Access to this collection is generously supported by Arcadia funds. Men from families requiring state assistance hoe lettuce grown on community land. Beginning in 1933, small tracts of land throughout Los Angeles county were used by the government as locations for community gardens, where men left unemployed by the Great Depression could work and grow food to feed their families. In 1933, 890 acres of land in Los Angeles County were used toward this purpose; the program expanded to 2,500 acres of land in 1934. This land was approximately enough to grow the vegetables consumed by 20,000 county welfare families.The man posed in front, W.C. Spurling (or possibly Spiering), is a local man deeply involved in the organization of the community garden programs. Text from original nitrate sleeve: Spurling, W. C.; Community Gardens; Kahn, Eunice, Mrs.; Coe, Murle, Mrs. Handwritten annotation from nitrate negative: W.C. Spurling - Com. Land Chest.
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