The 1980s Farm Crisis in Iowa devastated rural communities and rural families, with a collapsed economy and farmers forced from their land. As described in Iowa State University Distinguished Professor of History Pamela Riney-Kehrberg’s new book – When a Dream Dies: Agriculture, Iowa, and the Farm Crisis of the 1980s, rural life in Iowa was completely disrupted. The Iowa Farm Crisis has been documented in a variety of resources and repositories throughout Iowa and include oral histories, organizational records, and materials which also document activism, the growing role of women and gender roles, and the impact on marginalized communities throughout the state and the Midwest.
Speakers will share about their collections and research projects for this traumatic decade and what it might mean for us as archivists: Amy Bishop will highlight a selection of Farm Crisis-related collections held by Iowa State University, tracing connections amongst organizations actively responding to the economic and social catastrophe and the personal histories documented in oral histories. Andrew Klumpp discusses recent public history collaborations led by the Annals of Iowa that highlighted a new oral history initiative with Ambassador to China and former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, an academic roundtable on Pamela Riney-Kehrberg’s book When a Dream Dies and resources for teaching K-12 students about the Farm Crisis of the 1980s. Nicole Saylor discusses her personal research project that looks at how the Farm Crisis continues to impact the people who grew up during it. She will highlight the archival resources, including personal narratives, that are informing her project. Dr. Riney-Kehrberg will provide commentary.
