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"the uncertainties of the weather"

Caroline Boa Henderson, autograph letter signed, dated 19 January 1936, to Rose Alden, from Eva, Oklahoma.

"There has been no definite or reassuring change in weather conditions here," Caroline writes to Rose in 1936. She goes on to describe the AAA program, or Agricultural Adjustment Act, "in reality the only thing that has saved the country side here from complete abandonment and the small towns from ruin...". This program was an important part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, offering aid to farmers ranging from drought relief to agricultural price stabilization.

Caroline's life was grim during these years as she experienced raging dust storms and summer temperatures as high as 120 degrees, and their farm produced no significant crops. Many families in the region left their land, but Caroline and Will continued to stay on.