Will this project give you insights to take better photos of the Greater Depression we have created for ourselves? It is starting all around us.
But, besides reading books written at the time of the Great Depression, and news articles, and finding amateur images where you can on the web (or by asking a curator at your local history museum), you can watch many movies made in the early 1930's. The earlier the better for direct, contemporary references, both sober and humorous, to the trying times Americans lived through. And there are some great PBS documentaries.
While learning to recreate a look can teach us many things about capture and post-processing, finding fresh perspectives right now might be even more rewarding. Many more people are going to face homelessness than ever before, and this time it won't be only those who have made bad life choices. A large number of kids are going to be living with parents in cheap hotels, tiny apartments, and their cars. Families will be sharing space with other families like never before. City parks and other facilities will go without care, so there is that aspect too. Expect to see decay of commercial properties on a huge scale.
But watch out! As local governments go without revenue, police and rescue will be reduced to skeleton crews. Thieves will know that. (And there is another topic for courageous citizen journalists!)
I'm sad and, for my own kids, quite concerned with the economic catastrophe unfolding around us right now. Be brave, be bold, and capture what you see in your style. Good luck!