Camp Newspapers

I love the CCC camp newspapers, published by the enrollees under the guidance of the camp's educational advisor. The newspapers were meant to teach literacy to the enrollees and to build camp morale. They had regular articles about the camp's work projects, filling in some of the blanks about these projects left out of the official government CCC reports. They also contain articles on the camp's educational program, safety concerns,  and how to be a good American citizen.

But the best part of the newspapers are the jokes and stories the enrollees tell about themselves. These were young men, and the newspapers are full of jokes about how much they love to eat, what happened at last weekend's dance in town, who is dating what girl in the community, and how well (or badly) their camp sports teams are doing. The enrollees also contributed illustrations to the newspapers, such as these illustrations from the Walker Canyon Reporter newspaper in Santa Cruz County:

                                                                     The Proposal

Reveille:

This joke from the Madera Canyon camp newspaper shows that pranks were a regular part of CCC camp life:

Tommie Gavagen says he is going to take his bed with him next time he goes to Phoenix. When he came home the other day, the boys in barrack four had removed the springs that held the mattress, and put strings instead.