Residents invited to share Depression Years memories

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The current economic downturn in this country has often been likened to the Great Depression, which began with the New York Stock Market crash of 1929 and lasted until about 1939.

Once in a lifetime we get the opportunity to experience a few moments with someone who was an eyewitness to an important time in history like the Great Depression. There are few people left today who can share these stories and memories, but the recollections of a time and place that are gone will not disappear as long as there is someone to hear. The Maricopa Historical Society is hoping to capture those times during its first oral history mini-series on Nov. 18.

What were the Depression Years like?

By late 1932 stock values had dropped to about 20 percent of their previous value, and by the next year 11,000 of the U.S.’s 25,000 banks had failed. Demand for goods was severely reduced, leading to high unemployment. Farm income fell some 50 percent.

By 1932 approximately one out of every four Americans was unemployed. Bread lines were a common sight in most cities. Hundreds of thousands roamed the country in search of food, work and shelter. “Brother, can you spare a dime?” was a popular song’s refrain.

During the same years that farmers were being encouraged to take land out of production, a severe drought and dust storms hit the Great Plains states, further reducing farm production. Approximately 800,000 people headed west to the land of promise, California. These migrants were not only farmers, but also professionals and retailers. Most of them ended up competing for seasonal jobs picking crops at extremely low wages along the way, including working the cotton fields in Arizona.

The Depression meant a diet of beans and rice, wearing hand-me-down clothing and hoping for a job, any job.

Longtime Maricopa resident Mary Lou Smith recalls people coming to the family’s Tucson home, which was located in the present university area, seeking work for food.

“If my mother didn’t have work for them, she always gave them a sandwich or whatever she had on hand,” said Smith, whose father felt fortunate to be employed.

“We also had lots of door-to-door salesmen, selling Fuller brushes, Watkins or encyclopedias. Some offered to sharpen scissors or knives for a small fee. People did what they could just to survive.”

John Smith’s large family lived in Phoenix during those years. They often got fruits, vegetables or milk handed out by local farmers, who couldn’t sell their produce or products. His father, a good baseball player, often got work because every company in Phoenix at that time had a team.

“If you have memories, whether firsthand or shared by family members, please come and share. These memories will be very informal and videotaped for future generations,” says Maricopa Historical Society chairman Patricia Brock. 

For further information, contact at 480-821-0604 or [email protected].

If you go:
What: 
Maricopa Historical Society’s first oral history mini-series: The Depression Years
When: Thursday, Nov. 18, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Maricopa Agricultural Center (MAC)
Directions: John Wayne Parkway, then east on Smith-Enke Road (four miles to the MAC Administration Building on the north side of the road)

File photo