During the Great Depression, the New Deal was instituted as a way of getting the U.S. back on its feet economically, to protect and preserve its infrastructure and history, and provide employment for citizens. Among the many programs begun, the WPA, and specifically the Historical Records Survey, created, preserved, and described material in what was self-described as the “discovery, preservation, and listing of basic materials for research in the history of the United States." The record indexes, inventories, abstracts, transcriptions, and other material produced are as if they were created with genealogists in mind. Learn about the programs and creations that continue to serve family historians today and where these are located.