Records from the Great Depression
Cath Madden Trindle
NYA-National Youth Administration
1935-1943 NARA RG119
The National
Youth Administration grew from the concern voiced by Eleanor Roosevelt that
many young Americans had never held a job. Created in 1935 the agencies charter
granted it the authority “to initiate and administer a program of approved
projects to provide emergency relief and employment to persons between the ages
of 16 and 25 who are no longer in regular attendance at a school requiring full
time study and who are not engaged in remunerative employment.” The
executive director of the program was Aubrey Williams and Lyndon Johnson
directed the Texas office of the agency.
The agency operated from 26 Jun 1935 under the WPA until 1939
when it was transferred to the FSA with the implementation of the
Reorganization Act. By 1938 over 327,000 high school and college students were
participating in the Student Aid Program.
They were paid between $6 and $40 a month for “work study” projects at the
schools. Congress distributed money directly to educational institutions
for scholarships and grants.
The Works Project Program provided
more than 150,000 youth who were no longer in school and belonged to families
that were on relief with part-time work and on the job-training. They
were paid between $10 and $25 a month, with that money often going to the
family of the youth.
NYA offered
self-improvement, health benefits, citizenship courses, and vocational
guidance. It also provided social opportunities through community youth centers
featuring athletics, hobby clubs, dramatics, games, music, and dancing.
Unlike the CCC
which was limited to young men, the NYA included young women. While
participants most often lived at home, NYA did furnish educational camps
for unemployed women between ages eighteen and
twenty-five who needed personal and occupational guidance. The one-four month
training period included self-government, cooperative living, and studying the
problems of women in industry. Other programs utilized school campuses
where participants might live for 6-8 months as they learned a new trade.
Projects were run at
the state level and differed according to the facilities, funds,
materials, and manpower available. Major projects included construction,
public and semiprofessional service, and home economics. Participants learned
skills in road and building construction, woodworking, office work, nursing,
furniture and auto repair, radio operation, landscaping, blacksmithing, welding,
agriculture, and domestic science.
WPA regulated the
hours which were limited to 8 in a day, 40 in a week and 70 in a month. The
annual budget for NYA was approximately $58M.
In 1942 it was
transferred to the War Manpower Commission before officially folding in 1943.
Virgil E. Baugh created a finding aid to the NYA records.,
“Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Youth Administration,” NC
35 (1963). The National Archives at San Francisco (actually located in
San Bruno) has over 9 cubic feet of material for the Region 12 of NYA (Entries 341-345 in Virgil E. Baugh, comp).
Look for memoirs and
interviews that include reminiscences of time spent in the NYA in archives and
libraries throughout the country. You will also find photographs and
posters in many collections.
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