Ideas for CCC Researchers

Put yourself in their shoes.

There are many ways to go about researching the story of the Civilian Conservation Corps. One way to get started might be to consider certain questions about the program, or to put yourself in the shoes of a CCC enrollee or CCC camp commander.

What was it like for a young CCC enrollee to leave his family and go to work in a CCC camp? What things would a new enrollee need to take with him to camp? What things would a new enrollee be given when he arrived in camp? If you were a CCC enrollee, do you think you would be homesick sometimes? Would you write home to tell your family and friends how you were doing and what you were doing? What would you do when your enrollment in the CCC was over? Would you ask to stay in or ask for your discharge and go home?

If you were a commander in charge of a CCC camp, what things do you think you would have to think about? What potential problems would you face? How would you deal with discipline problems? How would you reward hard work and good behavior? How would you handle trouble between your CCC enrollees and residents of a nearby town?

Put yourself in the place of a resident of a small town that learns it is about to have a CCC camp established right down the road. What questions would you have? Would you want to know if young men from your town could work in the camp? Would you be concerned because "outsiders" were moving in near your town? What benefits would come from having the camp nearby? What might be the potential drawbacks to having a camp established near your town?

These are all things you can consider as you begin your research of the CCC. In the course of your research you'll probably discover how real-life CCC enrollees and camp commanders dealt with these questions. Perhaps in your research you'll actually meet and talk to men who were in the CCC to get their personal experiences from that time.