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Image of Widtsoe, Utah. Mormon woman, native of Denmark, receiving her firlst old age assistance check

Dorothea Lange

American
(1895–1965)

Widtsoe, Utah. Mormon woman, native of Denmark, receiving her firlst old age assistance check
1936

Gelatin silver print
8 x 7 in. (20.32 x 17.78 cm)
Gift of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation
1987.80

Poverty among the elderly dramatically increased during and after the Great Depression. While many states ran pension programs, the elderly suffered due to a lack of economic security. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act, a social insurance program that provided workers age 65 or older an income after retirement. In this program, the workers contributed to the retirement benefit by making regular payments into a joint fund.

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