When I began researching Papa’s Bones back in 2005, I started by looking into the decade of hte 1930s. Then I shrunk my focus to Iowa and later Des Moines and its surrounding areas. One source I found invaluable was the Iowa Oral History Project. A series of of interviews done in the 1970s and 1980s of people in and around Iowa. It is a great way to get a first hand account of Iowa in the 1930s.
Some of the sources I used have now been digitized and are availabe for download:
- Working Girl During the Depression by Kathryn Love
- The Way it Was in 1915 by Kathryn Love
- Entertainement & Flappers by Kathryn Love
- Chatauqua to WWII by by Kathryn Love
- Homefront During WWI & WWII by Kathryn Love
- Banking During the Great Depression by H. Lee Huston
- History of Grand Ave & Its Buildings by Ed Chase
A valuable source for Iowa boxing was an interview done by the Iowa Oral History Project that tied in w/ Chuck Offenburger’s book: Babe: an Iowa Legend. Sadly, this source is no longer available for check out or listening due to copyrite.
L.M. Elm, Historical Novelist 