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The Beginning of RV

In 1910, there were few gas stations, few paved roads, and no highways but this is the year that America’s leading historians cite as the beginning of modern RV industry.Created by: PICRYLDated: 2016
Washington, D.C. A demonstration of FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailers. Linking up for the parade
In the late 1910s, there were few gas stations, few paved roads, and no highways was a time that America’s leading historians call the beginning of modern RV. In 1920s people who traveled like this were referred to as 'tin can tourists'. As time progressed, trailers became attractive, comfortable and earned a new name "house trailer" in the 1930s and 1940s.
In the late 1930s, during the Great Depression, FSA (Federal Farm Security Administration) built trailer camps to assist childless couples and families of one and two children in moving in areas where new factories were​ built, and labor was in demand. In 2005, FEMA provided temporary emergency housing using thousands of travel trailers.
337 Media in collection ∙ page 1 of 4
Camping Trailers

Camping Trailers

Photographs Relating to National Forests, Resource Management Practices, Personnel, and Cultural and Economic History

Koreshan Unity family camping

Koreshan Unity family camping

Local call number:KOR0066...Title: Koreshan Unity family camping...Date: circa 1920s...Physical descrip: 1 photoprint - b&w - 3 x 5 in....Series Title: Koreshan Unity Collection ( http://floridamemory.com/phot... more

Preparations to Raise a Trailer House

Preparations to Raise a Trailer House

Pine Ridge Agency: Miscellaneous Photographs

Note on "mobile housing." Car and homemade trailer on U.S. 101 near King City. Man and wife, middle-aged, from Wisconsin to California. "Old Man Depression sent us out on the road. Been out two years. You don't know anything about how many people are living in trailers, till you 'hit' Florida"

Note on "mobile housing." Car and homemade trailer on U.S. 101 near Ki...

Interior of trailer at the auto trailer camp, Dennis Port, Massachusetts

Interior of trailer at the auto trailer camp, Dennis Port, Massachuset...

Messrs. Kaunetz [i.e., Kaunitz] (or Kauneel [name of company]), father and son, pioneers in auto trailers using yatch construction methods. Steam-bending elm. Bay City, Michigan

Messrs. Kaunetz [i.e., Kaunitz] (or Kauneel [name of company]), father...

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War In...

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War In...

Deluxe Kauneel (or Kaunetz [i.e., Kaunitz]) auto trailer. Bay City, Michigan

Deluxe Kauneel (or Kaunetz [i.e., Kaunitz]) auto trailer. Bay City, Mi...

Scene at the auto trailer camp, Dennis Port, Massachusetts

Scene at the auto trailer camp, Dennis Port, Massachusetts

Scenes at the auto trailer camp, Dennis Port, Massachusetts

Scenes at the auto trailer camp, Dennis Port, Massachusetts

Squatter camp. Outskirts of Bakersfield, California. Note number of auto trailers and trailer being constructed on left

Squatter camp. Outskirts of Bakersfield, California. Note number of au...

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Inf...

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Inf...

Scene in an auto trailer camp near Dania, Florida, where 200 cars are encamped. This is one of Florida's higher class trailer camps, the rates being $5.00 weekly including electricity

Scene in an auto trailer camp near Dania, Florida, where 200 cars are ...

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Inf...

Some of the 200 trailers encamped at an auto-trailer camp near Dania, Florida. This is one of the better trailer camps in Florida, the rates being $5.00 weekly including electricity

Some of the 200 trailers encamped at an auto-trailer camp near Dania, ...

Scene in an auto trailer camp near Dania, Florida, where 200 cars are encamped. This is one of the better trailer camps in Florida. The rates are $5.00 a week, including electricity

Scene in an auto trailer camp near Dania, Florida, where 200 cars are ...

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Florida photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Inf...

Autos and trailers encamped in a tourist camp used by migrant fruit workers, near Belle Glade, Florida

Autos and trailers encamped in a tourist camp used by migrant fruit wo...

Trailers parked behind rooming house. Omaha, Nebraska

Trailers parked behind rooming house. Omaha, Nebraska

The oldest girl seated in the doorway of the house trailer cares for the family. Yakima Valley, Washington

The oldest girl seated in the doorway of the house trailer cares for t...

Oil field worker in his trailer home reading a letter. Seminole, Oklahoma

Oil field worker in his trailer home reading a letter. Seminole, Oklah...

Tom Tom Herb Tonic trailertruck in transient laborer's cabin and trailer camp. Belle Glade, Florida

Tom Tom Herb Tonic trailertruck in transient laborer's cabin and trail...

Farmers unloading tobacco from their trailers in front of warehouse on morning of auction sales. Mebane, Orange County, North Carolina

Farmers unloading tobacco from their trailers in front of warehouse on...

Always many more Americans on the road, housing themselves in modern or homemade trailers, contrast sharply with an old Southern home. Monticello, Florida

Always many more Americans on the road, housing themselves in modern o...

Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant labor camp. Two trailers, one to be used by camp manager for living quarters and office, the other as a clinic and health center. Comprise part of the mobile camp unit. This unit will follow the workers from harvest to harvest, where emergency camps will be started

Farm Security Administration (FSA) migrant labor camp. Two trailers, o...

Trailer camp, McAllen, Texas

Trailer camp, McAllen, Texas

White migrant mother with daughter in door of trailer home near Weslaco, Texas

White migrant mother with daughter in door of trailer home near Weslac...

Texas photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Texas photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Infor...

Child of migrant family in front of household goods of trailer home, Weslaco, Texas

Child of migrant family in front of household goods of trailer home, W...

White migrant mother with children in front of trailer home, Weslaco, Texas

White migrant mother with children in front of trailer home, Weslaco, ...

Trailer camp at Port Aransas, Texas. This is a fishing and summer resort

Trailer camp at Port Aransas, Texas. This is a fishing and summer reso...

Trailer home and truck of white migrant family, Weslaco, Texas

Trailer home and truck of white migrant family, Weslaco, Texas

Child of white migrant worker in front of trailer home, Weslaco, Texas

Child of white migrant worker in front of trailer home, Weslaco, Texas

White migrant mother with daughter in door of trailer home near Weslaco, Texas

White migrant mother with daughter in door of trailer home near Weslac...

Nurse in FSA (Farm Security Administration) mobile camp unit conducts doctor to house trailer where there is a sick child. Merrill, Klamath County, Oregon

Nurse in FSA (Farm Security Administration) mobile camp unit conducts ...

Always many more Americans on the road, housing themselves in modern or homemade trailers, contrast sharply with an old Southern home. Monticello, Florida

Always many more Americans on the road, housing themselves in modern o...

Trailers for sale. Corpus Christi, Texas

Trailers for sale. Corpus Christi, Texas

Migrant camp, Weslaco, Texas. Local employment men say that there was no need for migrant labor to handle the citrus and vegetable crops in the valley, the local supply of labor being ample for this purpose. Most of the local labor is Mexican and the labor contractors favor Mexican labor over white labor, partly because the Mexican will work much cheaper than whites. One white woman who was a permanent resident (her husband was on WPA (Works Progress Administration/Work Projects Administration) said that the white people who lived in the valley, had no trouble with the Mexicans. The Mexicans were good neighbors, she said, always willing to share what they had. She said the white migrants who came into the valley and resented and misunderstood the Mexicans caused the trouble between the two races. Some towns in this section permit camping only in trailers. The charge for camping in tents is about fifty cents per week, including water, which in some cases must be carried four city blocks. Privies are tin, very bad condition. Garbage is collected only once a week, with large dumps of decaying fruits and vegetables scattered among the camps. Some of the white migrants in this camp were very suspicious of governmental activity, due to the use by south Texas newspapers of the term "concentration camps" referring to FSA (Farm Security Administration) camps

Migrant camp, Weslaco, Texas. Local employment men say that there was ...

Texas photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Texas photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Infor...

Migratory packinghouse workers camp. No work, trailers for sale, near Canal Point, Florida

Migratory packinghouse workers camp. No work, trailers for sale, near ...

Trailer camp. McAllen, Texas

Trailer camp. McAllen, Texas

Tom Tom Herb Tonic truck in transient labor cabin and trailer camp. Belle Glade, Florida

Tom Tom Herb Tonic truck in transient labor cabin and trailer camp. Be...

Tourist camp, showing many modern trailers crowded together, some of the families remaining for weeks and months. Dade City, Florida

Tourist camp, showing many modern trailers crowded together, some of t...

The house trailer and the youngest little girl. Washington, Yakima Valley, Toppenish

The house trailer and the youngest little girl. Washington, Yakima Val...

Articles on bureau top of trailer home of white migrant. Weslaco, Texas

Articles on bureau top of trailer home of white migrant. Weslaco, Texa...

Former cowboy living in trailer home in midst of migrant camp, Weslaco, Texas. He has independent income and travels around the country

Former cowboy living in trailer home in midst of migrant camp, Weslaco...

Texas photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Texas photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Infor...

Trailer camp. McAllen, Texas

Trailer camp. McAllen, Texas

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War In...

Mr. Bias playing the fiddle in his trailer home. He is a former cowboy who travels over the country. He has a small private income. Weslaco, Texas

Mr. Bias playing the fiddle in his trailer home. He is a former cowboy...

Mother and child, white migrants, in trailer home near Edinburg, Texas

Mother and child, white migrants, in trailer home near Edinburg, Texas

Between Tulare and Fresno on U.S. 99. See general caption. Family inspect a house trailer with idea of purchase

Between Tulare and Fresno on U.S. 99. See general caption. Family insp...

Jones Trailer Sales and Restaurant; also road construction signs in front of trailer camp on highway near Fort Benning, Georgia

Jones Trailer Sales and Restaurant; also road construction signs in fr...

A trailer and a new house being built along the highway about a mile outside of Bath, Maine

A trailer and a new house being built along the highway about a mile o...

Trailer and car belonging to Paul Knight, construction worker at Fort Benning building new barracks. He pays two dollars for trailer space (only) in W.T. Willis' backyard, is from Stone Mountain, Atlanta, Georgia. He said the bad roads were one of the worst problems around there and agreed that things generally were bad and the government had better do something about it soon

Trailer and car belonging to Paul Knight, construction worker at Fort ...

Service station, used cars for sale. Trailers are parked very congested in section near road show and carnival. Alexandria, Louisiana

Service station, used cars for sale. Trailers are parked very congeste...

Sunset Trailer Camp, San Diego, California. The majority of the workers who have come into San Diego are apparently living in trailers. The county passed stringent sanitary laws when migratory agriculture workers came into the section some years ago and these laws prevent the Hooverville type of settlement. Rent for trailer space here is ten dollars per month with electricity and sanitary facilities, including showers and toilets, furnished

Sunset Trailer Camp, San Diego, California. The majority of the worker...

Construction foreman in his trailer home. San Diego, California. He has lived in a trailer for years and says, "Heck, I wouldn't have a house."

Construction foreman in his trailer home. San Diego, California. He ha...

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Bryant in their trailer about two miles out of Bath. Mr. Leslie Bryant works in the shipyard. They have been living in the trailer for two months. They could not rent in Bath and although a trailer cost them almost as much as a house, Mr. Bryant feels that it is a better investment because they do not know where they will go next in search of work when this "boom" is over. Bath, Maine

Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Bryant in their trailer about two miles out of Bat...

Construction worker's trailer (home-made house car). He has a job at Camp Livingston. Alexandria, Louisiana

Construction worker's trailer (home-made house car). He has a job at C...

Metal shelters, tents, trailers of construction workers and Army families. Metal shelters rent for ten dollars a month, and trailer space is two dollars a week. Near Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia

Metal shelters, tents, trailers of construction workers and Army famil...

Half a house is brought from the trailer factory in Michigan to the site at the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Fontana project in western North Carolina. A light truck is sufficient to transport the section. The section contains half a living-dining room, all of a bedroom, and most of the closet space in the house. A second section contains the

Half a house is brought from the trailer factory in Michigan to the si...

Mr. Luigi De Angelis, who works in Belair Construction job building defense housing project. He came from Lexington, Virginia and lives alone in trailer and pays two dollars a week for space and electricity in yard of local boarding house on highway near Fort Benning, Georgia

Mr. Luigi De Angelis, who works in Belair Construction job building de...

Trailer camp where construction workers and Army men are living. Camp Livingstone, near Alexandria, Louisiana

Trailer camp where construction workers and Army men are living. Camp ...

Trailers for sale in Bath, Maine

Trailers for sale in Bath, Maine

Sign of trailer camp saying "No Vacancy." San Diego, California. These signs are frequently encountered in and near San Diego

Sign of trailer camp saying "No Vacancy." San Diego, California. These...

Reverend Bullard, preacher, and family with trailer home. Alexandria, Louisiana

Reverend Bullard, preacher, and family with trailer home. Alexandria, ...

Trailer camp for construction workers at powder plant. Millington, Tennessee

Trailer camp for construction workers at powder plant. Millington, Ten...

Mrs. Avery Hamblen, young wife of a shipyard worker hanging out wash in front of her trailer, where the two of them have lived for the past year. They are now looking for a house because of difficulties of living in trailer during winter months

Mrs. Avery Hamblen, young wife of a shipyard worker hanging out wash i...

Garbage cans at trailer camp. San Diego, California

Garbage cans at trailer camp. San Diego, California

Trailer and car occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Burton (refer to caption #42581). Bath, Maine

Trailer and car occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Burton (refer to captio...

Working on jigs, with dormitories in the background at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp for defense workers. The dormitories at this project will accommodate, when finished, 952 single men. Dormitory residents will pay five dollars weekly for single rooms and three dollars and fifty cents weekly for each occupant sharing a double room. San Diego, California

Working on jigs, with dormitories in the background at the FSA (Farm S...

Trailers for sale with construction worker and his wife as possible prospective buyers, along main highway from Alexandria to Camp Beauregard, Louisiana

Trailers for sale with construction worker and his wife as possible pr...

Trailers where workers live in backyard of private home in Starke, Florida

Trailers where workers live in backyard of private home in Starke, Flo...

Guests of trailer park playing Chinese checkers outside their trailer home. Sarasota trailer park, Sarasota, Flordia

Guests of trailer park playing Chinese checkers outside their trailer ...

Defense housing, Erie, Pennsylvania. A central utility building (right) with toilets, showers, and laundry facilities is maintained for every sixty trailers on the site. Each trailer, with its 25 x 50 foot plot of ground, is assured of privacy and plenty of sun and fresh air. Each trailer is equipped with a gasoline pressure stove, ice-box, davenport beds and gate leg tables. Each can accommodate up to four people

Defense housing, Erie, Pennsylvania. A central utility building (right...

A used car lot adjacent to a trailer settlement of workers from Fort Bragg. Near Fayetteville, North Carolina

A used car lot adjacent to a trailer settlement of workers from Fort B...

Trailer camp opposite United Aircraft where many Pratt and Whitney workers live with their families because of housing congestion in and near Hartford, Connecticut

Trailer camp opposite United Aircraft where many Pratt and Whitney wor...

Reading the newspaper outside his trailer home. Sarasota trailer park, Sarasota, Florida

Reading the newspaper outside his trailer home. Sarasota trailer park,...

Trailers at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) camp for defense workers. San Diego, California

Trailers at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) camp for defense wo...

Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Negatives

Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Negatives

FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp near General Electric Plant, Erie, Pennsylvania. These are 200 trailers here, occupied by childless couples and by families of one and two children

FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp near General Electric ...

General Electric worker from Alabama at dinner with family in trailer home. FSA (Farm Security Administration) camp, Erie, Pennsylvania

General Electric worker from Alabama at dinner with family in trailer ...

FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp for defense workers, situated a quarter mile from General Electric plant in Erie, Pennsylvania. There are 200 trailers here, occupied by childless couples and by families of one or two children

FSA (Farm Security Administration) trailer camp for defense workers, s...

Guest at Sarasota trailer park, Sarasota, Florida, washing his car

Guest at Sarasota trailer park, Sarasota, Florida, washing his car

Wife of defense worker setting table for dinner in trailer home. Trailer camp at Erie, Pennsylvania

Wife of defense worker setting table for dinner in trailer home. Trail...

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War In...

This image is one of the images made by photographers working in Stryker's unit as it existed in a succession of government agencies: the Farm Security Administration (1937-1942). The photographs of the Farm S... more

Washington DC photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph.

Washington DC photographs - Farm Security Administration / Office of W...

This image is one of the images made by photographers working in Stryker's unit as it existed in a succession of government agencies: the Farm Security Administration (1937-1942). The photographs of the Farm S... more

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War In...

This image is one of the images made by photographers working in Stryker's unit as it existed in a succession of government agencies: the Farm Security Administration (1937-1942). The photographs of the Farm S... more

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War Information Photograph

The photographs in the Farm Security Administration / Office of War In...

This image is one of the images made by photographers working in Stryker's unit as it existed in a succession of government agencies: the Farm Security Administration (1937-1942). The photographs of the Farm S... more

Children and their mother outside their trailer home. Sarasota trailer park, Sarasota, Florida

Children and their mother outside their trailer home. Sarasota trailer...

Trailer camp where many defense workers live opposite Pratt and Whitney aircraft plant, East Hartford, Connecticut

Trailer camp where many defense workers live opposite Pratt and Whitne...

Family of Rohr Aircrafts worker in their trailer home at the FSA (Farm Security Administration) camp for defense workers. San Diego, California

Family of Rohr Aircrafts worker in their trailer home at the FSA (Farm...

Each group of ten trailers in the FSA (Farm Security Administration) camp at Erie has a "trailer service unit," water faucet, slop sink, and garbage pail

Each group of ten trailers in the FSA (Farm Security Administration) c...

Sweeping up in front of trailer home. Sarasota trailer park, Sarasota, Florida

Sweeping up in front of trailer home. Sarasota trailer park, Sarasota,...

Trailer and cars along road to Sarasota trailer park. Sarasota, Florida

Trailer and cars along road to Sarasota trailer park. Sarasota, Florid...

Facilities at trailer camp for construction workers. Ocean View, outskirts of Norfolk, Virginia

Facilities at trailer camp for construction workers. Ocean View, outsk...

Trailer home near Ford bomber plant. Ypsilanti, Michigan

Trailer home near Ford bomber plant. Ypsilanti, Michigan