California. State Relief Administration

Biographical Note

The State Emergency Relief Administration (SERA) was created in 1933 as a provision of the Unemployment Bond Relief Act. In 1935, SERA was succeeded by the State Relief Administration (SRA). Both agencies were created to help alleviate certain conditions caused by the Great Depression, and their responsibilities included the distribution of state and federal funds for unemployment relief. The activities of the State Relief Administration frequently overlapped activities of other local, federal and even state agencies created for similar purposes. Consequently, the organization of the SRA was constantly changing and it is difficult to decisively state the the number or names of the agency's divisions at any given date. See Elsey Hurt, California State Government - an Outline of Its Administrative Organization, vol. 2, 1939, for more details.

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