Malone Update

The Wilder Homestead in Malone/ Burke had 1500 children come through on school tours in May, June, September, and October. All the school tour income is currently being saved towards building the replica of the one-room school. They are currently just under $20,000 in their fund towards their $50,000 goal, so you can still contribute and get your name on the plaque if you contribute at least $100.

Their biggest change this year was getting a fire retardant new cedar shingle roof on the farmhouse and a hands on exhibit where you could help milk feed a pumpkin, just like Almanzo. If you are on the east coast, they still have one big event, Christmas at the farm will be Dec. 5th this year.

Norman Borlaug Food Hero

One of the most famous living Iowan recently passed away. Norman Borlaug was the moving force behind the Green Revolution that saved billions of lives. Borlaug was the founder of the World Food Prize. He received the Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Gold Medal, and Presidential Medal of freedom.

Bill Gates recently said of him. “In the middle of the 20th century, experts predicted famine and starvation, but they turned out to be wrong – because they did not predict Norman Borlaug. He not only showed humanity how to get more food from the earth – he proved that farming has the power to lift up the lives of the poor.”

http://www.iptv.org/series.cfm/20529/freedom_from_famine_norman

Borlaug spent most of his life fighting so that people would have enough food. He is credited with saving the lives of billions of people by developing high-yielding crops that averted famine.

An editorial by Dirck Stiemel quoted his 2000 30th anniversary of his Nobel Prize speech:

“The world has the technology – either available or advanced in the research pipeline – to feed on a sustainable basis a population of 10 billion people. The more pertinent question today is whether farmers and ranchers will be permitted to use this new technology. While affluent nations can certainly afford to adopt ultra-low risk positions, and pay more for food produced by so-called ‘organic’ methods, the 1 billion chronically undernourished people of low-income, food-deficit nations cannot.”

A local group is working on the restoration and preservation of his birthplace and the one-room school he attended. They are putting together a full slate of activities honoring his legacy. Read about it here:

http://www.normanborlaug.org/index-orig.htm

For the U.S. Congress tribute, click here:

http://www.radioiowa.com/2009/09/30/u-s-house-honors-norman-borlaug

Read his obituary here:

http://www.mexidata.info/id2442.html

Trundlebedtales Comes to Youtube

I just wanted to let everybody know that I started a new channel on Youtube. So far I’ve uploaded two short videos I filmed while I was in Pepin for Laura Ingalls Wilder Days. I hope to add more and that you will enjoy them. I’ve also added links to the Ingalls Homestead orientation video and a recording of them playing Pa’s fiddle at Wilder Days. Please come take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Trundlebedtales

Call for papers: 2010 Country School Association of America

Tenth Annual Country School Association of America Conference
June 21-23, 2010 Chickasha, Oklahoma
Blazing the Trail: Education Among the Earliest Americans 

 

 

 

The 2010 CSAA Conference will take place on the campus of The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma on June 21-22 with an optional bus tour to several one-room schools in the Oklahoma City area on June 23. Visit a fully restored African American one room school in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

You are cordially invited to participate in and/or lead a panel discussion, present a research paper, conduct a workshop, present a play, organize a symposium, or give a demonstration on country schooling. Decide which topic most interests you and submit a brief proposal. The following topics may spark your creativity. 

 

 

 

Preservation:
volunteers, promoting the project, collecting artifacts, preserving a restored school, preparing for and/or recovering from a natural disaster, etc.

Envisioning the restored country school, raising money, recruiting and managing volunteers

 

Native American and African American one-room schooling, teachers and the rural community reenactment or living history programs, etc. Videotapes and other resources are welcome.

 

Executive Director Lucy Townsend (815-753-1236 or ltownsend@niu.edu). Proposals are due March 1, 2010.

 

Loretta Jackson Lewis lyjackson1@suddenlink.net and Richardrichard.lewis@nasa.gov Or send 2 copies of your proposal and two self-addressed, stampedLoretta Jackson, P.O. Box 2044, Chickasha, OK 73023.

For updates on the conference, visit our website at:
www.countryschoolassociation.org

 

 

 

Memory Makers:

Come and share your memories, photographs, artifacts, books, facts and fiction. Stories, camp, holiday celebrations, music schools, musical instruments, dramatic interpretations related to country schooling, etc.

 

Presentations related to the conference theme will be noted in the program.

 

 

 

 

Proposal Formats

E-mail your cover sheet & proposal to:

Proposals should not exceed three double-spaced, printed pages. Add a cover sheet with title of the proposal, names and affiliations (if any) of participants, and the address, email address, and phone number of each participant. If you want to discuss your topic before submitting a proposal, contact CSAA Research:
community, the process of digging up the history of a school, oral history-making, the architectural significance of one-room schools, the supervision of one-room schools, teacher training for one-room schoolteachers, the consolidation movement, educational methods (maps, music education, nature study, reading charts), etc.

Iowa One-Room School Workshop

The 10th annual Iowa One-Room School Workshop, sponsored by the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance will be held Oct. 2-3, 2009. It will be held at the Heartland Acres Agrihibition Center in Independence, Iowa. The first day is sessions and the second is a tour of nearby schools. I’m going to be presenting a version of my school lunch program.

Friday, Oct. 2 AGENDA

8:00 a.m. Registration – Events Center, lower level

9:00 a.m. Welcome and Conference Overview -

Bill Sherman, IHPA Board Member

9:15 a.m. Country School Preservation in Norway

- Leidulf Mydland. Norwegian Institute

for Cultural Heritage Research

10:00 a.m. Creating a Country School Curriculum

and Generating Visitors – Dale Williams,

Reed School Director, Wisconsin

Historical Society

11:00 a.m. How Networking Can Help Your Country

School – Caroline Bredekamp, Jackson

County Preservationist

11:30 a.m. What’s for Lunch at the Country School

- Sarah Uthoff, Country School

Researcher

Lunch

12:30 p.m. Tourism and Implications for Country

Schools – Carrie Koelker, Eastern Iowa

tourism Director and Candy Streed,

Program Coordinator Silos & Smokestacks

1:00 p.m. Amish Schools Today – Mark Dewalt,

Winthrop University, South Carolina

1:20 p.m. Rewards and Incentives in Country

Schools – Susan Webb, Birmingham,

Alabama

1:45 p.m. Planting Around a Country School -

Sheryln Hazen, Buchanan County

Roadside Manager

2:00 p.m. Creating the Agribition Center and

Tour – Mike McGill, Evens Manager and

Leanne Harrison, President of

Buchanan County Historical Society

3:00 p.m. Tour Summit School

3:30 p.m. Visit Wapsipinicon Mill and Little Red

Schoolhouse Antique Shop in

Independence

5:30 p.m. Dinner and Country School Video

Program

Saturday, Oct. 3 TOUR

8:15 a.m. Meet in Heartland Acres Parking Lot to

Begin Tour

We will visit a public and private Amish school and

travel north to Fredericksburg where we will visit a

country school museum. Lunch will be at the Farm

********************************************

CONFERENCE COSTS:

$30 Includes Friday lunch, museum tours

and handouts

$15 Includes Saturday tour, lunch and

wine tasting

Please return registration form with

check made out to the Iowa Historic

Preservation Alliance (IHPA), by Sept.

24th to:

Mike McGill

Heartland Acres

2600 Swan Lake Blvd.

Independence, IA 50644

For questions or more information contact:

Bill Sherman (IHPA), 1-800-434-2039,

or email wsherman41@gmail.com

or

Amy (Heartland Acres), 319-332-0123

MOTEL INFORMATION:

Country Inn & Suites

2100 Swan Lake Blvd., 800-456-4000

Rush Park Motel

1810 First St. W., 800-429-2577

Super 8 Motel

2000 First St., 800-800-8000

Camper parking available in Heartland Acres

parking lot

 

 

 

 

Call For Papers: Country School Association

I’m passing along the call for papers for the Country School Association of America. I run their listserv and they always have an interesting conference. Please consider submitting a paper or attending.

Sarah S. Uthoff

Please be reminded that the call for proposals is open for presenters interested in country schools. This year the conference will be held on June 15, 16 and 17, 2009 at Saint Vincent College, Latrobe, PA. The conference will also include one-room school house tours on June 17, 2009. Please follow the link below for detailed information. Don’t miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity!
http://www.stvincent.edu/csaa2009

Veronica
–
Dr. Veronica I. Ent
Education Department Chairperson
Saint Vincent College
300 Fraser Purchase Road
Latrobe, PA 15650
Internal Phone: X2586
Phone: 724-805-2586
Fax: 724-805-2024
veronica.ent@email.stvincent.edu

Palmer Method Grave

I always knew that there was a connection between Austin N. Palmer of the Palmer Method of writing and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. However, he

Palmer Award Plaque

wasn’t born here and I thought he just passed through on his way to fame and fortune. This last year I discovered that his connection was much more

Austin N. Palmer's Grave

lasting than that. Not only did he leave Cedar Rapids as one his main offices even after he himself moved to New York, but he held on to local property including a downtown building. More importantly when he died, he chose to be buried in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. While you’d think that might be a well known fact, it took me about a month and phone calls all over to track down his mausoleum at Cedar Memorial. He and his wife have crypts in a separate, private room, the largest one at Cedar Memorial. They have 3 stained glass windows and their names in gold letters. Also, there was a plaque designating him as the Palmer of the Palmer method and a trophy presented to a team in Palmer Writing. I paid my respects, think about paying yours if you are ever in Cedar Rapids.

One-Room School Bed and Breakfast

Anamosa is near here. It’s the heart of Grant Wood country. A lovely area and they have a bed and breakfast in a one-room school. It was a school and then for many years it was a family home. Now they’ve outgrown it, the same family has made it a bed and breakfast. They even offer a kennel for your dog. Check it out here:

http://www.countryschoolretreat.110mb.com/

Farmer Boy’s School

Continuing with the Malone Area theme, the latest edition of “Farmer Boy News” is focusing on the memorial society’s efforts to construct a replica one-room school on the grounds near the farmhouse. You can help with that effort. The Laura Ingalls Wilder listserv I belong to donated enough to get their name on plaque. Sounds like a great Christmas present to me! Once the project is over you will no longer be able to be added to the plaque. For example, you can no longer be added to the barn plaques that they had for that project. Don’t you want to see your name there when you finally make it to the Almanzo Wilder Farm? So act now!

To send a donation included this information:

Name:

Address:

Telephone:

E-mail:

Donation Amounts-
$50 + (includes one year free membership)

$100+ (become a member of the 100+ club with designation on the plaque in the one-room schoolhouse and 1 year free membership)

$500+ (ten free passes to the Wilder Homestead, designation plauque  in the one-room schoolhouse and 1 year free membership)

Include who’s name will appear on the plaque. It can include the designation “In honor of…” or “In memory of….” specify which if you want it to appear.

Make checks payable to:
Wilder Association

P.O. Box 283
Malone NY 12953-0283.

All donations are tax deductible.

One-Room School Lunch Baskets

One of my on-going projects is in researching the one-room school lunch. Read more about the project here: http://www.trundlebedtales.com/id22.html

Lunch Basket 1880s

As I’ve been going through materials and looking for examples and photos, one thing that had eluded me was a lunch basket. Although I saw several ads for these, I hadn’t run across any photos or drawings. I saw so many ads that I think there must be different styles, but I finally have found one positively identified school lunch basket. It was carried in town by Alice Salbkat in the 1880s. She left it with a collection of other materials to the Spring Valley (MN) Historical Society and it is currently on display in their recreated one-room school room. Thank you to Spring Valley for letting me photograph this basket and share my find.