LibGuides Home: History Day: New Deal, FDR, Depression, WPA, CCC

New Deal, FDR, Depression, WPA, CCC

These are only a few of the numerous resources at the Connecticut State Library. The examples are based on past research topics.

Because these topics overlap, be sure to check all sections of this page, as well as our library catalog and databases.

TIP: Because WPA and CCC projects required matching state or local funding, state and municipal documents may offer additional information not found in federal documents. Contact the local public library or town clerk, or a Connecticut State Library reference librarian, for help with municipal documents.

Towns, Cities, and Boroughs of Connecticut
by GIS Government Information Reference Last Updated Nov 7, 2023 254 views this year

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.

New Deal

The New Deal

According to the Library of Congress: ""The New Deal" refers to a series of domestic programs (lasting roughly from 1933 to 1939) implemented during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to combat the effects of the Great Depression on the U.S. economy. In addition to certain key economic programs, several of the most prominent New Deal initiatives focused on providing work relief to unemployed workers from all segments of U.S. society--from unskilled laborers to highly skilled artists and technicians. The projects in which these workers were employed were as diverse as their backgrounds and extended from public works projects--the construction of roads, buildings, parks, tunnels bridges, to cultural documentation projects carried out by writers, artists, historians, actors, and musicians." (https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/newdeal/intro.html, accessed 18 November 2020).

Books, Documents, etc.

Government Experimentation in Business by Persons, Warren M.
Call Number: Stacks HD3885 .P4 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1934
The Spurious Competition of Government Enterprise : a preliminary study of improper competition, showing the extent to which your government operates business enterprise at the expense of taxpayers, who are supporting government competition surrounded wit by National Tax Equality Association (U.S.)
Call Number: Stacks HD3885 .S68 1945 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1945
The Administration of Federal Work Relief by Macmahon, Arthur W. (Arthur Whittier), 1890-1980. ; Millett, John D. (John David), 1912-1993. ; Ogden, Gladys.
Call Number: Stacks HD3887 .M3 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1941
Public Works in Prosperity and Depression by Gayer, Arthur D. (Arthur David), 1903-1951. ; National Bureau of Economic Research. ; United States. National Planning Board.
Call Number: Stacks HD3888 .G3 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1935
Summary Of Relief And Federal Work Program Statistics, 1933-1940
Call Number: Online and Federal Documents FW 4.2:R 27/933-40
Publication Date: 1941

Other Institutions

New Deal (NARA)
National Archives (NARA): "Links to web sites relating to the New Deal era useful for research on New Deal agriculture, labor, and arts programs."
A New Deal for the Arts (NARA)
National Archives (NARA) "This online exhibit is adapted from A New Deal for the Arts, an exhibit that was on display from March 28, 1997 through January 11, 1998, in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building in Washington, DC."
New Deal Programs: Selected Library of Congress Resources (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) guide to selected resources they hold. Many have been digitized, but not necessarily all.
The New Deal. Primary Source Set (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) - links to primary sources and teacher's guide. Includes a brief timeline.
Art, Culture, and Government: The New Deal at 75. Selected Folklife Resources (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) American Folklife Center: "This list of selected resources contains references to publications by or about the New Deal programs that focus on folk and traditional culture — especially fieldwork and contributions of the Federal Writers' Program's Folklore Project. It also includes subsequent books, articles, and internet sites that draw upon materials collected by Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Farm Security Administration (FSA) fieldworkers and researchers. The list is based on the 1979 Library of Congress reference aid "Folklore and the W.P.A.: A Preliminary Bibliography" compiled by Joseph C. Hickerson with the assistance of Herbert Halpert."
National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the New Deal: A Resource Guide (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC): "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."
Great Depression and New Deal: A General Resource Guide (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC): "From approximately 1929 through the late 1930s, the U.S. experienced a period of economic depression and recovery. This guide compiles related Library of Congress digital materials, external websites, and a print bibliography."
National New Deal Preservation Association
Archived in the WayBack Machine - check other dates to see if any additional archiving is there.
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Site: "We are a group of individuals, agencies, facilities and programs that organized in December 1998 to promote the identification, documentation, preservation and education of people about the New Deal visual and performing arts, literature, crafts, structures and environmental projects."
Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) Photographs of King County, 1933-1935
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection: "The following collection documents FERA projects established in King County. These include street construction, bridge building and sewer laying projects; park grounds and playfield improvements; school and public building construction and repair; land clearing, landscaping, wood cutting and land slide prevention; ditching, dredging, flood control and waterway improvement projects; establishment of FERA offices and stores; creation of recreation projects for children; organization of furniture, stove and tool repair, sewing, clothing distribution, boot and shoe repair, toy-making shops."

National resources development, report for 1943. Part 1. Post-war plan and program. January 1943. National Resources Planning Board
Call Number: Online and Serial Set Vol. No. 10781 78th Congress, 1st Session, Vol. No. 6, H.Doc. 128 pt. 1
Publication Date: 1943

Great Depression

The Great Depression

These are only a few of the numerous resources at the Connecticut State Library. The examples are based on past research topics.

Photographs Related to the Great Depression and the New Deal (NARA)
National Archives (NARA)

Connecticut

Measures to Alleviate Unemployment in Connecticut : A Report To Wilber L. Cross, Governor of the State of Connecticut by Connecticut. Commission to Investigate the Unemployment Situation.
Call Number: Conn Doc Un25 me Item does not circulate.
Publication Date: [1932]
Schedule Of Various Federal Funds Given To Towns During The CWA & ERA Programs
Call Number: Online and Cage Conn Doc Em73 sch
Publication Date: [193-]
Online access through our catalog.
The New Deal in Norwalk, CT : A Case Study of a Small City in America During the Great Depression by Dwyer, Courtney
Call Number: Stacks F104.N9 D89 2003b Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 2003
Thesis (M.S.)--Southern Connecticut State University, 2003
The Pros and Cons of Unemployment Reserves for Connecticut Employers by Hook, James W. (James William), 1884-1957. ; Connecticut Chamber of Commerce. Annual Meeting. ; Connecticut Unemployment Commission.
Call Number: Conn Doc Un25 prco Item does not circulate.
Publication Date: 1932
Catalog: "An address delivered on May 24, 1932 at the Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Chamber of Commerce ... Hartford, Connecticut."
Public Relief in Connecticut : Report Based on a Study of the Public Welfare Departments in Thirty-Six Towns and Cities by Reeves, Edward H. ; Connecticut Unemployment Commission.
Call Number: Conn Doc Un25 repu Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1933
A Sample Plan For Relief Of The Unemployed, Which Outlines Briefly What The Employers In Connecticut Could Do Voluntarily To Assist Their Stable Workers In Times Of Unemployment. by Connecticut Unemployment Commission
Call Number: Conn Doc Un25 sa Item does not circulate.
Publication Date: 1932
Connecticut veterans' survey : an analysis of the registration and placement of veterans and study of the unemployment problem affecting Connecticut war veterans by Maloney, Leonard J. ; Connecticut. Emergency Relief Commission. ; Connecticut State Employment Service. ; National Reemployment Service (U.S.). Connecticut.
Call Number: Online and Conn Doc Un25c Item does not circulate
Publication Date: [1934 or 1935]
Catalog: "The creation by the Connecticut Emergency Relief Administration of made work projects ... made possible a study and analysis of the registration cards of 11,348 Connecticut war veterans"--P. 2.
A report on an analysis of card records made in several state employment offices and national reemployment offices in Connecticut.--cf. p. 2.
Includes index.
Report of the Connecticut State Emergency Committee on Employment to His Excellency, Wilbur L. Cross, governor of Connecticut by Connecticut State Emergency Committee on Employment. ; Hook, James W. (James William), 1884-1957. ; Connecticut. Governor (1931-1939 : Cross).
Call Number: Online and Conn Doc Em73 Item does not circulate
Publication Date: 1931
Report of the Commission on Employment of Men Over 45 Years of Age
Call Number: Online and Cage Conn Doc Em738 rep
Publication Date: [1939]
Online access through our catalog.
Reprinted from: Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Connecticut, Wednesday, May 17, 1939
Relief For Individuals Other Than Farmers by Connecticut. Coordination Office.
Call Number: Conn Doc Co70 c no.2 Item does not circulate
Publication Date: [1938]
Available online through our library catalog
Relief Problems Of Transiency : A Survey Of Methods Of Providing Relief For Transient And Local Homeless Men In Connecticut, January - June, 1936
Call Number: Online and Conn Doc Em73 re
Publication Date: 1936
Online access through our catalog.
Relief Without Politics
Call Number: Online and Conn Doc Em73 Lire
Publication Date: [1937?]
Online access through our catalog.

Articles

The Great Depression: Aid & Comfort, Connecticut Style
By Carl J. Schneider and Dorothy Schneider, Connecticut Explored, Spring 2010
Facing Hard Times issue of CT Explored
Connecticut Explored Spring 2010, Volume 8 / Number 2

National, Federal, etc.

America Fights the Depression; A Photographic Record of the Civil Works Administration by Alsberg, Henry G. (Henry Garfield), 1881-1970. ; United States. Federal Emergency Relief Administration
Call Number: Stacks HD3885 .A6 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1934
Back to Work; The Story of PWA. by Ickes, Harold L.
Call Number: Stacks HD3885 .I3 1935 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1935

Potato Act of 1935 (LII)
Legal Information Institute (LII) page on Potato Act of 1935, with summary information as well as text of the federal public law.
Teachable Moments: The Great Depression (FDR Library)
Site: "The Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum’s Education Department is proud to present this fourteen
part curriculum guide titled, Teachable Moments: The Great Depression. This guide has been developed
for teachers as a multi-purpose teaching tool. It contains material appropriate for students in all grade levels
from 4th-12th grade, and beyond."
Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929 (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) digital collection.
LOC is slowly migrating content out of American Memory and into their main platform. If link breaks, please let us know and also check the main LOC.gov site.
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Site: "Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929 assembles a wide array of Library of Congress source materials from the 1920s that document the widespread prosperity of the Coolidge years, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition. The collection includes nearly 150 selections from twelve collections of personal papers and two collections of institutional papers from the Manuscript Division; 74 books, pamphlets, and legislative documents from the General Collections, along with selections from 34 consumer and trade journals; 185 photographs from the Prints and Photographs Division and the Manuscript Division; and 5 short films and 7 audio selections of Coolidge speeches from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. The collection is particularly strong in advertising and mass-marketing materials and will be of special interest to those seeking to understand economic and political forces at work in the 1920s."

WPA

The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration)

TIP: Because WPA and CCC projects required matching state or local funding, state and municipal documents may offer additional information not found in federal documents.

Connecticut

Connecticut Work Projects Administration, 1935-1944 (RG 033)
Digitized items in the Connecticut Work Projects Administration, 1935-1944 (RG 033)
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In 1935, the Federal government established the Works Progress Administration as the central agency in control of relief projects for the unemployed in the nation. When the Federal Emergency Relief Administration closed in late 1935, the WPA replaced it. In 1939, the agency’s name changed to Work Projects Administration. In Connecticut, main offices for the WPA were in New Haven and district offices were in major cities. It was abolished on June 30, 1943 and liquidated a year later. This group primarily documents the Writers’ Project and associated “white collar” projects. It contains correspondence, working papers, research reference materials, directives, circulars, manuals, completed survey forms, contracts, maps, photographs, clippings and scrapbooks, drafts of interviews and reports, field notes, scripts of radio programs, administrative and financial records, and manuscripts of unpublished works. Areas of activity include Connecticut: A Guide, ethnic histories, town and city histories, histories of city parks, Historic Buildings Survey, Church Records Survey, Manuscripts Inventory, the Federal Art Project, American Imprints Inventory, history of the Hartford Flood of 1936, and a variety of guides.
Works Progress Administration for Connecticut records RG033
Archives finding aid.
Overview The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) was established in May 1935 as a central organ of control for the relief projects supported by the United States Government. In Connecticut, Offices were opened in New Haven, with later district offices in several other cities.
Dates: 1935-1944
WPA Architectural Survey
Often called "The WPA House Survey", the Census of Old Buildings in Connecticut, 1934-1937 was a Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) project. Survey forms provide descriptions of nearly 5,000 buildings. Photographs were taken of most buildings and clipped to the survey forms. Some forms also include sketches of interior and/or exterior architectural details and a brief history of the building.
Index to WPA Press Releases, 1935-1939
The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was established in 1935 by executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and funded by Congress through the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act of 1935. Headed by Harry L. Hopkins, the WPA offered work to millions of unemployed to construct public buildings and roads, operate arts and literacy projects and much more. In 1939 the Works Progress Administration became part of the new Federal Works Agency and its title was changed to Work Projects Administration. It was abolished on June 30, 1943.

Books, Documents, etc.

Connecticut Work in Progress by United States. Works Progress Administration for Connecticut.
Call Number: Online and CSL Stacks HD3881 .U55 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Site: "Reports and illustrations on the varied activities of the WPA in Connecticut, including sewing, airports, theater, game conservation, music projects, and more. ; Frequency: Monthly; Other title: Work in progress; Note: Title from cover; <1935>-Aug. 1936 reproduced from typewritten copy; Description based on: Vol. 1, no. 3 (Feb. 1936)"
Facts (WPA) by United States. Work Projects Administration for Connecticut
Call Number: Online and CSL Stacks HD3881 .U552 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1941-
Work Projects Administration (WPA).
From Site: "Reports on projects from the Professional and Service Division of the WPA involving such things as national defense, crafts, libraries, education, toys, health, music, school lunches, writers, housekeeping aides, and more."
A Photographic History of the Hurricane and Flood Which Devastated Connecticut on September 21, 1938 by United States. Works Progress Administration for Connecticut.
Call Number: online and Stacks F100 .U5 1938 oversize Item does not circulate
Publication Date: 1938
Title variant: Moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on.
Online access through our library catalog.

Federal, Other States, General

Accomplishment on projects operated by the Work Projects Administration. by United States. Work Projects Administration
Call Number: Stacks HD3885 .A434 1940 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: [1940?]
Catalog: "Consists of a leaflet for the United States and one for each state. States arranged alphabetically."
The C.C.C. Makes Better Men and Forests in Connecticut
Call Number: Conn Doc F761 ccc
Publication Date: 1935
Online in the Broward County Library Digital Archives.
Back to Work; The Story of PWA. by Ickes, Harold L.
Call Number: Stacks HD3885 .I3 1935 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1935
Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43
Call Number: Online and Federal Documents FW 4.1:1935-43
Publication Date: [1947]
Online access through our library catalog.
GPO: "The Works Progress Administration provided employment for 8,500,000 individuals over the course of the program’s eight years in operation. The Final Report on the WPA Program, 1935-43 chronicles projects undertaken, employment by state and project, and program expenditures."
Final Report On Disposition Of Unpublished Materials Of WPA Writers' Program, April 8, 1943
Call Number: Federal Documents FW 4.28:F56
Publication Date: 1943

Other Institutions

Official annual, 1937: Fifth CCC District, First Corps Area
From Broward County Library.
District headquarters were in New London
Federal Art Project
From the Museum of the City of New York.
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 (LOC) Library of Congress (LOC): "Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA). At the conclusion of the Slave Narrative project, a set of edited transcripts was assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. In 2000-2001, with major support from the Citigroup Foundation, the Library digitized the narratives from the microfilm edition and scanned from the originals 500 photographs, including more than 200 that had never been microfilmed or made publicly available. This online collection is a joint presentation of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs divisions of the Library of Congress."
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1940 (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) digital collection: "This collection of life histories consists of approximately 2,900 documents, compiled and transcribed by more than 300 writers from 24 states, working on the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program that was part of the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936 to 1940. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents vary in form from narratives to dialogues to reports to case histories."
Posters: WPA Posters (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) digital collection: "This collection consists of 907 posters produced from 1936 to 1943 by various branches of the WPA. Of the 2,000 WPA posters known to exist, the Library of Congress's collection of more than 900 is the largest. The posters were designed to publicize exhibits, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programs in seventeen states and the District of Columbia, with the strongest representation from California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The results of one of the first U.S. Government programs to support the arts, the posters were added to the Library's holdings in the 1940s."
Federal Theatre Project, 1935 to 1939 (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) digital collection.
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LOC: "This online presentation includes items selected from the Federal Theatre Project Collection at the Library of Congress. Featured here are stage and costume designs, photographs, posters, playbills, programs, and playscripts, including productions of Macbeth and The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus as staged by Orson Welles, and Power, a topical drama of the period. Selected administrative documents from the project are also available."
Works Progress Administration - Today in History - April 8 (LOC)
Library of Congress (LOC) blog with links to more resources.

CCC

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Connecticut

Connecticut Civilian Conservation Corps Camps : History, Memories & Legacy of the CCC by Podskoch, Martin, 1943- author. Hayden, David, 1937- editor.
Call Number: Stacks SD143 .P63 2016
Publication Date: 2016
Print copy
Plan of Operation of State Selecting Agency for Civilian Conservation Corps. by Connecticut. Office of Commissioner of Welfare.
Call Number: Online and Conn Doc P964cc Item does not circulate
Publication Date: [1939?]
Online access through our library catalog.

Federal, Other States, General

The Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933-1942; A New Deal Case Study by Salmond, John A.
Call Number: CSL Stacks SD143 .S27
Publication Date: 1967
Online version at National Parks Service (NPS) and HathiTrust.org
Official annual, 1937, Civilian Conservation Corps, First CCC District, First Corps Area. by Civilian Conservation Corps (U.S.). First C.C.C. District
Call Number: CSL Cage SD144.M2 C58 1937 Item does not circulate. In-house use only.
Publication Date: 1937
Online at Bangor Public Library Maine.
Part of World War Regimental Histories done by WPA
Roosevelts Forest Army by Perry H. Merrill; Dewitt Nelson (Illustrator)
Call Number: Stacks S930 .M44 1981
ISBN: 0960580603
Publication Date: 1984-01-01
The Bureau of Reclamation's Civilian Conservation Corps legacy: 1933-1942 by Pfaff, Christine. ; United States. Bureau of Reclamation.
Call Number: Online and Federal Documents I 27.2:R 22/2
Publication Date: [2010]
The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942 : An Administrative History by Paige, John C. ; United States. National Park Service.
Call Number: Online and Federal Documents I 29.2:C 49/3/933-42
Publication Date: 1985
Also online in Hathi Trust https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002505074

Virtual Exhibit: the Civilian Conservation Corps (1933-1943)
From Broward County Library Digital Archives
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Site: "The Civilian Conservation Corps was created in 1933 to furnish employment, vocational training and educational opportunities for unemployed young during the Great Depression. This virtual exhibit showcases books, pamphlets, posters, clothing, newspapers, games, matchbook covers, menus, patches, posters, and postcards from the Bienes Museum's CCC collections."

War Department Regulations : Relief Of Unemployment : Civilian Conservation Corps
Call Number: Online and Fed Docs W 1.12: C 49/2/935
Publication Date: 1935
Online access through HathiTrust.org
Activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps, July 1, 1938-June 30, 1939
Call Number: Online and Federal Documents Y 3.C 49:1/a/Ac 85/939
Publication Date: 1940

Terminology & Usage Disclaimer

Please be advised that some of these resources--particularly those created in previous eras--contain descriptions for ancestral, racial, ethnic, and gender identity that may be offensive or harmful to individuals investigating these records, and are considered inappropriate to use in modern times. The descriptions and treatment of historically marginalized groups, women, and animals may be upsetting. Also, please note that inclusion in this subject guide does not necessarily constitute endorsement of the views therein--we encourage investigators to use their own judgment when evaluating books, websites, articles, documents, and other resources.

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History Day

New Deal, FDR, Depression, WPA, CCC

New Deal, FDR, Depression, WPA, CCC

New Deal

The New Deal

Books, Documents, etc.

Other Institutions

Great Depression

The Great Depression

Connecticut

Archives

Articles

National, Federal, etc.

WPA

The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration)

Connecticut

Books, Documents, etc.

Federal, Other States, General

Other Institutions

CCC

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Connecticut

Federal, Other States, General

Terminology & Usage Disclaimer