Civilian Conservation Corps in Kansas

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal program designed to provide employment opportunities for young men, was quite active in Kansas during the 1930's. The KSHS recently acquired microform copies of several dozen newspapers produced by CCC participants in Kansas, and will make the newspapers available to researchers via interlibrary loan.

Listing of Kansas CCC newspapers available on microform

The CCC in Kansas

Congress established the Civilian Conservation Corps on March 31, 1933, under the original name of Emergency Conservation Work. By Executive order of April 5, 1933, the agencies for the administration of the program were determined and the name Civilian Conservation Corps was adopted. The mission of the CCC was to provide work and educational opportunities to the vast number of unemployed young men.The program initially served young men between the ages of 18 and 25. This age range was later changed to 17-28. Later companies were created consisting of unemployed military veterans.

Four federal departments cooperated in the operation of the CCC. The Department of Labor was responsible for the selection of the men to be enrolled, except for the veterans’, which were selected by the Veterans’ Administration. The War Department was responsible for the physical exams, enrollment, equipping, conditioning and transportation of men, camp construction, command, administration, medical care, pay, welfare and education at the camps. The Departments of Agriculture and Interior were responsible for work projects at national forests, parks and other public lands. The Department of Agriculture was also supervising projects located on State and private land primarily erosion and reforesting projects. The Department of the Interior was in charge of State park projects. The Emergency Conservation Work Director based in Washington, coordinated and directed the work of the various department and agencies.

In Kansas the number of camp locations varied and changed often. The highest number of camps to exist was 21 in 1936 and a low of 2 in 1942 as the CCC was being disbanded. Camps represented the actual geographical location of a work site. Company numbers represented the actual group of men. Companies were often moved and researchers can find the same company in several different locations in Kansas.

Kansas enrollees may have served in a Kansas company here in Kansas or the company could be transferred to another state. Many Kansas men served in Kansas companies in Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. Young men from Kansas had the option to volunteer to transfer to other states and many served their time in the forests of California and in the western states national parks.

Camps were locate in the following counties over the life of the CCC in Kansas:
Anderson, Atchison, Cherokee, Clark, Cloud, Coffey, Crawford, Decatur, Douglas, Finney, Franklin, Geary, Gove, Jefferson, Jewell, Kingman, Labette, Leavenworth, Lyon, Marshall, Marion, Meade, Mitchell, Morris, Nemaha, Pawnee, Rawlins, Sheridan, Smith, Sumner, Wilson, Woodson,
KSHS has in the collections the microfilm of existing CCC newspapers from Kansas companies.

Click here to see a complete list of titles available on interlibrary loan to your local library.

If you have questions about the CCC in Kansas or would like to make of donation of CCC related materials or photographs contact the Reference Desk at 785-272-8681, ext. 117.