20th Century History By the Decades
Updated 01/15/04

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General 20th Century Resources
1900-09 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49
50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99

20th Century: 1930-1939 Decade

Herbert Hoover: Thirty-First President, 1929-1933
Son of a Quaker blacksmith, Herbert Clark Hoover brought to the Presidency an unparalleled reputation for public service as an engineer, administrator, and humanitarian.
More Information On Herbert Hoover
Thirty-First President, 1929-1933.
New Deal Network
Information about Roosevelt's program dealing with the Great Depression. Includes a very wide variety of resources relating to the 1930s, as affected by the New Deal.
The Great Depression
The Federal Writers' Project
"During the Great Depression of the 1930s, as many as one out of four Americans could not find jobs. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), put 8,500,000 jobless to work, mostly on projects that required manual labor. Countless bridges, highways and parks were constructed or repaired." Some workers were writers who interviewed interesting Americans, and them wrote about them.
Social Security History
Exceptionally well presented collection of information on the history of the Social Security program and Social Security Administration. A mix of general-interest material and items that may appeal primarily to scholars. Graphics and photos abound, and there are sound and video clips.
Screwball Comedies
A style of movie comedy that flourished during the Great Depression and into the first part of the 1940s decade. Helpful in understanding how Americans endured the hard times of that era.
Woody Guthrie
A popular folk singer and writer of the Thirties and Forties who had a major influence on American life, including Sixties rock music. Wrote: "This Land Is Your Land."
Pulp Fiction Central
A colorful type of popular fiction emerged in the first part of the 20th Century, pulp fiction. This site offers a braod collection of links to many examples of this type of popular literature.
Voices from the Thirties
These life histories were written by the staff of the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project for the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936-1940. See also: Voices from the Thirties: An Introduction to the WPA Life Histories Collection This Library of Congress collection includes 2,900 documents representing the work of over 300 writers from 24 states. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents consist of drafts and revisions, varying in form from narrative to dialogue to report to case history.
The Southern Tenant Farmers Union
The Southern Tenant Farmers Union was formed in Eastern Arkansas in the summer of 1934 in the face of severe economic problems. Its status as a bi-racial union, gave it leverage against the planters, while at the same time increased membership.
The Klan Rides Again
The Scottsboro Trials
A real trial of a group of African_American men, which is often pointed to as an example of injustice. It is also thought to be the model for the trial scene in "To Kill A Mockingbird".
Color Photographs From 1938-1944
These two collections consist of the color photographs produced by a pair of government photography units within the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information(OWI) between 1939 and 1945. Provided by the Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties
Multicultural collection that includes sound recordings, still photos, drawings and written documents from a variety of European ethnic and English- and Spanish-speaking communities in Northern California. Many of them refer to other parts of the U.S., so are not limited to California. Includes an excellent introduction, The Ethnographic Experience: Sidney Robertson Cowell in Northern California, which explains how the music was collected, and also tells about the life and times of the collectors.
Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America (1935-1955)
Over 29,000 images primarily of architectural subjects, including interiors and exteriors of homes, stores, offices, factories, historic buildings,homes of notable Americans, and of several U.S. presidents, as well as color images of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. Many were commissioned by architects, designers, owners and architectural publications, and document important achievements in American 20th-century architecture and interior design.
Creative Americans: Portraits by Carl Van Vechten, 1932-1964
1,400 Portraits of literary figures, artists, and celebrities; scenic views, mostly in the Northeast. Includes African Americans, celebrities and prominent individuals, scenic views. Consists of 1,395 photographs taken by American photographer Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) between 1932 and 1964. The bulk of the collection consists of portrait photographs of celebrities, including many figures from the Harlem Renaissance. A much smaller portion of the collection is an assortment of American landscapes.
Washington as It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959
Spanning from the mid 1920s through the 1950s, the Theodor Horydczak collection(about 14,350 photographs online) documents the architecture and social life of the Washington metropolitan area in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, including exteriors and interiors of commercial, residential, and government buildings, as well as street scenes and views of neighborhoods. A number of Washington events and activities, such as the 1932 Bonus Army encampment, the 1933 World Series, and World War II preparedness campaigns, are also depicted. Includes a special sresentation: Discovering Theodor Horydczak's Washington.
Anne Frank, Her Life and Times
Includes the following sections: Anne's Stroy, The Holocaust, The Diary, The Annex. "Over one million children under the age of sixteen died in the Holocaust. Anne Frank was one of them."


Go directly to:
General 20th Century Resources
1900-09 10-19 20-29 30-39 40-49
50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99


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