Weedpatch Camp

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• Learn more about American history, Dust Bowl, economics, Great Depression, literature, migrants, social studies, and women.

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John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath helped people to know about and understand the hardships faced by poor farmers in California. John Steinbeck lived in Bakersfield, California, and based his book on Arvin Federal Government Camp which he called “Weedpatch Camp.” This camp still exists and is used by migrant workers today. The history of the Dust Bowl days with images of the camp and personal reminiscences of those who lived through that time are available on the site, as well as newspaper articles about the camp. A Dust Bowl and migrant workers bibliography is on the site. Included on the site, as well, is a first person narrative written by Robert Sprauge, the grandson of Florence (Owens) Thompson, the migrant woman, known as the Migrant Mother in the famous photograph by Dorthea Lange. Lange worked for the Farm Security Administration documenting the plight of the migrant worker.