Getting By

The "Roaring Twenties " call to mind a modern, prosperous, yet controversial decade. Expendable income was on the rise, and more consumer goods than ever before became available. But the good times would not last.

The confidence and feeling of security enjoyed by many American families, like that of Robert D. Hill, evaporated following the market crash of October 29, 1929, when the financial rug was pulled out from under them. Millions of breadwinners, like the fathers of Mary Joy Breton and Michael Sanchelli, found themselves out of work. Faced with the greatest deprivation many would ever know, families struggled to make ends meet. Very few families were unaffected by the Great Depression .

The children of the Great Depression learned of necessity to be resourceful, wearing hand-me-down clothing, going without luxuries of any kind and, at times, going without meals.

Many young men joined the Government's Civilian Conservation Corps, which promised temporary employment and steady wages, and even young children, found work in an attempt to make a financial contribution to their families -- in some cases giving up educational opportunities to do so.

Children learned the value of a dollar and how to save, lessons that would stay with them throughout their lives and that would be reflected in frugal and careful habits: darning socks and patching play clothes for their baby boom children, scraping the inside of an egg shell to get every last bit of egg white, clipping coupons and saving Gold Bond trading stamps.

Citations:

• Hill, Robert D., Reminiscences. MHS Manuscripts Collections.
• Breton, Mary Joy Dean, Surviving the Great Depression. Minnesota Historical Society: Share Your Story.
• Sanchelli, Michael T., Reminiscences, 1991-1993. MHS Manuscripts Collection.
• Great Depression. Wikipedia.com, 2006.
• The Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum, 2006.
• Drake, Robert M., A Prideful Recollection of the Old CCC. The Minnesota Volunteer, Vol. 46, No. 2691983, p. 3-9. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 1983.
• Cost-of-Living Calculator. American Institute for Economic Research, 2006.
• Photo: Harriet School students, learning about banking, 1920.