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The Great Depression: 1930s
Although the economic distress of the Great Depression ended nearly 70 years ago, it suddenly has relevance for us now. Find out how people lived during those tumultuous times through home movies, newsreel footage, public service announcements of the era, and some classic hollywood films. And, they're all FREE to watch!
Roosevelt's New Deal
Financing the American Family
This government film was produced to inform depression era citizens of how the Household Finance Corporation could help working families by providing them with small loans to be paid back in installments.
Franklin Roosevelt - New Deal Fireside Chats
In these clips of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chats, the president discusses economic policy and the New Deal - Roosevelt's government funded program to relieve unemployed citizens during the great depression.
Franklin Roosevelt Signs Social Security Act 
President Roosevelt and Congress changed the way government's interact with society with this "New Deal" policy. The Social Security Act was created to help support a portion of society, specifically the elderly...
Science & Technology
Frontiers of the Future - 1937
This film made during the Great Depression was an attempt to calm fears of the future by presenting how scientists are hard at work trying to solve the problems of the universe.
Culture & Entertainment
The Plow that Broke the Plains
This documentary film details the Great Plains during the Depression and the causes of the Dust Bowl. With Cinematography by Leo Hurwitz, Ralph Steiner, Paul Ivano and Paul Strand. Selected for the 1999 National Film ...
My Man Godfrey
A ditzy socialite with a heart of gold, Irene Bullock (Carole Lombard) finds "forgotten man" Godfrey Smith (William Powell) in a scavenger hunt. Eventually Godfrey is taken in as the family butler for the Bullocks and screwball antics...
Daily Life
Daily life in Philadelphia
Shops, monuments, and people are shown during the depression in North East Philadelphia. This commercial was produced by the Mayfair Businessmen's Association.
Depression Scenes in Britton, South Dakota 
Daily life in a South Dakota town during the Great Depression is captured in these home movies shot by Ivan Besse betwen 1938 and 1939.
