Resources

FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS

• The Only Woman in the Photo: Frances Perkins & Her New Deal for America by Kathleen Krull, 2020 (Picture Book)
• STEADFAST: Frances Perkins, Champion of Workers’ Rights, by Jennifer Merz, 2020 (Picture Book)
• A Young Person’s Guide to Social Security (PDF)
• Discussion Questions on Frances Perkins' Biography (Link)
• Social and political history of the Great Depression and CCC (Interactive Curriculum)
• More resources are available by request from the Frances Perkins Center (click here to see our programs)

PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIALS

• Columbia University’s Oral History from FP
• Cornell University Materials
• Exhibit at Columbia’s Rare Book and Manuscipt Library
• Finding Aid to Frances Perkins Collection – Columbia University
• Frances Perkins Collection – Mount Holyoke College

IN HER OWN WORDS

Written by Frances Perkins

• Al Smith: hero of the cities: A political portrait drawing on the papers of Frances Perkins by Matthew Josephson
• The Roosevelt I Knew by Frances Perkins, 1947
• People at Work by Frances Perkins, 1934 (Full Text)
• The Cost of a Five-Dollar Dress by Frances Perkins, 1933
• Social Security Administration – Committee on Economic Security Report, 1937

Audio Files & Transcripts

• 1935: "Should we plan for Social Security?" Radio Address
• 1951-1955: Oral History Recorded by Dean Albertson of Columbia University
• 1960: Remarks at the 25th anniversary of Social Security and the importance of the IBM Machine
• 1962: “Roots of Social Security” Speech at SSA headquarters
• 1964: Lecture at Cornell and others’ oral histories on the Triangle Factory Fire

BIOGRAPHIES & MEMOIRS

Available at the Frances Perkins Center

• Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins’s Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany, by Rebecca Brenner Graham, 2025
• Frances Perkins: Champion of American Workers by Ruth Cashin Monsell, 2024
• The Courage to Meddle: The Belief of Frances Perkins, by Tom Levitt, 2020
• “Tread the City’s Streets Again: Frances Perkins Shares Her Theology,” by Donn Mitchell, 2018
• The Woman Behind the New Deal, by Kirstin Downey, 2009

Available from Libraries or Your Favorite Bookstore

• Fearless: A Novel of Frances Perkins and Social Security. by Jonna Higgins-Freese, 2023
• "The New Deal Began with My Grandmother Frances Perkins" by Tomlin Perkins Coggeshall and Charles Hoffacker. Chapter 2 of "Talking to the Girls: Intimate and Political Essays on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire," Edvige Giunta and Mary Ann Trasciatti, editors, New Village Press, 2022
• The New Deal as a Triumph of Social Work: Frances Perkins and the Confluence of Early Twentieth Century Social Work with Mid-Twentieth Century Politics and Government, by Stephen Paul Miller, 2016
• Frances Perkins: First Woman Cabinet Member, by Emily Keller, 2006
• Frances Perkins: Champion of the New Deal, by Naomi Pasachoff, 2000
• A Woman Unafraid: The Achievements of Frances Perkins, by Penny Colman, 1993
• Frances Perkins: That Woman in FDR’s Cabinet, by Lillian Holmen Mohr, 1979
• Madam Secretary, Frances Perkins, by George Martin, 1976
• Frances Perkins: A member of the Cabinet, by Bill Severn, 1976
• Frances Perkins, First Lady of the Cabinet, by Don Lawson, 1966

Available Online

• Frances Perkins: The Woman Behind the New Deal (Exhibit)
• AFL-CIO on Frances Perkins (Link)
• Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) on U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins (Link)
• “No Refuge” by Rebecca Brenner Graham, former FPC intern, 2019 (Article)
• “Can We Thank Frances Perkins for the New Deal Arts Programs?” by Sarah Peskin, FPC Board Member, 2016 (Paper)
• "The Frances Perkins I Knew" by Christopher Breiseth, FPC Board Member, 1966 (Presentation Text)

DOCUMENTARIES

• Summoned: Frances Perkins and the General Welfare, PBS, 2020
• You May Call Her Madam Secretary, Vineyard Video, 1987
• Highlights from the Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins, Frances Perkins Center, 2019 (Click to Request Free Access)

FPC PUBLICATIONS

Available at the Frances Perkins Center

• A Promise to All Generations, FPC 2011, republished 2018
• Women and the Spirit of the New Deal, FPC, Living New Deal, and National New Deal Preservation Alliance publication, 2019

THE NEW DEAL ERA & POLICIES

Available at the Frances Perkins Center​

• Unlikely Heroes: Franklin Roosevelt, His Four Lieutenants, and the World They Made, by Derek Leebaert, 2023
• Social Security Works for Everyone! Protecting and Expanding the Insurance Americans Love and Count On, by Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson, 2021

Available from Libraries or Your Favorite Bookstore​

Partner Organizations

• The New Deal: Looking Back, Moving Forward by the National New Deal Preservation Association, David Lembeck (editor), and Christopher N Breiseth (editor), 2024
• Nothing to Fear: FDR’s Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America by Adam Cohen, 2010
• The Great Crash 1929, by John Kenneth Galbraith, 2009
• The New Deal: A 75th Anniversary Celebration, by Kathryn Flynn, 2008
• Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945, by David Kennedy, 1999
• The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy, by William Leuchtenburg, 1997
• In the Public Interest: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Maine, A Pictorial History, by Jon Schlenker, 1988

• The Living New Deal
• National New Deal Preservation Association
• Home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Historic Site
• Roosevelt Campobello International Park

FICTION

Available at the Frances Perkins Center​

• Becoming Madam Secretary, by Stephanie Dray, 2024