Videos

Pepperdine University professor Loretta Hunnicutt taught a class about baseball during the Great Depression. She looked at the role of baseball in American culture and the origins of sports…

Saint Vincent College professor Timothy Kelly taught a class about the New Deal Community of Norvelt in Pennsylvania. Named in part for Eleanor Roosevelt, it was built during the Great…

This dramatized film in vivid technicolor follows a mid-Western family as they visit the Westinghouse exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair. Made by Westinghouse during the Great Depression, the film…

This U.S. Interior Department film shows young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps doing infrastructure and maintenance work in New Jersey state parks. The conservation work was part of…

This Interior Department film highlights infrastructure and conservation work by young men during the Great Depression and promotes the Roosevelt administration’s Civilian Conservation…

During the Great Depression, almost one-quarter of the United States' working population was unemployed. This gave rise to an increasing number of migrant workers, commonly referred to as…

Jim Powell talked about his book, FDR’s Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression, published by Crown Forum. In the book, the author criticizes what he refers to as “big…

Hilary Austin and Kathleen Thompson discuss their book Children of the Depression, published by Indiana University Press. The book is a collection of images of children taken by Depression-era…

Amity Shlaes talked about job creation programs under the New Deal and about the powers of the federal government. She used a case involving chicken sales in Brooklyn to elaborate on her…

Panelists discussed the topic, “Ayn Rand, Communism, and the Hollywood Blacklist.” The event was held at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles and was hosted by the Ayn Rand Institute.

T.H. Watkins talked about his book, The Hungry Year: A Narrative History of the Great Depression in America, published by Henry Holt and Company. He talked about the Great Depression and…

English Professor Morris Dickstein of Queens College talked about John Steinbeck’s view of labor issues, the Great Depression, and how his characters represented various characteristics of…

Mr. Hemp talked about Cannery Row in Monterey, John Steinbeck’s novels, and Steinbeck’s treatment of labor issues during the Great Depression.

At a forum titled “The Grapes of Wrath and Today’s Migrant Farm Workers,” participants explored John Steinbeck’s influence and reflected on the past and current lives of Latino-Americans in…

Guests talked about the life and writings of Ernie Pyle and his view of the 1930s and 1940s, focusing on his reporting from the front lines in World War II. They read several from Here Is Your War, a…

From Sunset Boulevard and the Harmony Gold Theater, the guests talked about the political history of America and the world from the mid-1930s to post-World War II through the life and writings of…

From Rowan Oak, William Faulkner’s home, the guests talked about his life and his writings, focusing on the Yoknapatawpha County novels. A C-SPAN crew toured grounds and a few rooms inside the home.…

Mr. Foote talked about the writings of William Faulkner and his view of the South.

From the National Steinbeck Center the guests talked about John Steinbeck’s life, his writings, and the times in which he lived. They also responded to audience telephone calls and talked…

Author Ayn Rand spoke about her philosophical theories and the influence of capitalism on Western society. Her theories came to be known as Objectivism.