During the Great Depression, there were two Presidents. The first was Herbert Hoover, a conservative politician who believed in the laissez faire (hands-off) system of economics. Many believe Hoover only made everything worse when he finally put some policies in place in the early 1930s. Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) was elected in Hoover's place in 1932 for his liberal, progressive ideas. One such idea that FDR put in place was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC provided jobs for men that contributed to building and upkeep projects.
- This building originated because of CCC work groups in the West and Midwest during the Great Depression. The men would be assigned a job that would benefit the public, given the materials, and paid to construct and appropriate response.
- Before WW1, many Americans lived without need of federal aid. However, the Great Depression changed that. By the 1930s, and FDR's terms, most Americans were poor or homeless, surviving only with welfare programs. To remedy this, FDR created the CCC to assist on the path to relief, recovery, and reform. Now Americans were being given a leg up from the government, but in a way that wouldn't make them dependent on aid in the future.
- As discussed in the introduction, many of Franklin Roosevelt's policies and reforms benefitted America in the tail end and aftermath of the Great Depression.
PURPOSE
- Nothing was innovative about the outhouse built in Boise, Idaho, but the fact that construction with paid workers was taking place in America was certainly new. For the entirety of the Great Depression, survival was the main concern, not expanding infrastructure.
- This outhouse was made to increase the public's assets in a rural area, hopefully influencing companies and private owners to hire workers and built projects of their own. The project also fed CCC members and their families, keeping them from life-theatening harm.
- The outhouse built is fairly standard, except for small flourishes on the eaves to create a more blended look with the surrounding pine trees. It's made out of wood and rock from the area. A large wall protrudes between the male and female entrances, suggesting the societal conservatism of the time. Unfortunately, the unfinished painted wood components have not stood up well to the weather and years.
VALUE
- The outhouse at Neinmeyer Campground is a good example of the 1930s because it represents the regrowth of the economy and confidence of the people. It was built by an important organization, for purposes of relief, recovery, and reform.
- The dividing wall still expresses the gender separation endorsed by much of society at the time, a concern mostly of the older and middle-aged generations.
LIMITATIONS
- However, this source cannot tell us the feelings of the extremely liberal or extremely conservative politicians of the 1930s. We don't know what they thought of small-time projects. Did the conservatives think it was still too much aid? Did it not even register to the liberals as help?
- This project, and the group responsible for its undertaking, were unusual and counter to the period, which may have obscured it from the eye of the general public. This means less strong, popular reactions.
SOURCES