "The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience."Franklin Delano Roosevelt named Frances Perkins secretary of labor in 1933. As the first female Cabinet secretary, she spearheaded the fight to improve the lives of America's working people while juggling her own complex family responsibilities.
Learning from the FSA
Suggestions for using the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information (FSA-OWI) Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress to support research. Includes case studies of the photographic documentation of the tenant farm community of Gee's Bend in Alabama by Arthur Rothstein in 1937 and of the New Mexico Hispanic community of Las Trampas by John Collier in 1943.
New Deal Legacy and Contemporary Scholarship, Part 1 (March 14, 2008).
Leading scholars from throughout the United States joined experts from the Library of Congress in the program, "Art, Culture, and Government: The New Deal at 75." A day-long symposium titled "The New Deal Legacy and Contemporary Scholarship" rounded out the two-day event.
New Deal Legacy and Contemporary Scholarship, Part 2. (March 14, 2008)
New Deal Resources: Preserving the Legacy, Part 1. (March 13, 2008)
Leading scholars from throughout the United States joined experts from the Library of Congress in the program, "Art, Culture, and Government: The New Deal at 75." The program began with an afternoon presentation titled "New Deal Resources: Preserving the Legacy." Representatives from the National Archives and Records Administration and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum joined staff from several Library divisions to discuss and display a selection of materials from their New Deal holdings.
Photographs of Ben Shahn, Russell Lee and Marion Post Wolcott
Timothy Egan, a Pulitzer Prize winner and writer for The New York Times, has written the introduction to "The Photographs of Ben Shahn," one of three Library of Congress-published books in the "Fields of Vision" series. He led a discussion of the photos of the Farm Security Administration focusing on the three photographers in the series: Ben Shahn, Russell Lee and Marion Post Wolcott.
A Picture of Humanity: Migrant Mother
The photograph popularly known as "Migrant Mother" has become an icon of the Great Depression. The compelling image of a mother and her children is actually one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made in February or March 1936 in Nipomo, California. Seeing the photograph in the context of related images, understanding the purpose for which it was made, and knowing something of the photographer's and subject's views of the occasion amplify our perspectives on the image, and, at the same time, suggest that no single meaning can be assigned to it.
Rich Remsberg: Hard Luck Blues: Roots Music from the Great Depression (June 02, 2010)
Showcasing American music and music making during the Great Depression, "Hard Luck Blues" presents more than 200 photographs created by the New Deal's Farm Security Administration photography program.
Sidney Robertson Cowell & the WPA California Folk Music Project, 1938-1940 (May 09, 2017)
Catherine Hiebert Kerst discusses how, as a young woman of 35, Sidney Robertson proposed, organized and directed a California Work Projects Administration project designed to survey musical traditions from a wide range of English-speaking and immigrant communities in Northern California. Her efforts generated the WPA California Folk Music Project (1938-1940), a remarkable multi-format ethnographic field collection (with recordings, photographs, sketches and drawings of the musical instruments, and field notes) that captured a unique cross-section of the music that people of many backgrounds were performing at the time.
75th Anniversary of "These Are Our Lives"
The 75th anniversary of "These Are Our Lives," a book of life histories from the Federal Writers' Project and a seminal volume from the New Deal era was celebrated during a Books & Beyond program.
Soul of a People: The origins and legacy of the Federal Writers' Project
David A. Taylor is the writer of "Soul of a People" and co-producer of the accompanying film.

Digitized Print Materials

The following title links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online versions are included below.

Final report on the WPA program, 1935-43 by United States. Federal Works Agency.
Call Number: HD3881 .A565 1943g
Published/Created: [1947]
Available online: PDF version | Page turner version
Also available online from HathiTrust: http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001131675 External

Great Depression and New Deal: A General Resource Guide

Digital Collections: Ask a Librarian