On a side note, there's a really nice cooking series by a frail woman named "Clara", who lived through the depression.
As she cooks, like your very own great grandmother might do, she shares it on youtube, she tells you little snippets of what it was like.. For instance in one episode how the neighbor across the street was found in her vegetable garden one morning. So many people were starving.
https://www.youtube.com/user/DepressionCooking
Good post btw @luminousvisions