The Dust Bowl
December 2011- ISTC 653, Amy L. Samay
Search Aids
This pathfinder will be useful in finding information about the
Dust Bowl. The intended audience for this pathfinder is middle
school Language Arts teachers preparing to teach the novel, Out of
the Dust, by Karen Hesse.
For an introduction to the topic, see:
 World Book Advanced
Search Terms
(Use for computer searches)
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Dust Bowl
Great Depression
Migrant Workers
Subject Headings
(Use in card catalogs and print indexes)
Key Resources at a Glance:
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Teacher’s Guide: Surviving the Dust Bowl—This part of
the website of PBS’ television series, “The American
Experience” has lesson ideas to go along with PBS’ video
Surviving the Dust Bowl. Links are included to text, video,
audio interviews and biographies, primary source
documents, and a photo gallery.
Dust Bowl Migration Digital Archives—This archive
developed from California Odyssey Project’s Oral History
Program and include oral history interviews, articles,
photographs, primary and secondary source documents,
and related links.
Library of Congress Teacher’s Guide: Dust Bowl
Migration—This teacher’s guide provides background
knowledge, and links to primary source documents, audio
files, and photography. Teaching ideas and graphic
organizers are given to guide teachers in helping students to
effectively analyze primary source documents.
Reference Background
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Environmental Encylopedia
Weather Almanac
Wikipedia
Resources
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Dust Storms
Drought
Great Depression, 1929-1939
Migrant Labor
Call Number
 331.5, 551.55, 909.82,973.91,
978(Dewey Decimal)
Indexes and Abstracts
 History Reference Center
(EBSCOhost)
 SIRS
 GALE Virtual Reference
Library
Library catalogs
 Baltimore County Public
Library (Polaris)
 Baltimore County Public
Schools (Destiny)
 Delaware Library Catalog
 World Cat - World-wide
Catalog
Books
 The Dust Bowl through the lens: how photography revealed and helped remedy a national
disaster, by Martin W. Sandler (2009)--This award-winning book features a collection of
historic photographs showing the devastation caused by the Dust Bowl and of the spirit and
courage of the people who endured it.
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The Dust Bowl: an interactive history adventure, by Allison Lassieur (2009)—In this “choose
your own story” style book, the reader can follow one of three story paths to learn about the
Dust Bowl era from the point of view of a migrant worker, a farmer, and a government
photographer. Fifty-three choices and 19 story endings are offered and a timeline and resource
list are both included.
The Storm in the Barn, by Matt Phelan (2009)—This graphic novel follows the everyday
challenges faced by eleven-year-old Jack Clark in Kansas in 1937.
The Children of the Dust Bowl: The True Story of the School at Weedpatch Camp, by Jerry
Stanley (1992)—The books tells the true story of the residents of Weedpatch Camp, an
emergency farm-labor camp built by the federal government. The book contains many
authentic black and white photographs and discusses the school built by and for the children of
the migrant workers.
Journals
 On the Cause of the 1930’s Dust Bowl
 Dust Bowl Affected Midwestern Climate
Magazine Articles
 “Baked Out and Broke”, by Gina DeAngelis. Cobblestone (March 2008)
 “Memories of the Dust Bowl”, by Kathy Wilmore, Junior Scholastic (April 10, 2006)
 “Storms: Dust Storms—Dust Problems”, by Jim Mezzanotte, Weekly Reader (2007)
Web Pages and Web Portals
 Modern American Poetry: The Great Depression
www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/depression.htm
 Wessel’s Living History Farm: The Dust Bowl
www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html
Organizations and Special Collections
 Sonoma State University: Dust Bowl Migration Archives
http://dsc.calstate.edu/683?r=cam; 707-664-4152—This collection contains
correspondence, stories, music, newsletters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, photographs
and camp diaries to document the migration of farm workers to California during the Dust
Bowl era.
 Woody Guthrie Archives
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/archives/archivesindex.htm; 914-864-1789
Multimedia Resources
 Surviving the Dust Bowl, (PBS Home Video, 1998) [VHS]
 The Great Depression and the New Deal, (Schlessinger Media, 2003) [DVD]
 The Dust Bowl: Lessons from the Greatest U.S. Environmental Disaster (Jai Ranganathan,
December 17, 2010) [Podcast]