Title: The New Deal | Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress
Headings: The New Deal
Primary Source Set The New Deal
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Teacher’s Guide
Historical Background
1929
1930
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
Suggestions for Teachers
Additional Resources
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1940
Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black and White Negatives
Posters: WPA Posters
Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937 to 1942

Content: The documents illustrate a variety of kinds of work funded by the agencies, as well as the types of social and economic problems that the programs either addressed or documented. Divide students into five groups. Ask each group to analyze three of the documents in this primary source set. What can they infer from the items and accompanying bibliographic information about the problem (s) facing the country during the Great Depression? What can they infer about the work of the New Deal agencies represented by these items? Ask each group to share what they learned, either orally or by adding to a list of agencies displayed in the classroom. Explore the relationship between New Deal programs and some of the individuals that the programs were created to assist. Identify specific individuals who are supported through New Deal programs in the primary source set. Look for evidence of how successful the New Deal program was to that individual. How was a program likely perceived by that individual in the primary source?