LibGuides Home: History Day Previous Topics: Great Depression

Great Depression

Including programs instituted to address issues arising from the Great Depression.

See also Library's main guides for WPA, Archives, and more.

Franklin D. Roosevelt - History Day Previous Topics
Resources from previous History Day guide. Check our catalog and databases for additional/newer resources. Contains resources that may be of help with future topics.

FDR

Fireside chats online (as President, not sure if any as Governor are included)
- Search for "fireside chat" at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
The public papers and addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, StLib Stacks E806 .R749 v.1-13
These four men; radio biographies of the four most talked-about men in the world, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Franklin D. Roosevelt, presented by the National broadcasting company. [New York, Printed by William E. Rudge's sons, 1941]
- STLib Stacks PN6120.R2 N35
- "A radio series ... built and produced in its entirety by members of the NBC staff."--p. 3
Dec. 7th, 1941, America goes to war : President Franklin D. Roosevelt's messages to Congress, declarations of war, the President's first report of war, the first white paper, official documents, events, and negotiations leading to war, and a background for understanding how and why we went to war and what we are fighting for... / compiled and edited by Harold L. Hitchens (1941)
- STLib Stacks D735 .H5 1941

F. D. R. by Kenneth S. Davis LibGuides: "FDR: The War President opens as Roosevelt has been re-elected to a third term and the United States is drifting toward a war that has already engulfed Europe. Roosevelt, as commander in chief, statesman, and politician, must navigate a delicate balance between helping those in Europe--while remaining mindful of the forces of isolation both in the Congress and the country--and protecting the gains of the New Deal, upon which he has spent so much of his prestige and power. Kenneth S. Davis draws vivid depictions of the lives, characters, and temperaments of the military and political personalities so paramount to the history of the time: Churchill, Stalin, de Gaulle, and Hitler; Generals Marshall, Eisenhower, and MacArthur; Admiral Darlan, Chiang Kai-shek, Charles Lindbergh, William Allen White, Joseph Kennedy, Averell Harriman, Harry Tru-man, Robert Murphy, Sidney Hillman, William Knud-sen, Cordell Hull, Henry Morgenthau, Henry Stimson, A. Philip Randolph, Wendell Willkie, and Henry Wallace. The portrait of Henry Hopkins, who interacted with many of these personalities on behalf of Roosevelt, is woven into this history as the complex, interconnected relationship it was. Hopkins burnished the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt and eased the way for their interactions with Stalin. Another set of characters central to Roosevelt's life and finely drawn by the author includes Eleanor Roo-sevelt, Sara Roosevelt, Missy LeHand, Grace Tully, Princess Martha of Norway, and Daisy Suckley. Integral to this history as well are the Argentina Conference, the Atlantic Charter and the beginnings of the United Nations, the Moscow Conference, lend-lease, the story of the building of the atomic bomb, Hitler's Final Solution and how Roosevelt and the State Department reacted to it, Pearl Harbor and war with Japan, the planning of Torch, and the murder of Admiral Darlan. All these stories intersect with the economic and social problems facing Roosevelt at home as the United States mobilizes for war. The lessons and concerns of 1940-1943 as dissected in this book are still relevant to the problems and concerns of our own time. A recurrent theme is technology: Do people control technology, or does technology control people? Kenneth Davis had the rare gift of writing history that reads with the immediacy of a novel; and though the outcome of this history is well known, the events and people depicted here keep the reader focused on an enthralling suspense story."
Call Number: STLib Stacks E807 .D34 1993
ISBN: 0679415416
Publication Date: 1993

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Impact and Legacy - Miller Center

FDR Library - Biographies and Features
From the FDR Presidential Library
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

FDR's Four Freedoms

freedom of speech, of religion, from want, and from fear.

Library of Congress - search "four freedoms" for images, copies of posters, and more. Then search each individual freedom (ex "freedom from want") - you will get many different results - such as https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/oem2002007531/PP/
WPA documents (the name changed over time, although the initials remained the same)
Liberty and freedom / David Hackett Fischer StLib Stacks E169.1 .F542 2005 LIB USE ONLY Available at public libraries too
The public papers and addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, StLib Stacks E806 .R749 v.1-13

Labels. In enemy-occupied countries where matches are scarce, five tons of them have been circulated by methods which must remain military secrets for the present. They carry this message to every match lighter: "The Four Freedoms--Freedom to speak, Freed
Library of Congress (LOC) image.

Databases

ProQuest Congressional
Comprehensive index and selected full-text source for Congressional publications. Coverage: 1819-
User help pages at https://proquest.libguides.com/congressionalhelp
U.S. Congressional Documents
A HeinOnline digitized collection of the bound and daily versions of the Congressional Record, and its predecessors. Coverage: 1789-.
User help page at https://libguides.heinonline.org/us-congressional-documents
NewspaperARCHIVE.com : Connecticut
Historical newspaper database covering over 100 newspaper titles from cities and towns in Connecticut from 1786 to 2005. You may find newspaper articles, births, deaths, and more with browse by location, date and publication.
Hartford Courant (1764-1999)
Newspaper. Coverage: Access to 1764 - 1998 is a separate subscription provided by the Connecticut State Library and requires a CT State Library card.
New York Times (1851-2019) with Index (1851-1993)
Historical New York Times with Index.Coverage: Full-text: 1851-2019. Index: 1851-1993.

Books, Documents, etc.

Milestone Documents in American History : exploring the primary sources that shaped America by Kelli McCoy (Editor)
Call Number: Online and GIRS Reference E173 .M62 2020
ISBN: 9781935306511
Publication Date: 2020
Online access through our catalog, with a library card for the CT State Library.
full-text primary source documents in American history with expert analysis and commentary. Coverage: from the Revolutionary era to the present day.

Public Documents Masterfile Search

Monthly Catalog - look these up

Monthly Catalog of United States Government PublicationsYear 1941, Page 01444 American - Legion - four freedoms, poster
1941, Page 01518 Four freedoms - and the arsenal of democracy
1941, Page 01444 - Four freedoms - message to 77th Congress, poster
1943, Page 00762 Four freedoms - posters by Norman Rockwell
1942, Page 00962 - United Nations - fight for four freedoms (article)

Aged - problems - value of Four Freedoms House, Inc. (statement) - 1961 L 1.13:G56/27

Housing - aged - Four Freedoms plan (remarks) 1961, Entry 14985 HH 1.7:W37/5

Liberty - four freedoms, basis for free world (address) 1961, Entry 07881 L 1.13:G56/7

Rewards (priz.es, etc.) - Four Freedoms Award, posthumous presentation to John Fitzgerald Kennedy (remarks) C 1.18:R67/27

The four freedoms Y 3.P96/6:2F875

Four freedoms and the arsenal of democracy 1941 PR 32.402:F87

Weaver, Robert C, administrator, Housing and Home Finance Agency, remarks at Four Freedoms dinner Washington, D.C. 1961 HH 1.7:W37/5

Goldberg, Arthur J. Secretary of Labor, statement on receiving Four Freedoms House award, Washington, D.C L 1.13:G56/27

Roosevelt, Franklin D. President, remarks at the White House, on the occasion of his acceptance of the Four Freedoms award 1944 Pr32.2.F825

Saturday Evening Post presents four freedoms, poster 1943 PR 32.5015:F875/ANN.

United Nations fight for four freedoms, rights of all men everywhere 1942 PR 32.5002:F87

Four freedoms 1941 FS 5.20:F87

Commerce - four economic freedoms (address) 1969 C 1.18:ST2/4

The citizen's almanac : fundamental documents, symbols, and anthems of the United States.

HS 8.2:C 49/2011

HS 8.2:C 49/2007 -

Emergency Relief Commission

Here are a few possible resources besides the Archives record group. A link to the Archives Finding Aid is included.

Emergency Relief Commission (RG032)
Archives finding aid.
Archive: "The General Assembly created the Emergency Relief Commission in 1933 (1933 Public Acts, Chapter 276). It was the successor to the Connecticut State Emergency Committee on Employment and the Connecticut Unemployment Commission. The ERC had two functions: approval of local municipal bonds for relief purposes and supervision of emergency unemployment relief projects. Records include files pertaining to projects funded under the Federal Emergency Relief Act and its successor, the Civil Works Administration, both in 1933. In 1935, funding for relief projects was transferred to the new Works Progress Administration. The Commission went out of business on February 1, 1937."

Experience of the Emergency Relief Commission With Relief Administration in Connecticut, Period of the Commission Created by Public Acts 1933, Chapter 32A, July 1, 1933 to February 1, 1935, Continued by Public Acts 1935, Chapter 1, to February 1, 1937. by Connecticut. Emergency Relief Commission ; Connecticut. Governor (1931-1939 : Cross)
Call Number: Conn Doc Em73r 1937 Does not circulate
Publication Date: 1937
Also in Hathi Trust
Report of the Emergency Relief Commission to the Governor, January, 1933-December, 1934 by Report of the Emergency Relief Commission to the Governor, January, 1933-December, 1934
Call Number: Conn Doc Em73r 1934 Does not circulate
Publication Date: [1935]
Also in Hathi Trust https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006165451
General Letter by Connecticut. Emergency Relief Commission
Call Number: Online and Conn Doc Em73 pr Does not circulate
Publication Date: ERA no. 1 – no. 217 (Apr. 2, 1934-Dec. 17, 1935)
Online access through our library catalog.
Great Depression and New Deal

New Deal and FDR

New Deal

Economic relief from the Great Depression
Financial Reforms
- Banking regulations
- Support for economy
Public Works Projects
Federal Programs
- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
- Civil Works Administration (CWA)
- Farm Security Administration (FSA)
- National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA)
- Social Security Administration (SSA)
Three R's
- Relief for the unemployed and poor
- Recovery of the economy back to normal levels
- Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression

New Deal Legal

Legal

Act of March 9, 1933 (Emergency Banking Relief Act), Public Law 73-1, 48 STAT 1.
National Archives copy of the public law
Banking Act of 1933, Public Law 73-66, 48 STAT 162
Glass–Steagall Act - Short Name
Enacting legislation for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
National Archives

FDR Fireside Chats

Fireside Chats - FDR

New Deal, FDR, Depression (History Day)
History Day page for previous topics. Contains resources that may be of help with future topics.
Recorded Speeches and Utterances of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1920-1945
FDR Library "list of recorded utterances by FDR that are housed within the Audio/Visual Collections at the FDR Presidential Library."
Fireside Chats Of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Links to the text of FDR Fireside Chats.
FDR's Fireside Chats (NPS)
National Park Service (NPS) article.
Modern History: Franklin D. Roosevelt - Six Fireside Chats 1933-1938
Internet Archive collection with videos
more...less...
Site: "These clips deal with the New Deal. They include six of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats on the economic policy for fighting the Great Depression. All clips are somewhat edited partial Universal Newsreels. In these recordings Roosevelt reads shortened versions of the speeches. The full texts can be found here:
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/firesi90.html"
Audio/Visual Collections at the Library (FDR Library)
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum A/V collection
G. Robert Vincent Voice Library
Michigan State University Libraries: "The G. Robert Vincent Voice Library is a collection of over 100,000 hours of spoken word recordings, dating back to 1888. The collection includes the voices of over 500,000 persons from all walks of life. Political and cultural leaders and minor players in the human drama are captured and cataloged to serve the research needs of a local, national and international user base. Clients include students and faculty of Michigan State University, other scholars and researchers, broadcasting networks, news agencies and film, video, and Web production companies."
more...less...
Site: "Online access to Voice Library holdings is determined by copyright law. Items held in the public domain and those with permission granted are available for listening as mp3 files. See a listing of recordings available for online listening. Look for "Listen to sound recording". Copies of many other items may be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan, via a public or university library. Some fees may apply."
Famous Presidential Speeches
University of Virginia Miller Center