Back in November, Genealogical.com sent their newsletter titled “Genealogy Pointers”. It included an article about Emily Anne Croom’s Unpuzzling Your Past. The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy.
In the book she says, “Collecting family history also means trying to fit the family into the history of the community, county, state, and nation. You can find the political, economic, and social history of these areas in books and contemporary newspapers, but only family members can share their personal reactions to the public events. . . .”‘
- Morrell Family, Durham, North Carolina; abt 1936
My mother’s parents immigrated to the United States from England in the 1928, a couple of years after they married in London. Mom was born in West Orange, Essex, New Jersey
in 1928, her sister Sheila in Durham, North Carolina in 1931 and her brother Ian, also in Durham, in 1932. I asked my mother the questions about the Depression of the 1930s.
I remember what influenced my life. I “felt” the Depression, but I accepted the changes as normal, as young children do.
The family moved at this time to Philadelphia from Durham, since my Father left his job at Duke University and took another at Temple University. The job at Temple had evaporated by the time he arrived. We lived in Philadelphia for three years. My Mother did beautiful embroidery for a specialty shop for a little income, and my Father did several small jobs in that time. We lived in a nice neighborhood and did not lack for conveniences, but had no luxuries. There is a lot that I realize I do not know, but I remember the vegetable man came around at the end of his route and brought us left over vegetables which were very welcome. We always had enough to eat and were happy children.
My parents were not citizens of the US at this time so were not involved in politics then, and what their thoughts were on these subjects, I’m afraid I was not aware. I think everything in life was a sacrifice for my parents, but they made my life seem normal. They had no money. We did not have a car. We used public transportation. My Mother made most of our clothes and a lot were hand me downs or gifts.
Silent movies were before my time! And I did not see movies for a number of years.
These experiences had a huge impact on my Mother’s health, and consequently on my life. But otherwise, life went on, after jobs returned, in a very normal way. I think I learned to deal with most things that came along the best I could, for the rest of my life.
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The following “Questionnaire for the Great Depression and the 1930s,” comes from pages 70-72 of Emily Anne Croom’s Unpuzzling Your Past. The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy. If you have relatives who are over 80 years old, start with these questions and find out what it was like for them. How does life during the Great Depression compare to the financial problems we’re seeing now?
Questionnaire for the Great Depression and the 1930s
- To what extent did the Depression change your habits, way of life, school, plans? Did you “feel” the Depression? Did you observe a difference in the way the Depression affected people living in cities and people living in the country or small towns?
- Did the family move during this decade? Why? How frequently? Where? What household conveniences did you have or lack: electricity, telephone, indoor plumbing, others?
- Which family members had jobs? Doing what? Were they paid in cash, goods, or scrip? How much was rent? Was it difficult for the family to find housing or jobs?
- At the time, what did you or the family think of Presidents Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt? Have you changed your opinion since then? Whom did the family support for president in 1928 (Hoover or Smith), 1932 (Hoover or Roosevelt), 1936 (Roosevelt or Landon)? Why? How effective were Hoover and Roosevelt as presidents?
- Did any family member work for one of the New Deal agencies, such as the CCC, the WPA (Works Progress Administration), or the PWA (Public Works Administration)? If so, who? Which agency? Doing what? How long? Where?
- Did the family raise, hunt, can, or preserve any of its own food? If so, what? What food items did you find to be scarce or plentiful? Did you live on a farm, in a small town, or in a city? Did you observe or experience any difference in the availability of food in rural and urban areas?
- Did you experience the “Dust Bowl” that damaged so much of the middle of our country?
- What sacrifices did you or your parents make during the Depression? Why?
- Did the family have a car? What make or model? How much did it cost? How much did gasoline cost? Did you or the family limit driving? Did you or the family have to give up the car during the Depression? If you did not have a car, on what kind of transportation did you rely?
- Did you or the family have money in a bank before or during the Depression? If so, did you lose any of it because of the Depression? Did you or the family lose money in the stock market crash?
- Did the family make any of its clothes during the Depression? If so, what?
- Did you hear Orson Welles’s “War of the Worlds” on radio on 30 October 1938? What did you think of it at the time? Did you fall for it? Why or why not? How did other family members react?
- What was it like to go to silent movies? What was your reaction to your first talkie or your first color movie? Explain.
- How have your experiences during the Depression affected your attitudes of the present?
- What further recollections and stories can you share about your experiences during the 1930s?
