Examining the Causes of the 1929 Stock Market Crash
Through News Coverage in The New York Times
Objective: Determine the causes of the 1929 Stock Market Crash using both primary and secondary
documents.
Directions: Click on the link for the secondary source article. Use the article to fill in the causes of the Stock
Market crash graphic organizer given to you in class. Then, peruse through the primary source document link
and use them to answer the questions on the back of your graphic organizer worksheet.
Secondary Source Article on 1929 Market Crash:
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/76/economics/wall-street-crash-1929/
New York Times Primary Source Articles on the 1929 Market Crash:
NYT, 1929: Primary 1 - "Wall Street Hums on the Day of Rest to Catch Up on Work"
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/102829crash-sunday.html)
NYT, 1929: Primary 2 - "Stock Prices Slump $14,000,000,000 in Nation-Wide Stampede to
Unload; Bankers to Support Market Today"
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/102929crash-slump.html)
NYT, 1929: Primary 3 - "Stocks Collapse in 16,410,030-Share Day, but Rally at Close
Cheers Brokers; Bankers Optimistic, to Continue Aid"
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/103029crash-lede.html)
NYT, 1929: Primary 4 - "Stocks Mount in Strong All-Day Rally; Rockefeller Buying Heartens
Market; 2-Day Closing Ordered to Erase Strain"
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/103129crash-mount.html)
NYT, 1929: Primary 5 - "Stocks UP Again On Flood Of Buying; Discount Rate Cut Here
And In London; Back to Normal, Reserve Board Finds"
(http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/110129crash-stocks.html
Causes of the 1929 Stock Market Crash
Causes of
the 1929
Stock
Market
Crash
Name: __________________________
Primary Source document analysis:
1. From looking at the primary source documents, what do you know now that you did not
know before reading the articles (essentially, what information can you decipher from the
primary source documents about the Stock Market Crash that was not in the secondary
source document?).
2. How did people react to the 1929 stock market crash?
3. Using the information gained from the secondary and primary sources, summarize the
overall conditions of U.S. society in the later 1920s (essentially, what effect did the Stock
Market crash have?).