Derived from an exhibit produced cooperatively by the New York State Archives and the New York State Museum for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Centennial, and designed to provide secondary students with first-hand exposure to New York during the Great Depression, this packet contains a teacher's guide and 22 facsimile documents, including historic photographs, diary entries, advertisements, letters and newspaper clippings, telegrams, court testimonies, and transcriptions from oral history interviews. Through study of these documents, students see the Depression from the vantage point of those who lived through it. The guide provides a framework for using the documents in junior and senior high school history, English, and humanities classes. It begins with an essay on conditions in New York during the 1930's. The essay is followed by a bibliography of general readings on the period and more detailed readings on the specific topic areas included in the packet. Guidelines for using the documents in the classroom are then provided. The guidelines are organized in three sections corresponding to the documents' three major subject themes: (1) the impact of economic conditions in rural and urban areas; (2) the effect of changing social conditions on rural and urban family life; and (3) the response of the state government to the economic upheaval. Each of the three sections identifies historical themes illustrated by the documents, notes educational concepts and skills, and suggests questions about the documents and learning activities for using them. (RM)