Primary Sources: Economy in the Interwar Period

Compiled and annotated by Eman M. Elshaikh, additional edits by Terry Haley

This collection explores the changes in various economies as well as the global economy between the two world wars. These sources are largely visual images, such as posters and photographs, as well as some text sources. All concern the effects of these economic challenges and what governments did to meet them.

Women and children line up for rations handed out from a train carriage.

Introduction to this collection

Guiding question to think about as you read the documents: How did different nations attempt to overcome economic crises after 1900?

WHP Primary Source Punctuation Key

When you read through these primary source collections, you might notice some unusual punctuation like this: . . . and [ ] and ( ). Use the table below to help you understand what this punctuation means.

Punctuation	What it means
ELLIPSES words … words	Something has been removed from the quoted sentences by an editor.
BRACKETS [word] or word[s]	Something has been added or changed by an editor. These edits are to clarify or help readers.
PARENTHESES (words)	The original author of the primary source wanted to clarify, add more detail, or make an additional comment in parentheses.

Source 1 – Economic hardship in photographs, 1930–1938 (0:35)

Source 2 – Works Progress Administration posters, 1935–1940 (4:40)

Source 3 – Social security poster, 1935 (7:05)

Source 4 – Speaking of Dust Storms, 1937 (9:05)

Source 5 – On the Grain Front, 1928 (10:10)

Source 6 – Harry Byers’ diary while in the USSR, 1930–1931 (14:35)

Source 7 – Statistical Yearbook of the League of Nations, 1930–1931 (17:20)

Source 8 – Report on food situation in Germany, 1917 (19:50)

Source 9 – German hyperinflation in photographs, 1919–1923 (23:05)

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Source 1 – Economic hardship in photographs, 1930–1938 (0:35)

Title Multiple untitled photographs	Date and location China, United States, India, Great Britain, Germany, 1930–1938
Source type Primary source – photographs	Author Multiple photographers
Description The Great Depression impacted multiple economies around the world for a variety of reasons, including crop failure, problems in the financial market, and the aftereffects of war. These photographs provide a glimpse of how this economic hardship looked in many places across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Guiding question

How did different nations attempt to overcome economic crises after 1900?

Excerpt

China

Portrait of a mother and child famine refugees. — *“A mother and child, refugees from Shantung during the famine in China.” (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Stringer/Getty Images)*

United States

Large family in front of a simple wooden shack. — **Housing crisis.** *“1935: An African-American family near Southern Pines, North Carolina.” (Photo by MPI/Stringer/Getty Images).*

Field of small shacks on the outside of town. — **Housing crisis.** *“7/16/1934-Hooverville, a section of Seattle.” (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images).*

Rows of tents to house unemployed workers to be trained for forestry work. — **Housing crisis.** “Tents to accommodate unemployed workers from Chicago and Milwaukee, who will be trained in forestry work as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, at the Fort Sheridan United States Army Post, Illinois, circa 1935.” (Photo by FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Crowd of women holding signs in protest. — **Protests.** 1935: “Unemployed, single women protest the job placement of married women before themselves at headquarters of the Emergency Relief Administration [E.R.A., not to be confused with the Equal Rights Amendment, which came later and is also called the E.R.A.] in Boston, Massachusetts.” (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images).

Protest scene with men holding signs and fights breaking out between strikers and scabs. — **Protests.** c. 1935: “A scene depicting unionized strikers fighting with a group of ‘scabs’ or nonunion replacement employees as they try to cross the picket line at a factory. One of the strikers’ signs reads ‘We fight fascism.’ Several men lay unconscious on the ground.” (Photo by American Stock Archive/Getty Images)

India

A row of strikers lying down preventing workers from entering a shop. — “(Original Caption) 4/12/1930-India- A long line of workshop strikers in this city lying prone, in front of the gate of their shop, preventing strike-breakers from entering and resuming work. These are supporters of Mahatma Gandhi, the rebel who seeks independence for his country from British rule. Gandhi adherents throughout the land have rioted and clashed with British authorities, causing the death of one and the injury of others.” (Photo by Bettmann/Getty Images)

Great Britain

Crowd of marchers protesting in London. — *“1933: Hunger marchers on their way to a rally in Hyde park” London (Photo by Keystone/Stringer/Getty Images).*

Germany

Line of well-dressed children, some holding signs, protesting the plight of poor children in their city. — “Children of wealthy parents march in Berlin to highlight the extent of poverty among the city’s children, circa 1930. Their placards read ‘Kinder In Not’ (Children In Need!).” (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Stringer/Getty Images)

Soldiers feed a crowd of unemployed from a mobile canteen. — *“Germany, 19th November, 1931, German soldiers serving out food for the unemployed and destitute in their soup kitchen” (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images/Getty Images).*

Citation

Getty citations under each image.