Raymond and Anna Marie McIntyre: What types of jobs did you have during the Depression?
Raymond (born in 1923) and Anna Marie (born in 1927) discuss how neighbors and family helped each other during the Depression, entertainment during hard times, their jobs and salaries and transportation options.
In this segment, Raymond and Anna Marie talk about the types of jobs they had during the Great Depression.
RAYMOND: My first job was with an optical company over here on 7th and Pine, named Alvin Optical Company. And I was hired as an errand boy. And my first salary was $8 a week.
HOST: $8 a week?
RAYMOND: Yeah, for delivering the prescriptions to the glass doctors in downtown area.
HOST: And did you have to take that home as part of support for your family?
RAYMOND: Oh, yeah. Always gave mom a few.
HOST: Yeah?
RAYMOND: And we could buy a streetcar pass for $0.50, a bus or streetcar pass. And that would give you, ride you seven days a week, any time, day or night.
HOST: $0.50 for a whole week?
RAYMOND: $0.50 for a week, yeah. And again, we used to toss that out the window, occasionally.
HOST: And Ray mentioned that he had to leave high school early to support. What about your education? What did you do then?
ANNA MARIA: That would be the early '40s, and my father was very ill at that time. My brother had gone in the service. And my older sister had gotten married. And I had a couple of younger sisters. And believe it or not, through the church, I got a job at a printing company. I was only 15 years old. They made me 16 years old [LAUGHS]. And I went to work to help support my family. And within a year, I even brought my mother to work with me then. My two young sisters were at school. And believe me, even though then I was 15 and 1/2 up to 16, I was giving them all the money. And my brother was sending some money home from the service.
HOST: How much money were you making back then?
ANNA MARIA: I made $0.30 an hour when I started.
HOST: $0.30 an hour.
ANNA MARIA: $0.30 an hour. I brought home like $12 a week, I think.
HOST: So you earned a heck of a lot more than Ray did. You got him beat 12 to 8, sounds like.
ANNA MARIA: Yeah.
Raymond and Anna Marie McIntyre:
- What was popular for entertainment during the Depression?
- How did you get around during the Depression?
- What types of jobs did you have then?
- Discussing a Christmas party held during the Great Depression...
- Were you affected by banks closing?
- How were you helped by the Works Progress Administration?
- What lessons did you take away from the Great Depression?
- Full Interview
Byron Gross and Sam Weber:
Byron (born in 1914) and Sam (born in 1913) talk about President Roosevelt’s fireside chats, how the crisis affected them and their fellow St. Louisans, and lessons they learned from the Great Depression.
- Introductions
- What were you doing during the Great Depression?
- What were some difficult adjustments you had to make during the Depression?
- Discuss the conditions endured by some during the Depression.
- Were you affected by bank closings during the Great Depression?
- What was it like to listen to Roosevelt's fireside chats?
- A story about helping each other to get by...
- What was something people wished for?
- Lessons Byron took away from living through the Great Depression...
- Lessons Sam took away from living through the Depression...
- Full Interview
Margaret Barrett:
Margaret (born in 1917) talks about bank closings, struggles in farming communities, her jobs and salary, going to school during the Depression, and the wonder of modern conveniences like electricity, indoor plumbing and the radio.
- Introduction
- Where did you live during that time?
- Did you notice people helping each other more during the Depression?
- What things did your family do to get through the Great Depression?
- What was school like during the Depression?
- Did you have modern conveniences in your home like electricity?
- Did you have a radio during the Depression?
- Full Interview
The Great Depression Curriculum Interview series, recorded in 2008, is made up of conversations with St. Louis-area residents who lived through the Great Depression. The interviews provide students with first-person accounts of life between 1929 and 1940.
Teachers can get students talking about the videos with discussion questions (pdf) based on the interviews.
For additional Great Depression-related multimedia resources, from newsreels to oral histories, visit our audio and video collections.