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Growing up on the farm
New book by history's Pamela Riney-Kehrberg looks at children in
rural America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
- Deep in her heart, Pamela Riney-Kehrberg knew what she really wanted to
work on.
She may have been working on other projects, but the associate professor
of history and director of graduate education in the Program in Agricultural
History and Rural Studies wanted to write a history of life growing up on
the farm.
"My family has always been the sort when we have get-togethers we sit
around the kitchen table and listen to stories," Riney-Kehrberg said.
"All four of my grandparents had grown up on the farm and left. When
I became a historian, I wanted to understand my grandparents' childhood
and why they all left the farm as adults."
After writing Childhood on the Farm, Riney-Kehrberg has a better
understanding why her grandparents and many other young adults sought a
better life in the cities.
In her new book, Riney-Kehrberg looks at life on the farm from 1870 to 1920
in the Midwestern states of Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota
and Kansas where the predominance of the population still lived in rural
areas.
"There were so many changes to society after the 1920s, particularly
in rural areas," Riney-Kehrberg said, "that I wanted to end my
story before the majority of farmers got radios in the home and started
to drive automobiles.
"The consumerism of the '20s changes the story significantly."
Childhood on the Farm uses personal correspondence, diaries and
school records as the book is filled with insightful personal stories. Narratives
written by the children themselves give what Riney-Kehrberg calls a "fresh
voice to these forgotten years."
What comes through in these written records is a sense of what life on the
farm was like for children. Their experiences continued to reflect the traditions
of family life and labor when their counterparts in urban areas were more
concerned with education and play.
"Despite the fact this work the children were doing on the farm was
so hard and life was so uncertain, you get a real sense from their writings
that they feel their childhood was valuable," Riney-Kehrberg says.
"They may have felt oppressed, but they also felt a great deal of pride
for the level of responsibility they had for the welfare of their families.
"Many however didn't want their own children to have that same experience."
That was primarily because education and play were not top priorities of
farm families.
"Work was central to children's lives," Riney-Kehrberg said. "Education
and play were secondary roles, but farm children also felt a great deal
of pride in their work."
By the late 19th century, farm children were working harder to leave the
farm for less strenuous lives in the city. Parents consciously made sure
their children got an education so they would have opportunities rather
than remaining on the farm.
Farm children continue to this day to want to leave for a better life, Riney-Kehrberg
says.
"My classes typically have a fair number of students who grew up on
the farm and while most say they really appreciate growing up on a farm,
most don't want to go back and continue the family business," she said.
"They're thinking about security, not having to depend on what the
weather does, not having to worry about prices.
"They want to get a degree and do something else"
Much like the kids that spent their childhood on the farm from 1870 to 1920.
Pamela Riney-Kehrberg
Around LAS
September 5-18, 2005
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