Inventory of the State Relief Administration Records
Processed by staff.
California State Archives
1020 "O" Street
Sacramento, California 95814
Phone: (916) 653-2246
Fax: (916) 653-7363
Email: ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov
URL: http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/
© 2004
California Secretary of State. All rights reserved.
Inventory of the State Relief Administration Records
Collection number:
California State Archives
Office of the Secretary of State
Sacramento, California
Contact Information:
- California State Archives
- 1020 "O" Street
- Sacramento, California 95814
- Phone: (916) 653-2246
- Fax: (916) 653-7363
- Email: ArchivesWeb@sos.ca.gov
- URL: http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/
Processed by: The California State Archives staff
Date Completed: 2004
Encoded by: Laura Avedisian
© 2004 California Secretary of State. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: State Relief Administration records,
Date (inclusive): 1933-1944
Collection number: F3448
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Extent:
5 cubic feet
Repository:
California State Archives
Abstract: The State Emergency Relief Administration was created in 1933, and succeeded by the State Relief Administration in 1935.
Both agencies were developed to alleviate certain conditions caused by the Great Depression. The records from both agencies
include reports, statistics, surveys, operating procedures, budgets and bulletins. There is no correspondence included in
these records.
Physical location: California State Archives
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication
is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility
for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives
collections.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], State Relief Administration Records, F3448:[folder number], California State Archives, Office of
the Secretary of State, Sacramento, California.
Acquisition Information
These records were sent to the California State Archives after the State Relief Administration was disbanded in 1944.
Biographical Note
The State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) was created in 1933 as a provision of the Unemployment Bond Relief Act. In
1935, SERA was succeeded by the State Relief Administration (SRA). Both agencies were created to help alleviate certain conditions
caused by the Great Depression, and their responsibilities included the distribution of state and federal funds for unemployment
relief.
The activities of the State Relief Administration frequently overlapped activities of other local, federal and even state
agencies created for similar purposes. Consequently, the organization of the SRA was constantly changing and it is difficult
to decisively state the the number or names of the agency's divisions at any given date. See Elsey Hurt,
California State Government - an Outline of Its Administrative Organization, vol. 2, 1939, for more details.
Scope and Contents Note
The records of the State Relief Administration (SRA) include reports, statistics, surveys, operating procedures, budgets and
bulletins created or gathered by various divisions of the SRA and its predecessor, the State Emergency Relief Administration.
There is no correspondence included in these records.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been associated with these materials in the Archives'
automated public access system (currently in development, December 2004).
Subjects
Great Depression
Unemployment
Migrant Labor
Box-folder F3448:1-15a
Administrator's Office, 1933-1941 Series 1.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
17 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a review of activities, 1933-1935, a report on California unemployment relief, 1936, a report on agricultural
migratory laborers in San Joaquin Valley, 1937, a resume of state participation in unemployment relief, 1938, three volumes
of monthly reports, 1936-1939,a report to Governor's Commission on Reemployment, 1939, report to Governor's Council, 1940,
and the SRA Manual, chapter 1, Rules of Eligibility and Standards for Assistance, 1941.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:16-24
Division of Statistics and Audits, 1933-1941 Series 2.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
9 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include statistical tables relating to relief in California, 1933-34,an unemployment relief bulletin, 1933-1935,
a summary of replies to SRA on the subject of migratory labor, four volumes of weekly bulletins from Los Angeles and San Francisco,
1939-1941, a report on the problem of interstate migration as it affected the SRA, 1940, and a comparison of rents paid by
SRA cases with maximum SRA rent allowances, 1941.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:25-41
Division of Social and County Administration, 1933-1942 Series 3.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
12 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include nutrition and dietary data, 1933-1935, a study of Riverside County Social Service, 1935, a report on
transient men and camps, 1935, the Manual of the Social Service Division, 1936, county office procedure forms, 1939, a social
case work training syllabus, and the organization chart of the State Department of Social Welfare, 1942.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:42-52
Field Service Division, 1934-1940 Series 4.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
11 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a summary of unemployment relief in Orange County, 1934-1936, a fact sheet on the proposed SRA work
relief programs, 1939, a report on public welfare in California, 1939, and reorganization plans for SRA administration in
San Francisco County, 1940.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:53-56
Bureau of Community Relations, 1939-1940 Series 5.
Physical Description:
4 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a handbook of child welfare service, 1939, a report on children on relief, 1939, a report on children
on relief, and questions and answers on the Governor's Reemployment Program, 1940.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:57-73a
Accounting Division, 1936-1940 Series 6.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
17 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include 4 volumes of weekly bulletins from San Francisco, 1936-1939, budgets, 1937-1941, and budget of proposed
expenditures, 1940.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:74-79
Division of Personnel, 1938-1941 Series 7.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
5 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a performance report handbook, 1938, a directory of personnel, 1939, an outline for training, 1940,
and rules and regulations for personnel standards and appeals, 1940-1941.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:79a
Division of Planning and Research, 1940 Series 8.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
1 file folder
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
This record is a summary of the findings of the California Youth Survey, 1940.
Access Note
Record is open for research.
Box-folder F3448:80-84
Bureau of Social and Administrative Audits, 1940 Series 9.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
5 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include an intake eligibility report for Los Angeles County, 1940, a survey of rejections and closed cases for
San Diego County, 1940, a list of eligibility and investigation processes for San Diego County, 1940, and a bibliography.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:85-94
Division of Research and Surveys, 1934-1940 Series 10.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
10 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a survey of economic trends in California, 1934, a survey of population trends in California, 1934,
monthly bulletins, 1935, a survey of agricultural requirements in California counties, 1935, and cost statements of California
SRA by program and function, 1940.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:95-135
Division of Special Surveys and Studies, 1935-1941 Series 11.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
41 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a Sacramento depression settlement survey, 1935, a report on Italians in San Francisco: their adjustment
and acculturation, 1935, a report on transients in California, with photos, 1936, a report on migratory labor in California,
with photos, 1936, a national unemployment census, 1938, a study of unemployment relief in California, 1939, excerpts from
the H. Dewey Anderson address to the Legislative Congress in Sacramento, March 11, 1939,a summary of activities of the SRA
operating in Los Angeles County during the period of the reorganization program, 1940, a report on county medical facilities
and the Medical Health Program, 1940, a list of SRA expenditures and obligations, 1940, a report on relief standards and migration,
1940, monthly statistical summaries, 1940, a report to the California delegation appointed to draft program on migrant program,
1940, and an estimated effect on county expenditures for indigent and unemployment relief, 1941.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:136-149
Bureau of Commodity Distibution, 1935-1940 Series 12.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
14 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a report on surplus commodity distribution, 1933-1935, statistics of surplus commodities, 1935, statistics
on food conservation, 1936, semi-annual reports on commodity distribution, 1935-1940, a survey of the school lunch program
in California, 1940, a survey of the school lunch program in northern California, 1941, a survey of stamp plan operation,
1941, a survey of Bureau of Surplus Commodities, 1941, and a Manual of Operations for Stamp Plan in Los Angeles County - School
Lunch and Direct Distribution Field Kit, 1939-1940.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:150-159
Bureau of Resident Projects - Camp Operations Department, 1935-1940 Series 13.
Physical Description:
10 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include CCC instructions, suggestions, questions and answers, 1935-1936, CCC regulations, 1937, CCC enrollment
in California, 1937 & 1940, nutrition regulations and instructions, 1935-1937, a list of WPA employees checking out of camps
owing board, 1940, a report on the resident project of the SRA 1940, and the resident project pamphlet - Facts about a Worthwhile
Service to California's Single Men, 1940.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F4338:160-165
Transient Division, 1935-1940 Series 14.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
6 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include a study of transients and homeless in California, 1935, California Training Service's Progress and Methods
of Approach (contains CYCLORAMA: an Investigator's Impression of Transient America), 1935, a public statement regarding transient
relief, 1939, preliminary reports on the transient program, 1939, and a report to administrator on Bureau of Resident Projects,
1940.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:166-177
Bureau of Self-Help - Division of Self-Help Cooperatives, 1935-1939 Series 15.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
12 file folders
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
These records include semi-annual reports, 1935, annual reports, 1935-1936, a summary of a proposed plan for self-help cooperatives,
1936, a prospectus, 1936, final reports of plans and estimates of self-help cooperative projects nos. 6859, 8238, 1937-1938,
a report on self-help cooperatives in California, 1938, a study on cooperatives, 1938, and administrative study, 1939.
Access Note
Records are open for research.
Box-folder F3448:177a
Division of Operations, 1938 Series 16.
Creator:
California. State Relief Administration.
Physical Description:
1 file folder
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically by date of report.
Series Scope and Content Summary
This record is the Manual of Correspondence Procedure, 1938.
Access Note
Record is open for research.
