From Senior Producer Terry Kay Rockefeller's note of December, 1993:

"When the production staff of THE GREAT DEPRESSION was first assembled, in the summer of 1991, we began our work together with an intensive six-day "school" on the history, culture and economics of the Great Depression. School sessions altemated between those focussed on topics of general concern to the producers of the programs -- "The Depression Presidency" or "Doing Multicultural History"-- and sessions designed specifically to examine the personalities and issues of the films we would be making.

"In preparation for school, producers read several general works on the Depression and the New Deal as well as an anthology of readings specially assembled for the project.

"Most of the presenters at school were academic scholars and professors, though we aimed to include one person in each session who was a witness-participant in the history ·· a member of the Detroit Unemployed Councils, or a joumalist whose beat had been Washington in the 1930s, for example. We also tried to screen relevant archival film at each session so that producers, witnesses and academic advisers together could discuss the kinds of material available to recreate the history of the 1930s on television. One evening session included dinner and a 1930s sing·a-long led by a folk singer-music historian.

From the final School Schedule for "The Great Depression"

Blackside, Inc.
August 3 through 8, 1991

Day One: Saturday August 3

AM: Overview and Introduction to the Thirties

Alan Brinkley - the 1930s
Vincent Harding - the advance of democracy and the salient issues from the 30s
Leo Seltzer - cameraman for thc Film and Photo League, being a media activist in the 30s

PM: Show One: 'Perilous Joumey"

Michael McGerr - the prosperity decade
David Lewis - Ford's business and labor policies
Zaragosa Vargas - Mexican-American workers at the Ford Motor Co.
Dave Moore - Ford worker, Detroit Unemployed Councils

Day Two: Sunday, August 4

AM: The Depression Presidency

Joan Hoff - Hoover as President and as critic of the New Deal
Frank Freidl - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Joseph Harsch -- Washington Bureau, "Christian Science Monitor,"  in the 30s

PM: Show Three: "Ncw Deal/New York"

Arthur Schlesinger - the coming of the New Deal
Tom Kessner - LaGuardia
Gerald Gill - African-American popular culture, NYC and Washington
Ralph Fasanella - artist, images of Depression era NYC
Screenings: excerpt from 'This Was Harlem", La Guardia newsreels

Day Three: Monday, August 5

 AM: Show Four: 'Challenglng the New Deal/California'

James Gregory -  EPIC and Sinclair
Vicki Ruiz - Mexican·Americans in California
Clayton Koppes - Hollywood and its films in the 30s

PM: Doing Multicultural History

Nell Painter - a history of thc 30s for the 90s
Susan Ware - women's history issues of the 30s
Arthur M. Schlesinger - multiculturalism's challenge to the American ideal.

Day Four: Tuesday, August 6

AM: Show Five: "The Dispossessed"

Nan Woodruff - collapse of the plantation system, New Deal agricultural Policy, and theSTFU
James Gregory - Dust Bowl migration
Robin Kelley - the CP-USA; agrarian and employment issues

PM: Show Six: 'The Rise of Labor"

Games Green - the labor movement in the 30s
Steve Frazier - the conservative reaction to labor
William Harris - Black workers and A. Philip Randolph
Tom Juravich ·- labor songs ofthe 30s - an evening of music with dinner

Day Five: Wednesday,  August 7

AM: Show Seven: "To Be Somebody"

William Wiggins - Joe Louis, American hero
Gerald Gill - Foreign Policy context
Ruth and Henry Morgenthau - Eleanor Roosevelt

PM: Economics

Peter Temin - causes of the Depression
John Garraty - the international economic perspective

Day 6: Thursday,  August 8

AM: Show Elght: "Taking Stock"

Alan Trachtenburg - 30s photography
Maren Stange - 30s photography
Helen Harrison - 30s murals and art

PM: "Taking Stock" and sources

Robert McElvaine - the voices of the 30s