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RESOURCES
New Deal Resources in the Roosevelt Library Archives
When President Roosevelt first announced plans for his presidential library in December 1938, World War II had not begun and FDR had not declared his intentions for a Third Term. So the Library originally was intended to be a resource primarily for studying the Great Depression and the New Deal. Today, the Roosevelt Library remains the premier research center for studying this important period in our history.
Not surprisingly, many scholars focus their research on the heart of our collections: Roosevelt's Presidential Papers, where you can find files on the creation and functioning of the CCC, NRA, WPA, TVA and other New Deal agencies. You also can review drafts of important speeches and messages to Congress and Roosevelt's press conference transcripts as well as letters from the American people responding to Roosevelt's various policy initiatives and to the Fireside Chats.
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers contain thousands of letters from average Americans asking for clothing, money, help finding jobs, or just her sympathy. And ER's correspondence with government officials shows her as a woman of action, never hesitating to recommend policy initiatives or to advocate on behalf of individuals who had asked for her assistance.
The collections of well-known administration officials contain substantial New Deal resources, particularly the papers of Louis McHenry Howe, FDR's political secretary; Harry L. Hopkins, head of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and then the WPA; Adolf A. Berle, Jr. and Rexford Guy Tugwell, two of the original Brains Trusters; Samuel Rosenman, FDR's counsel and primary speechwriter; and Henry Morgenthau, Jr., FDR's Treasury Secretary.
But there are lesser-known collections that add richness to the story of the New Deal. For example, the papers of Morris L. Cooke and Leland Olds are invaluable to the study of the development of public power and utilities regulation. John Ihlder's papers document this urban planning expert's work on public housing issues. John H. Fahey served as chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and then the Home Owners Loan Corporation. Leon Henderson and Charles Fahy were officials within the National Recovery Administration. Aubrey Williams was head of the National Youth Administration, and Gardner Jackson was an attorney in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. The Pare Lorentz Papers document the life and work of "FDR's Filmmaker."
While Lorena Hickok is primarily known as a close friend and confidante of Mrs. Roosevelt, she also had an important career as a roving investigator for Harry Hopkins' FERA, traveling around the country by car and reporting on the effectiveness of local relief administrations and the physical and mental conditions of those receiving relief. Copies of these detailed and insightful reports are available in her papers.
The Olin Dows Papers document this Hudson Valley native's experience on the other side of the New Deal: as an artist employed to paint murals in the Hyde Park and Rhinebeck Post Offices. These papers are complemented by drawings and studies for the murals that are contained in the Library's Museum collections.
The Papers of Marlene Park and Gerald E. Markowitz contain the research files for these historians' important works on the Federal Arts Projects. Included are files on New Deal artists, exhibition catalogs, agency reports, and files on projects arranged by state and town.
Finally, the Library's audio-visual collections contain photographs, audio recordings, and film and video documenting conditions in the country during the Depression, various New Deal projects, and the activities of the Roosevelts and their associates.
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