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Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Years of Dust
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Years of Dust

Artifact IDMO 1990.10
Object Type Poster
Maker (American painter, photographer, and lithographer, 1898 - 1969)
Date1937
Mediumpaper
Dimensionsframe H 41 1/4 in x W 28 in x D 2 in (104.8 cm x 71.1 cm x 5.1 cm )
 sheet H 38 in x W 25 in (96.5 cm x 63.5 cm )
Physical DescriptionA color poster featuring an illustration of a farmer, seated on a wooden porch, in a dejected pose with elbows on thighs and hands on cheeks. Resting across one leg is a newspaper with the headline: DUST STORM CONTINUES . . . FARMERS FLEE . . . . The face of a young boy is visible at a window in the background. Black text above and below the illustration reads: YEARS OF DUST / RESETTLEMENT ADMINISTRATION / Rescues Victims / Restores Land to Proper Use.

On the reverse of the poster is a pencil notation in the lower left corner that reads: Presented by / Allan [?] Goggelt / 11/24/36. Faintly stamped above this is the text: PROPERTY OF / ARTHUR STOUT.

The poster is matted, glazed, and framed in a 1" rough-sawn, gray-stained wood frame.
Historical NoteThis Ben Shahn poster promoted the mission of the New Deal’s Resettlement Administration (RA). Franklin Roosevelt created the Resettlement Administration by executive order in May 1935. It provided emergency loans and grants for impoverished farmers, engaged in soil conservation projects, educated farmers in best practices for land-use, and resettled farm families affected by soil erosion and depletion, including those impacted by the severe drought and immense dust storms that struck parts of the Midwest and southern plains during the 1930s.
Additional Details
Credit LineGift of Rosemary Frank
National Archives Catalog CollectionFranklin D. Roosevelt Library Museum Collection (National Archives Identifier 735948)
National Archives Catalog SeriesArtifacts Relating to the New Deal (National Archives Identifier 750981)
Use Restriction StatusUnrestrictedCopyrightReproduction or other use of these holdings or images thereof is unrestricted.
In Collection(s)
Not on view
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