02124cam a2200349 i 4500 296155057 TxAuBib 20170621120000.0 110303s2011||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 9780143120001 014312000X (OCoLC)706024218 TxAuBib rda Gup, Ted, 1950- A secret gift : how one man's kindness--and a trove of letters--revealed the hidden history of the Great Depression / Ted Gup. How one man's kindness--and a trove of letters--revealed the hidden history of the Great Depression. New York : Penguin Books, 2011. 369 pages, [16] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier "Updated with a new postscript" -- Cover. A Christmas carol -- In consideration of the white collar man -- The bread of tomorrow -- If I would accept charity -- Families: the crisis that brought them closer -- Families: the crisis that pulled them apart -- An opportunity to help -- A merry and joyful Christmas -- True circumstances. The author's grandfather, Sam Stone, placed an ad in the Canton, OH, newspaper shortly before Christmas in 1933, offering cash gifts to seventy-five families in distress. Readers were asked to send letters describing their hardships to a benefactor calling himself Mr. B. Virdot. The author investigates a suitcase full of letters responding to these ads as he learns more about his grandfather's hidden past as well as the suffering and triumphs of strangers during the Great Depression. -- From publisher's description. 20170621. Stone, Samuel, 1887-1981. Benefactors Ohio Canton Biography. Benevolence Ohio Canton History 20th century. Canton (Ohio) Biography. Canton (Ohio) Economic conditions 20th century. Canton (Ohio) History 20th century.