A Day in 1932 — One Ordinary Saturday in the Great Depression

This is a Saturday in 1932. October 1, to be exact, the worst year of the Great Depression, and we spend the whole day with one ordinary American family, from the stove lit in the dark at a quarter past five to the porch light left burning all night. The factory gate where three hundred men wait for forty jobs. Boys riding the freight trains. A Hooverville by the river and the Bonus Army in Washington. The apple seller on the courthouse square, a grocer's ledger, a bank with a notice in the window, a letter that just went up to three cents, and a boy on the barbershop floor listening to Babe Ruth's "called shot" on the radio. Potato soup for supper, a knock at the back door, a voice on the radio promising a new deal, and the Saturday night bath in a tin washtub by the stove. This is daily life in the 1930s the way families actually lived it: how ordinary people survived the Great Depression by making do, trading eggs for groceries, mending everything, sharing what little they had, and quietly carrying each other. Not the stock market crash or the textbook version, but the kitchen, Main Street and the radio at night in 1932 America. The photographs come from the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information collection at the Library of Congress, including some of its rare original color slides, with period film from the Prelinger Archives. Real people, real towns and real faces of Depression-era America. Prices are U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics averages for 1932. Settle in. This is close to an hour of calm, documentary-style history for anyone whose parents or grandparents lived through the thirties, and for anyone who grew up hearing those stories at the kitchen table. What story did your family tell about the Great Depression? Tell us in the comments where they lived and what they did to get through. Those stories are worth keeping. Subscribe to Curbside America for more full days in old America, from the 1930s to the 1960s, and share this with someone who remembers a grandparent who never threw anything away. CHAPTERS 0:00 Before Sunrise 6:26 The Kitchen 9:39 The Gate 11:55 The Road 13:24 The Capital 15:26 The Apple Man 16:46 The Farm 18:24 Main Street 20:15 The Bank 21:23 Relief 23:22 The Post Office 24:32 The Barbershop 25:47 The Ballgame 29:28 The Street 31:06 The Picture Show 32:30 Supper 34:49 The Radio 36:16 The Election 38:01 The Song 39:04 Saturday Night 40:17 Night 41:48 The Last Thing 44:31 Home SOURCES AND CREDITS Photographs: Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information collection, Library of Congress (public domain), including original color slides. Photographers include Russell Lee, Jack Delano, Marion Post Wolcott, John Vachon, Arthur Rothstein and Dorothea Lange. Many photographs were made later in the decade than 1932 and are captioned with their actual year. Film footage: Prelinger Archives via the Internet Archive (public domain): Ivan Besse amateur films, Britton, South Dakota (1938-39); Back of the Mike (1938); The Children Must Learn (1940); Financing the American Family (1935); Griffith Park Relief Workers Demonstration (1933); On the Air (1937); Valley Town (1940); Work Pays America (Part I) (1937). Music: Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.... Tracks: Gymnopedie No. 1, Heartwarming, Americana, Maple Leaf Rag, Wholesome, Gymnopedie No. 3. Facts: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (1932 unemployment and retail food prices), 1930 U.S. Census, National Park Service (Bonus Army), U.S. Post Office Department (July 6, 1932 rate change), official 1932 World Series records, and public histories of the 1932 election. Narration uses a synthetic voice. #1930s #GreatDepression #americanhistory