Childhood On The Farm: Work, Play, And Coming Of Age In The Midwest
by Pamela Riney-Kehrberg
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Description
As the United States transformed itself from an agricultural to an industrial nation, thousands of young people left farm homes for life in the big city. But even by 1920 the nation's heartland remained predominantly rural and most children in the region were still raised on farms. Pamela Riney-Kehrberg retells their stories, offering glimpses---both nostalgic and realistic---of a bygone era. As Riney-Kehrberg shows, the experiences of most farm children continued to reflect the traditions show more of family life and labor, albeit in an age when middle-class urban Americans were beginning to redefine childhood as a time reserved for education and play. She draws upon a wealth of primary sources---not only memoirs and diaries but also census data---to create a vivid portrait of midwestern farm childhood from the early post-Civil War period through the Progressive Era growing pains of industrialization. Those personal accounts resurrect the essential experience of children's work, play, education, family relations, and coming of age from their own perspectives. Steering a middle path between the myth of wholesome farm life and the reality of work that was often extremely dangerous, Riney-Kehrberg shows both the best and the worst that a rural upbringing had to offer midwestern youth a time before mechanization forever changed the rural scene and radio broke the spell of isolation. Down on the farm, truancy was not uncommon and chores were shared across genders. Yet farm children managed to indulge in inventive play---much of it homemade---to supplement store-bought toys and to get through the long spells between circuses. Filled with insightful personal stories and graced with dozens of highly evocative period photos, Childhood on the Farm is the only general history of midwestern farm children to use narratives written by the children themselves, giving a fresh voice to these forgotten years. Theirs was a way of life that was disappearing even as they lived it, and this book offers new insight into why, even if many rural youngsters became urban and suburban adults, they always maintained some affection for the farm. show lessTags
Member Reviews
This well-documented book provides an excellent window into the life of young people in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the American Midwest. Drawing from diaries, journals, photo collections, and other primary source documents, the author does a wonderful job mixing academic rigor with an easy-to-read approach. Organized by topic with chapters such as child labor, education, and play, I highly recommend this text for anyone interested in learning more about childhood on the farm.
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Author Information
7 Works 62 Members
Pamela Riney-Kehrberg is Professor of History at Iowa State University and Past President of the Agricultural History Society.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, History
- DDC/MDS
- 305.23 — Society, government, & culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Social group - Age, Gender, Ethnicity Age groups Young people up to 20
- LCC
- F354 .R57 — Local History of the United States, Canada and Latin America United States local history Mississippi River and Valley. Middle West
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 17
- Popularity
- 1,445,860
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (5.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
