Agriculture History Comes Alive On New Web Site

www.agrinews-pubs.com
Tom Doran
2009-12-28

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — History often is limited to textbooks and other publications that capture bygone days in crisp detail or in short synopsis, but a new source now is available that breaths life into the one constant in Illinois.

Agriculture comes alive with the launch of the Illinois State Museum’s “Audio-Video Barn” Web site at http://avbarn.museum.state.il.us.

The site is the culmination of a two-year Oral History of Illinois Agriculture project led by the Illinois State Museum and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

More than 300 hours of interviews with about 139 people representing the wide diversity of Illinois agriculture over the last 129 years are the centerpiece of the site.

The interviews tell the story of Illinois agriculture from the people who know it best – grain farmers, beekeepers, elk ranchers, 4-H members, college professors, broadcasters and pumpkin growers, among others, from every corner of the state.

“We wanted to select people balanced in ethnicity, gender, age, and we also wanted geographic dispersion as well,” said Robert Warren, project director and curator of anthropology, Illinois State Museum.

A unique feature of the Web site is the ability to search the audio and video clips based on topic, name, date or geographic location.

“One of the innovative things we’re doing, and no one has done on this scale at least, is digital indexing on oral history interviews and put them up on the Web, as well,” Warren said at a recent news conference. “The searchable capability of our Web site allows people to find what they want.”

He gave examples of those who are interested in round barns, draft horses, peach production, elk ranchers or oregano production can easily find those stories using the Web site’s search capabilities.

The site also features educational resources for students and teachers, including instructional videos on how to do oral history interviews and lesson plans based on agricultural themes. The oral history includes the themes of land, plants, animals, people and technology.

The older audio interviews were provided by Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, and the University of Illinois at Springfield. One such interview is that of George Howe on his 82nd birthday in 1952.

“George was born in 1870 and talked about following a horse-drawn plow in his childhood which takes us back to the 1880s,” Warren said. “The Audio-Video Barn Web site is rich with fascinating stories about Illinois agriculture.

“Visitors can search the Web site and find the answers to many interesting questions, such as ‘what was it like to farm with horses 100 years ago? How has agriculture changed since then? How are farmers coping with challenges to the family farm?’”

“When I first got to the job, we identified early on that doing a project on agriculture would be vital to capturing the history of Illinois, and that was my task to capture not just agriculture but the complete story of Illinois,” said Mark DePue, the project’s co-principal investigator and director of oral history, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.

“We at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library have thoroughly enjoyed spending the last two years collecting the stories of Illinois’ vibrant agricultural history.

“No subject, we believe, is more central to Illinois’ history and identity than this one. That’s why we are so excited about participating with the Illinois State Museum in the project and why we are so proud today to finally make it all available to the public.”

While the initial project now is complete, the work to collect stories of Illinois agriculture will continue, according to DePue.

“That charter will go on for many, many years beyond this,” he said. “That story, after all, the story of agriculture in this state, continues to evolve, but the existing collection is already vast in its scope covering every imaginable aspect of agriculture as it exists today.

“We hope you enjoy these interviews. More importantly, we hope you are able to learn from these interviews just as we have, and to gain a deeper understanding of the rugged perseverance and the amazing ingenuity of those involved in agriculture today.”

A $564,651 National Leadership Grant to the Illinois State Museum Society from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services supports the Web site.

“It is a competitive grant and the fact that it’s a national leadership grant means the reviewers recognized that this is a model for others to follow,” said Bonnie Styles, Illinois State Museum director. “We’re very proud of the fact that the Illinois State Museum has had two of these national leadership grants.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve actually had over $1.5 million in grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. They provide very critical funding for museums, so we’re very thankful for their support for this and other projects.”

The museum has a long history of research in the development of Illinois agriculture through its landscape and cultural history programs.

“In this case, Illinois certainly has a very long agricultural history, and we’re just on the young end of that history for this project,” Styles said.

“Our research and our collections document that long legacy of agriculture in Illinois from the first Native American experimentation with cultivation. Today we’re really adding a new dimension of this history through this special Web site.

“Now, you’ll actually be able to hear the stories of Illinois farmers and, for the later interviews, see the individuals talking and see their farms. This is allowing Illinois farmers to share their stories for future generations and create a permanent record.”

“One of the things that I think is very important is capturing the whole gamut of agriculture from the old-timers, the horse-driven equipment, all the way to the FFA kids who are very important and going to be the leaders of agriculture as we move forward,” said Tom Jennings, state agriculture director.

“To capture that is very important historically because of the tradition of agriculture here in the state and how important it is to the economy in the state.”


Return to Article List