Tooele County (Utah).$bCounty Commission Relief Committee time books, 1933-1934.

This series contains Tooele County Relief Committee workmen time books documenting hours worked by specific laborers and teams. The earliest entry is in October of 1932 and the latest entry in June of 1934. The majority of the records take place from November 1933 to March of 1934. These timebooks are the result of local and federal unemployment relief committees and programs.

In late summer of 1932, Utah's Governor, George H. Dern, received funds from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a federal program enacted by President Herbert Hoover. Tooele County was awarded $60,000 of the total awarded to Utah for the direct relief of the unemployed in Tooele County. In response to the purpose of these funds, the Tooele County Commission proposed and approved the creation of a Central Emergency Relief Organization from which the Tooele County Emergency Relief Association was created. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a federal program that would evolve into greater importance and scope by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal Program. As President Roosevelt took office, Governor Dern was the first Utahn appointed to a Presidential cabinet and Henry Blood was elected Utah's next Governor.

Prior to the introduction of additional federal relief programs from the first phase of the New Deal, the Tooele County Emergency Relief Association functioned as the executive committee through which projects and the disbursal of funds obtained approval and clearance to begin work. Beginning in 1933, Tooele had employment projects resulting from various federal relief programs including the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC); Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA); and the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) from which came the Public Works Administration (PWA). In November 1933, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) program was created. Projects documented in the Tooele County Relief Committee workmen's time books closely align with the CWA's timeline of creation and its official termination in July 1934; however, most of the CWA and its projects were terminated by March 31, 1934, which are reflected in the Tooele workmen timebooks. The Tooele County Commission meeting minutes indicate that while the Tooele County Emergency Relief Association had original authority to approve projects, this authority was ultimately transferred to FERA and CWA when requests for other make-work projects were made. The projects and federal programs included funding to build federal and state buildings, roads, tennis courts at the local high school, and fair buildings, in addition to many programs to aid farmers, miners, and others unable to obtain or maintain regular work because of the agricultural hardships at the time. As a result of Governor Blood's exhaustive efforts, with help from Secretary of War Dern, to secure aid and programs from the Federal government, Utah received a large portion of money which provided relief to many families in Tooele and jobs for thousands statewide.