Introduction

Imagine you are living during the Great Depression, in the years between the stock market crash in October of 1929, and the implementation of the "New Deal” programs proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt. You are a history professor at a small university, and you have access to newspapers and other representations of the effects of the economic depression. Realizing the significance of the difficult times during which you live, you begin to collect these items in a scrapbook, with the idea of writing a book about these experiences. Prepare a scrapbook that will represent your view of the political and economic climate you are experiencing, as you observe the approaches of the government under President Hoover and by President Franklin Roosevelt.

Task

Your task is to create a scrapbook dealing with the Great Depression and the New Deal, using primary documents from the American Memory Collection contained in the Library of Congress online digital collections.

This scrapbook will contain four main sections. Each section will illustrate a different aspect of the Great Depression and the New Deal. The sections will be divided into...

• a document section
• a photograph section
• a political cartoon section
• a section of Works Progress Administration Posters

Step 1

• Each student should design and decorate a title page for their scrapbook. You can either draw something yourself or use a photograph or some other visual primary source from the time period.

• The title page should include your name and class period.

Step 2

• In the first section of the scrapbook, you are required to read five documents dealing with the Great Depression/New Deal.

• The five documents that you read should be printed and placed in your scrapbook.

• Immediately after each document, the student should write a summary of the work making sure to describe the contents of the document and to discuss how the document pertains to the Great Depression/New Deal.

• The Documents:
  

1. First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. An African American and the WPA
3. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) Unionism
4. Roosevelt is a "Damned Good Man"
5. Disagreeing About the New Deal
6. Great Depression and WWII
7. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal
8. The New Deal Was a Failure
9. Works Progress Administration

Step 3

• In the second section of the scrapbook, you must view Depression/New Deal photographs from the time period.

• You should choose five photos to include in the scrapbook.\

• You need to write a description of each photo describing the scene and its relationship to the Great Depression/New Deal.

• These written descriptions should be included in your scrapbook after each photo.

• The Photographs:

1. Highway
2. Refugee
3. Dorthea Lange
4. Dust Bowl
5. Dust Bowl 2
6. Dust Bowl 3
7. Dust Storm
8. Migrant Family
9. Migrant Mother
10. Oklahoma Family Walking
11. South Carolina Share Cropper
12. Soup Line

Step 4

• In the third section of the scrapbook, you will view political cartoons from the Depression/New Deal era.

• You should choose five political cartoons to include in the scrapbook.

• After each political cartoon, you must write a short description of the cartoon making sure to explain the meaning of the cartoon.

1. It IS a New Deal
2. Foiled
3. The Farmer: "Sure, I'll Try Anything Once!"
4. Don't Crush Them!
5. The Man's at the Wolf's Door, for a Change
6. The Faster He Works the Sooner He Eats
7. The New Trend in Easter Fashions
8. An Unfortunate Wait
9. NRA and the Future Generation
10. Sweeping Changes Are Expected After March 4th
11. He's a Roosevelt All Right
12. Valentines

Step 5

• In the fourth and last section of the scrapbook, you will view WPA posters from the time period.

• You should choose three posters to include in the scrapbook.

• After each WPA poster, you must write a short description of the poster making sure to discuss the intent of the poster.

• The Posters:

1. Better Housing
2. Free Trade
3. Letters
4. Syphilis

Evaluation

The Great Depression/New Deal WebQuest Rubric

Documents Section:
The scrapbook contains five documents dealing with the Depression/New Deal_____ (10pts.)
There is a written summary accompanying each of the five documents_____ (10pts.)
Written material is original, clear, appropriate, organized, and historically accurate_____ (5pts.)

Photograph Section:
The scrapbook contains five photographs from the Depression/New Deal era_____ (10pts.)
There is a written description of each of the five photographs_____ (10pts.)
Written material is original, clear, appropriate, organized, and historically accurate_____ (5pts.)

Political Cartoon Section:
The scrapbook contains five political cartoons from the Depression/New Deal era_____(10Pts.)
There is a written description of each of the five political cartoons_____ (10pts.)
Written material is original, clear, appropriate, organized, and historically accurate_____ (5pts.)

WPA Poster Section:
The scrapbook contains three WPA posters from the Depression/New Deal era_____ (10pts.)
There is a written description of each of the three WPA posters_____ (10pts.)
Written material is original, clear, appropriate, organized, and historically accurate_____ (5pts.)

Conclusion

The prosperity of the 1920's came to an abrupt end with the collapse of the stock market in October of 1929. The collapse of the stock market triggered a much wider, long term crisis known as the Great Depression. The Great Depression was felt throughout the United States causing millions of Americans to loose their jobs, farms, and homes. The Great Depression lasted from 1929 until the United States entered World War II in 1941. Both President Hoover and President Franklin Roosevelt responded to the crisis with varying degrees of success. With his election in 1932, FDR promised the people a “New Deal”.