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Story Bibliography
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Pennsylvania and the Great Depression Bibliography
Further Reading

Alexander, Charles C. Breaking the Slump: Baseball in the Depression Era . New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Examines the various ways in which the Great Depression impacted America's favorite pastime, from the perspective of owners, players, and its legions of fans - many of whom could no longer afford the price of admission.

Anderson, Marian. My Lord, What A Morning: An Autobiography . New York: Viking Press, 1956.

Anderson's autobiography is the best introduction to her life and times.

Clement, Priscilla F. "The Works Progress Administration in Pennsylvania: 1935-1940. ." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 95:2 ((1971)): 244-260.

A short, but comprehensive introduction to the history of the WPA in Pennsylvania.

Cohen, Allen, and Ronald Filippelli. Times of Sorrow and Hope: Documenting Everyday Life in Pennsylvania During the Depression and World War II, a Photographic Record. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003.

This book is a collection of photographs taken in Pennsylvania during the Great Depression (the 1930s and early 1940s) by the Farm Security Administration. An introductory essay is included.

Coode, Thomas H. and John F. Bauman. In the Eye of the Great Depression: New Deal Reporters and the Agony of the American People. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1988.

A history of the Great Depression through the eyes of reporters sent out to document it. It includes stories about people ranging from corporate heads and politicians to children living in Hoovervilles.

Coode, Thomas H. and John F. Bauman. People, Poverty and Politics: Pennsylvanians during the Great Depression . Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1981.

In chapters ranging from coal mining in southwestern Pennsylvania to black housing in Philadelphia, this useful volume explores the impact of the Great Depression in Pennsylvania and the myriad responses to it. Also includes an excellent, though dated, annotated bibliography.

David Lembeck. "New Deal Murals in Pennsylvania's Post Offices." Pennsylvania Heritage (Summer 2008): 28-27.

A rich, illustrated history of the New Deal murals that appear in U.S. post offices across the Commonwealth.

Davin, Eric Lief. "Blue Collar Democracy: Class War and Political Revolution in Western Pennsylvania, 1932-1937." Pennsylvania History 67:2 (Spring 2000): 240-297.

Davin's useful overview describes the political revolution that swept through the steel towns of the Mon Valley south of Pittsburgh during the 1930s.

Dublin, Thomas and Walter Licht. The Face of Decline: The Pennsylvania Anthracite Region in the Twentieth Century. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006.

Places the history of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region during the Great Depression in a broad historical context.

Gordon, Eric A. Mark the Music: The Life and Work of Marc Blitzstein. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.

This detailed biography of the Pennsylvania who wrote When the Cradle Will Rock discusses Blitzstein's works and politics.

Hatch, Carl, et al. York, Pennsylvania in the Depression Thirties. York, PA: Strine Pub. Co., 1974.

A 30-page history of York County during the Great Depression, based upon articles that appeared in the York Dispatch.

Heineman, Kenneth J. A Catholic New Deal: Religion and Reform in Depression Pittsburgh. University Park: Penn State Press, 1999.

This provocative study details the ways in which Pittsburgh's large Catholic community responded to the economic and social crisis of the Great Depression and helped shape the character of social reform and organized labor there.

Hendrickson, Kenneth Jr. "The Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania: A Case Study of A New Deal Relief Agency in Operation." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 100:1 (1976): 66-96.

Hendrickson, Hardin Distinguished Professor of American History, is a prolific writer on New Deal Programs. He has examined the CCC in other states as well as the Federal Art Program and Federal Music Program. This article focuses on the Civilian Conservation Corps in Pennsylvania as a case study.

Jarvis, Arthur R. "Opportunity, Experience, and Recognition: Black Participation in Philadelphia's New Deal Arts Projects, 1936-1942.." Journal of Negro History 85:4 ((Fall 2000)): 241-259.

This history of the major black artists who worked in Philadelphia's New Deal Arts projects documents their struggles to be recognized for their work.

Jenkins, Philip. Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania, 1925-1950. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997.

A fascinating history of right wing groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, Italian Fascists, and American Nazi Bund, which found members and support in Pennsylvania during the Great Depression.

Keller, Richard C. Pennsylvania's Little New Deal. New York: Garland Publishing Co, 1982.

Set against the backdrop of Pennsylvania's transition from Republican to Democratic and then back to Republican rule, this political history of Pennsylvania during the Great Depression focuses on the Earle administration's efforts to implement its own complimentary New Deal program.

Kozura, Michael. "We Stood Our Ground: Anthracite Miners and the Expropriation of Corporate Property, 1930-41." in We Are All Leaders: The Alternative Unionism of the Early 1930s. Edited by Staughton Lynd, 199-237. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, (1996).

This well-researched article uses oral history interviews to explore "bootleg" mining from the perspective of the unemployed miners who resorted to illegal mining for economic survival.

LaMar, Elden. The Clothing Workers in Philadelphia: History of Their Struggles for Union and Security, 1929-1939. Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Joint Board Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, 1940.

A history of the struggles of Philadelphia's large and diverse population of textile workers for union representation.

Luconi, Stefano. "Machine Politics and the Consolidation of the Roosevelt Majority: The Case of Italian Americans in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.." Journal of American Ethnic History 15:2 ((Winter 1996)): 32-59.

A case study of how ethnic voters in Pennsylvania's two largest cities shifted from the Republican to the Democratic Party during the Great Depression.

Miller, Frederic M., Morris J. Vogel, and Allen Davis. Philadelphia Stories: A Photographic History, 1920-1960 . Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988.

Includes a history of Philadelphia during the Great Depression built around contemporary photographs.

Miner, Curtis. Forging a New Deal: Johnstown and the Great Depression. Johnstown, Pa: Johnstown Area Heritage Association, 1993.

This exhibition catalog looks at the impact of the Great Depression on this single industry town and the ways in which the New Deal transformed politics and society there, culminating in the violent 1937 Little Steel strike at the city's sprawling Bethlehem Steel plant.

Mulrooney, Margaret M. and Alice K. Hoagland. Norvelt and Penn-Craft, Pennsylvania: Subsistence Homestead Communities of the 1930s. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1991.

This National Park Service study, lavishly illustrated with maps, architectural drawings and photographs, documents the history of Pennsylvania's two contributions to the "subsistence homesteads" movement - one government funded, the other privately funded.

Park, Marlene and Gerald E. Markowitz. Democratic Vistas: Post Office and Public Art in the New Deal. Philadelphia: Temple University, 1984.

A history of government sponsored public art during the Great Depression and the struggle to produce art that was good but not offensive.

Patterson, James T. The New Deal and the States: Federalism in Transition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969.

This study compares Pennsylvania's political and administrative response to the New Deal to that of other states.

Pope, James Gray. "The Western Pennsylvania Coal Strike of 1933, Part II: Lawmaking from Above and the Demise of Democracy in the United Mine Workers.." Labor History 44:2 ((2003)): 235-264.

A brief but detailed history of the infamous bituminous 1933 coal strike.

Rose, James D. Duquesne and the Rise of Steel Unionism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.

This well researched study includes an extended discussion of Duquesne's response to the Great Depression and its transformation from a company town into a pro-New Deal "union town" by the end of the 1930s.

Sandeen, Eric J. "The Design of Public Housing in the New Deal: Oskar Stonorov and the Carl Mackley Houses.." American Quarterly 37:5 ((1985)): 645-667.

A good introduction to the history of public housing in the 1930s and Philadelphia's Carl Mackley homes.

Stave, Bruce M. The New Deal and the Last Hurrah: Pittsburgh Machine Politics. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1970.

Stave details both the demise of the old GOP Party leadership in Allegheny County and the rise of a new breed of Democratic machine politicians during the 1930s, including future Pittsburgh mayor and Pennsylvania governor David Lawrence.

Sterba, Christopher M. "Family, Work, and Nation: Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and the 1934 General Strike in Textiles.." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography Vol. 120:No. 1/2 ((January/April 1996)): 3-35.

A woman's perspective on the general textile strikes of the mid-1930s.

Tinkcom, Margaret B. "Depression and War: 1929-1946" in Philadelphia: A 300-Year History. Edited by Russell F. Weigley New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1982.

Tinkcom's chapter tracks how Philadelphia's entrenched Republican machine hindered the influx of federal New Deal money into the city in the early years of the Great Depression

Toker, Franklin. Fallingwater Rising: Frank Lloyd Wright, E. J. Kaufmann, and America's Most Extraordinary House. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003.

A superb history of not only Fallingwater, but the era in which it was built.

Winpenny, Thomas R. "Henning Webb Prentis and the Challenge of the New Deal." in Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society., 1-24.(1977).

Discusses the conservative politics of Henning Webb Prentis, Jr., president of the Armstrong Cork Company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1934-50, as representative of the economic and political leanings of big business during the New Deal.


Web Guide

A History of Jazz Before 1930: The Red Hot Jazz Archive, "Dorsey Brothers Orchestra," http://www.redhotjazz.com/dorseybros.html

Includes a history of the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, brief biographies of both Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, band members list, and discography with sound files that lets you listen to their recordings.

Library of Congress, "America from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935-1945," http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html

This extensive collection of photographs from the federal Farm Service Administration and the Office of War Information includes thousands of photographs of rural and small town America during the late 1930s and the defense and war mobilization effort from 1935-1945, including many images taken in Pennsylvania.

Penn State: An Illustrated History, "Enduring the Great Depression," http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/pshistory/bezilla/depression...

A history of how Penn State University coped with the Great Depression drawn from a larger online history of the University.

Pennsylvania Highways Network, "Pennsylvania Turnpike," http://www.pahighways.com/toll/PATurnpike.html

A detailed, illustrated history of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Traditional Fine Arts Organization, "Philadelphia Museum of Art : Dox Thrash - An African American Master Printmaker Rediscovered," http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa103.htm

Introduction to the work of the great African-American printmaker Dox Thrash of Philadelphia.

New Deal Network http://newdeal.feri.org/index.htm

This rich and constantly growing database of photographs, political cartoons, and documents on the public works and arts projects of the New Deal also includes curriculum ideas for middle and high school teachers and students.

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, "Pennsylvania Civilian Conservation Corps Online Archive” http://www.apps.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/ccc/index.aspx

This wonderful database on the history of Pennsylvania's Civilian Conservation Corp includes photographs, documents, an interactive map, list of camps and the names of men who served in them, and more.

Pennsylvania Historical And Museum Commission,, "Governors of Pennsylvania" http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/governors/428...

Short biographies of all Pennsylvania governors, including those who served during the Great Depression.

Pennsylvania State University, "The Times of Sorrow and Hope Website," http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/sorrowhope.html

A complete catalog of photographs taken by close to forty photographers in nearly 200 Pennsylvania towns, villages, and cities, under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information during the 1930s and early 1940s

The Marc Blitzstein Web Site http://www.marcblitzstein.com/

Website devoted to the life and work on Pennsylvanian Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964), the celebrated American composer who composed "The Cradle Will Rock."

University of Pennsylvania, "Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library : Marian Anderson : A Life in Song," http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/anderson/

Based on the Marian Anderson archives located at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library, this lavishly illustrated biography includes video and audio excerpts from interviews and performances.

University of Pittsburgh's Digital Research Library,, Historic Pittsburgh, "Chronology by Decade, The 1930s" http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/chronology/chronology_driver.p...

A year by year chronology of events in Pittsburgh during the 1930s.

University of Pittsburgh,, "Labor Archives : Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania Labor Legacy," http://www.library.pitt.edu/labor_legacy/index.html

This pilot project to "map" the history of the labor movement in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania includes documents, essays, images, and other materials drawn from the University of Pittsburgh's Labor Archives.

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