Primary Sources: The Great Depression and the 1930s: Films

Department of Agriculture. Farm Security Administration. Information Division. (ca. 1937 - ca. 1942)
ARC Identifier 13595 / Local Identifier 96.2 1937
The Plow That Broke the Plains
https://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.13595.dup
The film presents the social and economic history of the Great Plains -- from the time of the settlement of the prairies, through the World War I boom, to the years of depression and drought. The first part of the film shows cattle as they grazed on grasslands, and homesteaders who hurried onto the plains and grew large wheat crops. The second part depicts the postwar decline of the wheat market, which resulted in overproduction. Footage shows farm equipment used, then abandoned. The third part shows a dust storm as it rendered a farm useless. Subsequent scenes show farmers as they left their homes and headed west.

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