Established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employed more than 2.5 million young men in a variety of construction and trades at outdoor camps during the Depression. Managed by the United States Army and the departments of Agriculture and the Interior, the CCC had approximately 70 camps in Texas that employed a maximum of 19,200 workers at a time on public lands. These workers were dedicated to soil conservation and erosion-management programs and performed a broad range of duties, such as building small dams and planting trees, while also having the opportunity to enroll in classes and earn educational credits. In 1942, the CCC declined as the U. S. economy grew during World War II. By the end of the program, much of the work of the CCC in Texas had laid the foundation for the Texas State park system, yielding 56 public parks.
Sources:
Hendrickson, Kenneth E, Jr.
Steely, James Wright and Joseph R. Monticone.
Composed of photocopies of reports, correspondence, photographs, and an exhibit booklet, the Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas Records, [ca. 1933]-1986, documents the program’s work in Texas State Parks during the 1930s and early 1940s. Correspondence and reports to the U. S. Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture concern the progress of individual parks and projects, while photographs depict the corps’ workers. Additionally, the exhibit booklet discusses the history of the program and its role in the development of a Texas State park system and the creation of jobs during the Depression.
This collection is open for research use.
Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas Records, [ca. 1933]-1986, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s