Florida Memory is administered by the Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services, Bureau of Archives and Records Management. The digitized records on Florida Memory come from the collections of the State Archives of Florida and the special collections of the State Library of Florida.
State Archives of Florida
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State Library of Florida
Related Sites
Listen: The Assorted Selections ProgramPhoto Exhibits
Photo exhibits spotlight various topics in Florida history, and are accompanied by brief text intended to place selected materials in historical context.
Migrant Workers During the Great Depression in Florida
Making Homes
"No Lights, No Water, No Privy"
Families made homes wherever they could and out of whatever materials were available.
Some workers took advantage of temporary shelters or tent camps provided by government relief programs after 1940, while others were able to access housing provided by employers.
Hastily constructed, makeshift shelters were common, although migrants usually had to pay weekly rents even for small patches of dirt or underbrush where they could park a car or lay down a pallet.
Even in structures made of burlap sacks, tin, and old boxes—or blankets slung over ropes spanning between palm trees—the new arrivals worked to make the accommodations as comfortable as possible.
Clean water for drinking and bathing was often hard to find, and in many instances the companies and land owners providing space for worker camps would only make water available a few hours a day.
Families cared for each other with what they had and made the best of extremely difficult situations.
Migrant agricultural worker: Canal Point, Florida (1939)
Image Number: RC02701
Wife of packinghouse worker, migrant from Missouri said "We have never lived like hogs before but we sure does now, it's no different from hog livvin." Canal Point, Florida.
Baby being given a shower at a migrant labor camp: Belle Glade, Florida (1941)
Image Number: RC02703
Photographed at the utility building of the Okeechobee Migratory Labor Camp.
Shelter for migrant workers: Belle Glade, Florida (1939)
Image Number: RC06662
Migrant packinghouse workers' camp in swamp cane clearing. Housing two families (twelve people) from Tennessee. No lights, no water, no privy. Wash water is hauled from dirty canal, drinking water is hauled from packing house. Belle Glade, Florida.
Tent housing for migrant workers provided the Farm Security Administration: Pahokee, Florida (1943)
Image Number: RC05163
Houses for migrant workers: Belle Glade, Florida (1939)
Image Number: RC09677
A single room cabin cost 2 dollars a week and a double room cabin cost 4 dollars. Water had to be hauled.
Interior view of a migrant family dwelling: Winter Haven, Florida (1937)
Image Number: RC18525
Migrant worker and child
Image Number: RC08568
Dwelling for migrant workers
Image Number: RC18524
Family of migrant workers having supper
Image Number: RC18527
Features
Territorial Legislative Council Records, 1822-1845
Documenting Florida's legislature prior to statehood
State and County Officer Directories, 1868-1969
Lists of Florida's state and county officials either elected or appointed between 1868 and 1969.
Guide to Military Records and the Wartime Experience
A guide to government records and manuscript collections relating to service members and the wartime experience.
Dust Tracks
21 tracks from Hurston's time documenting African American culture for the WPA in 1930s Florida.
History Day 2025
Resources for Florida History Day from the State Library and Archives of Florida.