This powerpoint accompanies the article "Bringing it to the People, Lessons from the Great Depression" about what museums did during the 1930s economic crisis. http://www.aam-us.org/pubs/mn/depression.cfm
11. Between 1923 and 1930,
most American families bought their first radio.
12. In 1929, the stockmarket crashed
150
100
50
0
1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933
13. In a time of financial
famine, the public is
forced to a
reappraisal of all its
possessions,
institutions and
customs.
—P. Youtz, Brooklyn
Museum, 1933
32. The first visitor studies were funded by the
Carnegie during the Great Depression
33. Visitor studies led to action
Many museums stayed open
until 10pm, seven days a
week.
They rearranged exhibits to
make them more comfortable
to view.
35. MoMA director Alfred Barr touring college
students through a traveling exhibition
36. In 1930, AFA began to tour
the nation’s first popular art shows
39. “The [1930s] crisis kindled America’s
social imagination … asserting life-saving
grace, unity and style against the
encroaching darkness.”
– Morris Dickstein, Dancing in the Dark:
A Cultural History of the Great
Depression, 2009.