Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1932

Life during the Depression was hard. Many people lost their jobs and their homes. Many homeless blamed their economic woes on President Herbert Hoover and moved into shantytowns, which they called “Hoovervilles.” Homes in the Hoovervilles were made out of anything people could find, such as crates and tin cans. Americans across the country struggled to get by, and all made do with less.

Meet Minnie Swift

Minnie Swift grew up during the Depression. Her family was luckier than most. They had their home and though they had less food than they had before the Depression, they still had something to eat. Still, Minnie not only faced her uncertain future, she also faced the poverty around her. On the day before Christmas, Minnie and her family baked cookies to give to those less fortunate. Read her description of the “Hooverville” near her home.

We all walked over to the shantytown. This is the one they call Curtisville. It is the biggest Hooverville in the state of Indiana even if they do call it after the vice president. It was a long, cold walk but I forgot the cold and my freezing feet when we got there. Honest to gosh, I saw people living in contraptions that you couldn’t believe. I saw one family living in a pile of old tires covered with a tarp! Marlon said it was very dangerous. If all those tires collapsed they’d be squashed to death and there was a little baby, just a toddler. Then we saw ramshackle shacks with tin roofs made from flattened garbage cans. Garbage cans and oil drums were the most important part of Curtisville. People lit fires in them, cooked on them, flattened them into sheets for roofs or walls, and some people who were too tired to build anything just crawled into them and slept.