The Victory Home: 
Housing--Temporary Shelters

Poster image is courtesy of the Northwestern University Library poster database .

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Updated 11/12/04.
Page created by Midge Coates
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Stories

Tales from the Genealogical Trenches (scroll down for one woman's story about wartime housing shortages)
 

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Photos

These photos are in the American Memory collections, America from the Great Depression to World War II:  Photographs from the FSA/OWI, 1935-1945 and Washington As It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959 . Click on the small image to see a larger one.

Dormitories

Workman registering at office of the FSA defense dormitories at Vallejo, CA

Mail racks at the FSA defense housing dormitories at Vallejo, CA

Vallejo, CA. Workman at Mare Island shipbuilding yards in his room at FSA dormitories.
Photo 1 , 2 , 3

Girls who work at Aberdeen proving grounds and share a room in FSA dormitory for defense workers. Aberdeen, MD.
Photo 1 , 2

Defense worker reading a letter from home. He works at the proving grounds in Aberdeen, MD and lives in one of the FSA dormitories for defense workers

Men's washroom in one of the dormitories for defense workers at Aberdeen, MD

For more images of defense dormitories, search using keywords, Arlington Farms.
 

Portable Houses

Rocky Mount Lumber Co. Portable house exterior

Woman in kitchen area of portable house

Woman making bed in portable house

Woman seated on couch in portable house

Rocky Mount Lumber Co. truck with components of portable house
 

Trailers

Palace mobile home. Expansion trailer for emergency defense housing demonstrated in Washington tourist camp. Washington, D.C..
Photo 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10

For more images of trailers and trailer camps, search using keywords, defense trailer.
 

Other

Childersburg, AL. Defense workers who could not get in a housing project or buy trailers live in tents or one room shacks.
Photo 1 , 2 , 3

Abandoned school bus occupied by two workers from Fort Bragg, NC, in a settlement near the fort.

Middle River, a small crossroads in the vicinity of Baltimore, MD. FSA housing project for Glenn L. Martin aircraft workers. Mrs. Helen Bird, USO (United Service Organization) traveler's aide, giving information to a newcomer in the Glenn L. Martin trailer village.
Photo 1 , 2
 

These photos are in the National Archives ARC Digital Copies collection.

Some people preferred to sleep in barber chairs, paying $1.50 a night for the priviledge, or spend the night in the local movie which kept open for sleeping.

Part of box car homes in company housing project for miners. Note that some cars have been placed on concrete foundations; that others are still on wheels. Union Pacific Coal Company, Reliance Mine, Reliance, Sweetwater County, WY.

Box car made into home for miner. This is part of company housing project. Union Pacific Coal Company, Reliance Mine, Reliance, Sweetwater County, WY.
 

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Posters

These posters are in the American Memory collection By the People, For the People:  Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943 . Click on the small image to see a larger one.

Welcome - defense workers! : Homes registration office : Defense rental listing bureau

War workers! are you looking for a - house? apartment? room? we can help you
 

This poster is in the National Archives NAIL Digital Copies collection.

War Workers Need Rooms, Apartments, Homes
 

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Pamphlets

You'll need Adobe Acrobat to view these documents.
Click here for a free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
 

These pamphlets are in the Central Libraries of Southern Methodist University collection. Click on the thumbnail to see the complete pamphlet in PDF format.

Increase housing accommodations and property values to serve war workers

War housing manual
 

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