Great Depression Sample Questions

History is much more than remembering facts. History is all around us. It’s in our families and in our communities. Doing this Great Depression project allows you to probe the memories of older people — to ask them to tell you stories about their experiences. It allows you to become a producer of historical knowledge, rather than a passive absorber of historical information.

Depression/New Deal Era Interview

1. This assignment requires you to conduct an interview with a person who lived during the Great Depression era. Ideally, your interview subject should have been born in the 1920s or earlier.

a. Potential interview subjects may include grandparents, great-grandparents, other relatives, neighbors, acquaintances of relatives and neighbors.

b. Another option is to try a local nursing home or living facility for the elderly.

2. You are playing the role of an investigative reporter for this assignment. Some interview subjects may not provide the best information initially. Consequently, you must be persistent, but polite, as you conduct your interview. Also, be creative in the manner that you ask your questions. Rephrase a question or come back to it at a later time in the interview if you are not satisfied with the response given. Try to ask questions that require answers of more than one or two words.

3. Here are some questions that might be of use during the interview:

a. Background information

1. Age
2. Place of birth
3. Place of residency during the Depression era
4. Living conditions, housing and clothing
5. Family information

b. School

1. Transportation to and from school
2. Description of school
3. Activities

c. Work

1. Which family members worked
2. What type of work the family members did
3. Information about anyone who worked for a New Deal agency
4. Whether family members or neighbors were unemployed during this era
5. Information about any “bartering” that occurred during this time period

d. Meals/food

1. The most common types of meals
2. Whether the family participated in any self-subsistence farming or gardening
3. If the family shared food with neighbors or anyone else

e. Favorite pastimes

f. Banks/stock market

1. If family or friends had to deal with bank foreclosures, and what happened
2. If the person was aware that family, friends or neighbors had hiding places for their money

g. Opinions on Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Depression era policies

1. Whether they were adequate
2. Whether he exercised too much control

h. Miscellaneous stories

4. 4. Due date: _________________________________

5. 5. Points available: ____________________________

6. Format/work to be turned in

   a. A typed transcript of the interview

   1. Transcript should be in a question-and-answer format as much as possible
   2. Transcript should include your reactions and perceptions related to the comments made by the person you interviewed
      (use a different font style)

   b. A videotape or audiotape recording of the interview, which is worth ___ points of extra credit

   c. A handwritten note from your parent or guardian verifying the fact that you did conduct an interview

Great Depression Sample Questions (PDF File)