NEW HISTORICAL MATERIAL SHEDS LIGHT ON VIRGINIANS IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 14 -- A new book by two University of Virginia scholars presents never-before-published narratives recounting the lives and experiences of Depression-era Virginians. "Talk About Trouble: A New Deal Portrait of Virginians in the Great Depression," edited by Nancy Martin-Perdue and Charles L. Perdue and published by the University of North Carolina Press, includes 61 Virginia Writers' Project life histories accompanied by 160 photographs (taken in the state by Farm Security Administration or Virginia Works Progress Administration photographers), an introductory essay, headnotes, and extensive background and primary source material. These life history texts and photographs, say the bookÕs editors, give a human face to and provide contexts for the vast socioeconomic and cultural changes brought about by the Great Depression and the New DealÕs response to it. The life histories of Virginia residents were written by VWP fieldworkers between 1938 and 1941. The VWP (part of the Federal Writers' Project) was one of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal efforts to provide jobs for unemployed writers and white-collar workers around the country. The best-known project of the Federal Writers' Project was the now classic American Guide Series, which provided valuable descriptive information on all of the U.S. territories and states, including Virginia. Charles L. Perdue, professor of folklore in the departments of English and anthropology and Nancy Martin-Perdue, scholar-in-residence in anthropology, came across the more than 1,300 life histories, social-ethnic studies and youth studies while searching for ex-slave interviews in the Virginia State Archives. Recognizing the importance, as well as the poor condition, of these materials, they later returned and obtained copies of those texts they found in the State Archives, as well as in the University of Virginia's Alderman Library and elsewhere. Unlike similar projects in other states, the Virginia WritersÕ Project life histories had not been sent to the Federal Writers' Project office in Washington, D.C. or deposited in the Library of Congress after the project closed down. The Perdues plan on writing a companion volume to "Talk about Trouble" which will be more of an administrative history of the VWP and other New Deal cultural programs in Virginia. Charles Perdue and Nancy Martin-Perdue were themselves offspring of families who lived through the Great Depression in the 1930s. In their preface, they say that they too were "affected by those same processes of change that were radically altering theretofore accepted ways of living and of comprehending the world." In separate parts of the country as children they listened to FDRÕs voice on the radio as he broadcast his "fireside chats." Certainly one of the reasons for the book is that the VWP life histories struck a "responsive chord" with their own backgrounds and experiences, the editors say. In addition, "History (as it is written) is not usually representative or inclusive of the experience of common people,"said Nancy Martin-Perdue. "There is generally a misconception that the lives of poor or working class people are simple and easily understood. The life histories in the book give a real appreciation of how complicated and complex people and their lives are at any level." The narrators in the book are both black and white and offer a broad cross-section of ages, occupations, and experiences, as well as cultural and class backgrounds, according to the U.Va. scholars. The Depression-era Virginians who tell their stories include housewives, sharecroppers, farmers, factory workers, and fishermen. Readers will meet a Roanoke woman, who when asked about her life history, exclaimed "Talk about trouble!" They will also encounter: Mattie Perndon: Born in slavery, she "finally saved up enough money to buy a little place." But her house eventually burned down, and she moved into her niece's house to be cared for in her old age and blindness by younger relatives. Daniel F. Arritt: A farmer and former potter's helper, who responded to a question about life history, ÒChild, IÕm old, what would you want with my life history, but I reckon we all do have somethin' in our lives that might be called by that name." Reginald Shires: A farm worker who complained of being paid in Òchips and whetstones," meaning "a little flour, or 'taters, something people have and donÕt want theirselves." "'Talk About Trouble' is a remarkably moving testimonial," said Edward D.C. Campbell Jr., editor of the Virginia state library's Virginia Cavalcade history journal. "No other first-person collection reveals as much about how ordinary Virginians, and by extension southerners and other Americans, confronted the palpable threats raised every day by the Great Depression." ### November 13, 1996 For interviews Charles Perdue and Nancy Martin-Perdue may be reached at (540) 672 2826 or (804) 924-6823. For review copies of "Talk about Trouble" please send a fax to Lisa Dellwo at UNC Press at (919) 966-3829. Television reporters should call our TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.