The Family Meets the Depression was first published in 1939. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.
There have been very few studies of normal, happy family life. One such study, "The Family in the Present Social Order," by Ruth Lindquist, presented the circumstances of several hundred normal American families in 1927, one of the most prosperous years of our history.
The present investigation is a follow-up of Miss Lindquist's. Miss Morgan compares the circumstances of 331 of these families as they were in that year with those of the same families in 1933, which perhaps was the blackest year of the depression. The problems faced and the manner in which they were solved are carefully analyzed and presented in eminently readable form. Including as they do depleted incomes, lack of help in the household, dependent relatives, and health difficulties, these problems are in numerous ways typical of those faced by thousands of American families today.
The findings of this study should possess considerable significance not only for students of home economics but also for sociologists, parent educators, and psychologists concerned with problems of personal adjustment.