Education

This content is restricted to subscribers

Please login to access the portal.

No account? Register
cornpicking1930

About The Farm | “Old Style” Corn picking

There were some fast Nebraskans During the days of cornhusking
From the Centennial edition of Nebraska Farmer Magazine, January 17, 1959, by Dwight Howard

One of our greatest sporting events died during World War II. This event attracted only about 800 persons in 1924 but by 1936 it had grown until it attracted about 160,000 persons. The only event surpassing it was the Memorial Day automobile race at Indianapolis, which attracted approximately 8,000 more.

What was this great contest? It was the National Cornhusking Championship. the last contest was held in 1941 and was to be stopped for the duration of the war, but was never started again.

It is true that mechanical pickers have taken over the cornhusking work, but people would still like to see hand pickers in action. We ride tractors and automobiles and don’t do much foot racing as individuals, but people gather to watch the track athletes compete. We don’t get to play too much but we enjoy watching. I believe we would still like to watch “old style” corn picking.

Continue reading about the CORNHUSKING CHAMPIONSHIP in the sections below ↓

First Contest in 1924

Since colonial times farmers have tried to make husking lighter. The “husking bee” was one attempt at this. Neighbors would gather for a social evening of visiting and shuck corn. By 1922 this custom had nearly died and Henry Wallace pushed plans for husking contests. Various groups worked and by 10924 it had become a national contest.

The main piece of equipment needed was a husking peg or a hook. The hook seemed to be a little more popular. This steel peg or hook was strapped to the hand and was used to tear the shucks open on the corn. Many huskers wore gloves but some shucked barehanded. The method mostly used in husking was to grip an ear with the left hand, yank off the husk with the right hand, twist the ear from the stalk with the right hand and throw the gear into the wagon with the right hand.

The rules were outlined by Floyd Keepers, who for many years was a farm magazine editor. The contest was to last for 80 minutes. Each husker was allotted by draw a land with six, eight, or 10 rows of standing corn. The number of rows depended on the length of the rows. Between each land, 10 or more rows were husked out and the stalks were broken down so the spectators could follow their favorites.

Each husker was to take two rows as he went and to get all hanging or down ears. Two gleaners followed to bring in all ears that were left. These were weighed and for each pound of marketable corn left, the picker was assessed 3 pounds from his load. From the husked load, 100 pounds were taken and all husks and ribbons were removed from the corn and weighed on a fine scale. The contestants were permitted a maximum of 5 ounces of husks per 100 pounds of corn. For each ounce above five and up to 10, 1% of the load was deducted as a penalty for “dirty” husking. More than 10 ounces drew a penalty of 3% per ounce.

Tractors Replace Horses

Each contestant had a wagon with team and driver. Later the tractor was substituted for the team of horses. In addition to the two gleaners, there was a judge or timekeeper with each contestant. These officials worked under an official starter and timekeeper. Several hundred persons would volunteer to aid in the tremendous traffic problem in handling the viewers.

The 1924 championship contest was held in Polk County, IA. There was snow on the ground and it was a cold Monday morning in Webster County, IA, but Fred Stankek bundled his family into the car and they drove 80 miles south to the husking field. Fred had been second to Grimmius in the Iowa championship. He was still sore from his efforts the preceding Saturday and was slow getting started. It was a cold day for the contest with a temperature around 26 degrees. By the end of the first half hour, it looked as though the race was going to be between Grimmius and Dinklage of Nebraska. Grimmius had drawn a bad land and was handicapped by thin corn so it looked as though Dinklage was leading. Niehaus, the champion from Illinois who was 53 years old, lagged in the rear but he was shucking his corn very clean. He used a peg in shucking while Archer, the Nebraska champ, used a wrist hook.

Stanek began to get warmed up. He had been throwing about 36 ears a minute; he speeded up to 42 and then increased the tempo until the last 10 minutes of the contest he was throwing over 50 ears a minute. Excess husks had cost him the Iowa championship so he was husking cleaner. Stanek’s husking impressed everyone. There was a rhythm to it as though he were keeping time to the music. Stanek grasped the ears a little closer to the tip than most huskers did. At the end of the contest when the wagons were weighed it was found that Stanek had a lead of 80 pounds over the nearest man, but the next four men were so close that gleanings decided the issue. Many people thought that a man husking with a hook had a big advantage and you could do well with a peg only in upstanding corn. Niehaus, the 53-year-old Illinois champion was the oldest man in the Illinois contest. Twenty years previously he had husked 109 bushels and 50 pounds of corn in 5 hours. He husked bare-handed with a 10-cent peg. Stanek was declared the winner of the contest with 24.3 bushels husked.

The average farmer could husk about 300 ears in 80 minutes. They were amazed at Stanek’s performance as he was husking about 2,000 ears.

There wasn’t a large crowd at the first contest, but they really turned out the next year. They were dubious about such husking. The 1925 contest was held in Mercer County, Ill., and the champion was Elmer Williams of Henry County, Ill. His net bushels husked was 35.8 for the 80 minutes. This boosted the husking to about 3,000 ears. Williams was the only man who ever beat Stanek in the national competition. He wasn’t a big man being but 5 feet 6 inches tall.

Fred Stanek was champion in 1926 at Dodge County, Nebr., where he shucked 30.3 bushels. He won the 1927 contest at Faribault County, Minn., within 15.47 bushels. The contest that year was held in almost impossible weather with snow and icy conditions. Stanek retired after this victory.

Walter Olson, of Henry County, Ill., won the 1928 contest at Benton County, Ind., with a 26.62 average. This was the year that the National Broadcasting Company thought the contest was worth describing on the air. The 1929 contest at Platte County, Mo., was won by Olson with a 25.27 average. He was a spectacular shucker, using both a peg and a hook; using peg on the high ears and the hook on low ones.

By 1930, champions from nine Corn Belt states were entered and the crowd had swelled to 30,000. Frank Stanek had been lured from retirement and was back again. The contest was held in Norton County, Kans., and the champion was Fred Stanek with 30.3 bushels. This made him a four-time champ, more than anyone had or would become. He later turned professional and won the Sweepstakes. This contest was sponsored by seedsmen and had a $1,000 purse — $500 going to the winner. This attracted many stars from the National Cornhusking championships. The association sponsoring the national contest declared anyone who husked in competition not sponsored by the association to be a professional and not eligible for future competition. The Sweepstakes didn’t attract as large crowds as did the contest held by the association. After husking professionally, Fred Stanek retired.

In 1931, 50,000 people turned out to see Orville Welch of Piatt County, Ill., shuck 31.37 bushels at the contest held in Grundy County, Ia. He was dubbed the “boy wonder” as he was just 26 when he won the national honors.

The 1932 contest was held in Henry County, Ill., where Carl Seiler of Knox County, Ill., won the title with 36.914 bushels. He was a “southpaw,” sobang board was on the side opposite to other contestants. He once shucked 42.06 bushels in an Illinois County contest. He was a man of great endurance and stamina; he had at one time averaged 136.5 bushels a day for 22 days, getting 183 bushels his best day. He had shucked from dawn to dusk, taking time off for a noon meal.

The 1933 contest was held on the Ben Stalp farm near West Point in Cuming County, Nebr. This was a year for Nebraska to be very proud because a home state boy was to win the national crown. Sherman Henricksen, a 38-year-old farmer from Lincoln in Lancaster County won the state championship with 38.36 bushels, shucking against 46 other huskers. The runner-up was Harry Brown of Cuming County who placed second with 37.96 bushels. T. A. Leadley the editor of the Nebraska Farmer, awarded the cash prizes offered by the magazine to the top five individuals, who received $100, $50, $25, and $10. The state championship was well attended with about 18,000 spectators seeing the contest and also a fine horse show of draft horses. The contest was held in Dawson County at Cozad. Many contestants shucked barehanded with a hook on one hand and many hands were bleeding before the contest was half over.

Henricksen was a powerful 190-pound man between 5 feet 9 and 5 feet 10 inches tall. One of the newspapers said, “he doesn’t eat corn in any fashion. Nor does he drink it.”

It was a cold day, but more than 15,000 automobiles streamed to the national contest in a solid line hours before the contest was to start. The roads soon became one-way roads. It was estimated between 30,000 and 40,000 people were on hand for the contest.

The Ben Stalp farm looked like a small tented city. There was a large display of farm equipment. The International Harvester Company brought five carloads of farm equipment to exhibit. The Allis-Chalmers Company had equipment there, too. Plowing demonstrations and mechanical corn-picking demonstrations were held. The Firestone Tire Company and the Goodyear Tire Company each had large tents erected to house their exhibits. Barney Oldfield, of race car fame, was there with a tractor that he had driven for a 64-mile-per-hour record.

corn picking

Nebraska Farmer

The National Broadcasting Company broadcast the event for its radio network. Frank Mullen, NBC director of agriculture, conceived the idea 5 years previously. A portable transmitter was used so that real sound effects could be brought right to the listeners. The 1933 contest was sponsored by the Nebraska Farmer and six other farm papers in the Midwest.

Henricksen was very kind in giving an interview to the author, referring to the contest, and I will relate what he told me. It was a blustery day and very cold, but the field was dry. However, the corn wasn’t too good – the ears were rather small.

There was a large crowd on hand. Tractors were fairly new at that time and Barney Oldfield was there racing one up and down the road. It looked almost like a fairground with lots of booths and tents, and acres and acres of parked cars. The corn was yellow and was hybrid at the national meet. In the state contest the corn was open-pollinated. The wagons were pulled by horses in the state contest and by tractors in the national contest.

Henricksen had to drive around 100 miles to the contest. He was the only contestant who preferred to train at home; the others arrived a day or so early in order to get the feel of the corn at the site of the contest. Henricksen seemed to be a natural born husker. His brother was one of the first in that neighborhood to husk 100 busels a day. Henricksen’s two oldest boys were good huskers and could husk 100 bushels a day. He said he never had any special training but when he went to the field he wanted to get a load in a hurry. He always husked bare-handed in a contest. He used a thumb hook, called a “royal success.” He said, “I husk different from most huskers. I take an ear just as it hangs. A lot of people thought I was using a peg; then I would hear some of them say, ‘no he is using a hook, I saw it before he started.’”

Brown Second

There were 16 contestants from eight states in the contest. It was close. Harry Brown was next to Henricksen. When the contest started the sheer weight of the spectators forced back mounted men who were trying to handle the crowd, and the spectators streamed into the field by the thousands. The contestants were almost overwhelmed, but Henricksen remained calm and cool. He worked silently and ignored those on the sidelines. He won the championship and $100 prize with 27.624 bushels and Harry Brown was second. After the interview for news reporters, news reel photographers, news cameramen and radio announcers, the champion said he had to get home because he had 70 acres waiting to be husked.

Henricksen quit husking competitively in 1937 since he entered the Husking Kings Sweepstakes and was then a pro. He finished second to Fred Stanek with a difference of only 1.64 pounds or about three ears of corn. This meant a difference of $250 since that was the second prize and $500 was first. He was one of the most popular competitors. In 1938 he was third in the Sweepstakes. Fred Stanek had permanently withdrawn after the 1937 Sweepstakes victory and was the official starter in 1938.

Henricksen said the contest was discontinued in 1938 and he hasn’t husked in contests since then. He now uses a mechanical picker; started using it in 1944. He still farms. His five children are all married and gone from home. The Henricksens now have a larger family though, with 17 grandchildren to be proud of.

The 1934 contest was held in Fairmont County Minn., and Ted Balko of Redwood County, Minn., was the victor with 25.78 bushels. From 1930 to 1938 he husked in every contest excepting 1937 and placing high in all of them.

The champion in 1935 was 27-year-old Elmer Carlson of Audubon County, Ia., with 41.52 bushels. The contest was held in Fountain County, Ind., on Leslie Mitchell’s farm. The 1935 tournament was an all-star show and the most spectacular; the winner and four other men shattered what had been the world’s record. Carlson shucked approximately 41½ bushels of corn in 80 minutes. This was about 3,744 ears of corn or 2,995 pounds. The average farmer did well to husk 10 bushels in 80 minutes. About 110,000 persons were at the 1935 contest.

Thirty-eight-year-old Carl Carlson, Elmer’s older brother, won the 1936 contest at Licking County, Ohio with 21.04 bushels. It was a rain-soaked and muddy field that the competitors had to fight. Nine inches of snow had melted and made the field very muddy, and the corn looked bedraggled. Spectators started pouring in the night before and by 5 a.m. cars were really streaming in. The Literary Digest magazine reported that 140,000 persons (more than ever saw a football game of prize fight) were there. State highway patrolmen mounted on polo ponies guided 45,000 automobiles into a score of parking lots. Newsweek magazine reported that 160,000 people were there. Time magazine reported “The spectacle of men husking corn drew a crowd of 160,000, second biggest ever gathering at a sporting spectacle in the U. S., to a remote 485-acre farm owned by Alva Oyler, 25 miles east of Columbus in Ohio’s Licking County.” The biggest U. S. sporting crowd was 168,000 at the 1936 Memorial Day automobile race in Indianapolis.

Pickpockets

It was hard to estimate the crowd for certain since spectators attended the corn-husking contests free. It was a real celebration with cider and fried chicken being bought at the stands. The crowd eyed exhibits of 1937 cars. And the midway had exhibits of farm machinery. For 35 cents you could get an all-white-meat chicken dinner. Bookmakers and pickpockets were in the crowd. Farm implement dealers had booths to show off all their wares. Mechanical pickers were demonstrated. The contest was like a football game as well as a county fair. A band played Sousa marches. Pickpockets shucked over two sore of farmers’ pockets. At 12:45 a 5-minute warning bomb burst. One hour and 20 minutes later a bomb exploded to signal the end. Some huskers were leapers and some had trick motions, but Carl Carlson was plodding and cool under fir. The Iowan wore tennis shoes, white duck pants And an undershirt. He received a prize of $200 and a gold mug. It took the referees more than 2 hours to decide the winner. Meanwhile the crowd was entertained by bands and hog-calling contests.

Ray Hanson of Cottonwood County, Minn., won the 1937 contest held in a driving rainstorm in Saline County, Mo. He husked 21.38 bushels, plowing his way through the muddiest field in national cornhusking history.

Ted Balko was the champion in 1938, repeating his 1934 championship. He shucked 22.24 bushels in the contest held in Minnehaha County, S. Dak. At that time Minnesota had held only eight state contests and he had won six of them. He was a big, good-natured fellow who husked in a white shirt and duck trousers. They were as neat and clean at the end of the contest as when he started. This was another big contest. It rained the night before but 32,000 cars were counted going to the contest. It took five pastures covering 1,300 acres and 800 volunteer traffic directors to handle the parking.

112,000 Viewers

The 1939 contest was held in Douglas County, Kans., and the author was privileged to see it. It took a lot of preparation for the contest. In fact planning started a year before the contest. There was a crowd of about 112,000 on hand to watch the huskers tackle the hybrid corn. There was a terrific noise when the contestants got warmed up and really started throwing corn. They were tossing more than a thousand ears a minute before the contest ended. The winner was Lawrence Bitzer of Fountain County, Ind., with 28.39 bushels.

The 1940 champ was 27-year-old Irvin Bauman of Woodford County, Ill. He set a record of 46.58 bushels at Scott County, Ia. More than 150,000 persons arrived at this contest in 50,000 automobiles.

Floyd Wise of La Salle County, Ill., won the national championship held in La Salle County with 45.37 bushels. This was better than60 ears per minute.

The huskers were hardy competitors. Some would come in a the end of the contest with knuckles bleeding and fingers raw. Many contestants had callouses as big and hard as a quarter. They kept up a pace that would kill an ordinary athlete. A baseball pitcher might not throw more than 120 balls in a game, while a husker threw that many in 3 minutes.

World War II marked the end of an era in many ways. Some changes were made never to return, and the Cornhusking Championship was a casualty. It is a shame that it couldn’t have been reactivated. The contest didn’t lack for interest; spectators were still thronging to see the contest. I know many persons would still like to see sturdy athletes making the ears fly and the bangboards ring.

Wessels Living History Farm Resources

A Partial Bibliography of Sources

Learner Resources

  • Aaberg, Gwendolyn M., The R. F. D.: Then and Now, Vantage Press, New York City, NY, 1967.
  • Blanke, David, Sowing the American Dream, Ohio University Press, Athens, 2000.
  • Bosso, Christopher John, Pesticides and Politics: The Life Cycle of a Public Issue, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA, 1987.
  • Bradford, Harry E., A Short History of Agrigultural Education Below College Grade in Nebraska, Thesis for University of Nebraska, 1940.
  • Broehl, Wayne G. Jr., John Deere’s Company: A History of Deere and Company and Its Times, Doubleday and Company INC., , 1984.
  • Brokaw, Tom, The Greatest Generation, Random House, New York, 1998.
  • Carson, Rachel, Silent Spring, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA, 1962.
  • Clements, Leroy D., A History of the Agricultural Division of the Department of Vocational Education, College of Agriculture University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 1963.
  • Cochrane, Willard W., The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, 1993.
  • Dulles, Allen W., The Marshall Plan, Berg Publisher,Inc., Providence, 1993.
  • Erb, David, Eldon Brumbaugh, Full Steam Ahead: J. I. Case Tractors and Equipment 1842-1955, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph, Mich., 1993.
  • Eschenbrenner, Gunther P., Multhaup, Robert H., Technology’s Harvest: Feeding a Growing Population, Gulf Publishing Company, Houston Texas, 1996.
  • Fay, Guy, and Andy Kraushaar, Farmall Letter Series Tractors, MBI Publishing, Osceola, WI , 1998.
  • Fernández-Armesto, Felipe, Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food, The Free Press, New York City, NY, 2002.
  • Gardner, Bruce L., American Agriculture in the Twentieth Century: How it Flourished and What it Cost, Harvard Univerisity Press, Cambridge, MA, 2002.
  • Green, David E., Land of the Underground Rain: Irrigation on the Texas High Plains, 1910-1970, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 1973.
  • Greene, Bob, Once Upon a Town, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1992.
  • Haney, Wava G., and Jane B. Knowles, Women and Farming: Changing Roles, Changing Structures, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1988.
  • Hargreaves, Mary W. M., Dry Farming in the Northern Great Plains: Years of Readjustment, 1920-1990, University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 1993.
  • Hine, Howard Jordan, Tractors on the Farm; Their Choice, Use and Maintenance, Farmer & Stock-Breeder, London, UK, 1955.
  • Hogan, Michael J., The Marshall Plan: America ,Britain, and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947-1952, Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, New York City, NY, 1987.
  • Hollingworth, Robert M., Marco, Gino J., and Plimmer, Jack R., Regulation of Agrochemicals: A Driving Force in Their Evolution, American Chemical Society, Washington DC, 1991.
  • Huber, Donald S., How Johnny Popper Replaced the Horse : A History of John Deere Two-Cylinder Tractors, Deere, Moline, IL, 1988.
  • Hurt, R. Douglas, American Agriculture: A Brief History, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, IN, 2002.
  • Hurt, R. Douglas, Problems of Plenty: The American Farmer in the Twentieth Century, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago, IL, 2002.
  • Isern, Thomas, Custom Combining on the Great Plains, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1981.
  • Kuzelka, Robert D., et. al., Flat Water: A History of Nebraska and Its Water, Conservation and Survey Division, Lincoln, NE, 1993.
  • Letourneau, Peter, Vintage Case Tractors, Town Square Books, Stillwater, MN, 1997.
  • Lieberman, Archie, Neighbors, A Forty-Year Portrait of an American Farm Community, Collins Publishers, San Francisco, 1993.
  • Marco, Gino J., Robert M. Hollingworth, Jack R. Plimmer, Regulation of Agrochemicals: A Driving Force in their Evolution, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 1991.
  • Markham, Jesse William, The Fertilizer Industry: Study of an Imperfect Market, Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville, TN, 1958.
  • Miller, Roger G., To Save a City, Texas A&M University Press, United States, 2000.
  • Morgan, Dan, Merchants of Grain: The Power and Profits of the Five Giant Companies at the Center of the World’s Food Supply, Viking Press, New York City, NY, 1979, 2000.
  • Morris, Eric, Blockade, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1973.
  • Nash, Gerald D., World War II and the West: Reshaping the Economy, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1990.
  • Nelson, Lewis B., History of the U.S. Fertilizer Industry, Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, 1990.
  • Olson, James C., and Ronald C. Naugle, History of Nebraska: Third Edition, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 1997.
  • Paarlberg, Don, and Philip Paarlberg, The Agricultural Revolution of the Twentieth Century, Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA, 2000.
  • Prichard, Jo G., Making Things Grow: The Story of Mississippi Chemical Corporation, Mississippi Chemical Corporation, Yazoo City Miss., 1998.
  • Root, Waverly, Richard de Rochemont, Eating in America, Ecco Press, New York City, NY, 1981, 2002.
  • Sanders, Ralph W., Ultimate John Deere: The History of the Big Green Machines, Voyageur Press, Stillwater, MN , 2001.
  • Schlebecker, John T., Whereby We Thrive: A History of American Farming, 1607-1972, Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA, 1975.
  • Shapiro, Laura, Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America, Viking Press, New York City, NY, 2004.
  • Smith, Harris Pearson, Farm Machinery and Equipment, McGraw-Hill, New York City, NY, 1948.
  • Solbrig, Otto T., and Dorothy J. Solbrig, So Shall You Reap: Farming and Crops in Human Affairs, Island Press, Washington, DC, 1994.
  • Summers, Robert E., Economic Aid to Europe: The Marshall Plan, H.W Wilson Company, New York City, NY, 1948.
  • Tannahill, Reay, Food in History, Three Rivers Press, New York City, NY, 1988.
  • Turner, C. N., Farm Electrical Equipment Handbook, Edison Electric Institute, New York City, NY, 1950.
  • Whorton , James, Before Silent Spring: Pesticides and Public Health in pre-DDT America, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1974.
  • Williams, Michael, Great Tractors, Poole, Blandford Press, New York City, NY, 1982.
  • Williams, Michael, Massey-Ferguson Tractors, Poole, Blandford Press, New York City, NY, 1987.
  • Williams, Robert C., Fordson, Farmall, and Poppin’ Johnny: A History of the Farm Tractor and Its Impact on America, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, IL, 1987.
  • Nebraska Tractor Field Book, University of Nebraska, NE, Lincoln, NE, various dates.

Parade of Power

Tractor Shows: In this video podcast, former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser says a poem that began as an exercise in resentment became a love poem to a state.

Parade of Power

In October 2006, dozens of antique tractor owners gathered at the Wessels Living History Farm at York, Nebraska, to show off their restored machines. This video podcast highlights the traditional Parade of Power.

Dancing

In the 30s, 40s and 50s, folks in rural America found inexpensive ways to have fun dancing to home-made music. In this video podcast, two women who would “rather dance than eat” remember those times.

Threshing

In the early 20th century, threshing was a critical economic and social event. Several families would gather to separate wheat from the chaff using huge steam engines, horse-drawn wagons and threshing machines. In this video podcast, oral history interviews take you back to those days.

Pivots

In this video podcast, a crew overcomes long days, thousands of parts and even a tornado to build a center pivot system times.

Daugherty Early Years

In the 1950s and 60s, center pivot irrigation systems were the cutting edge of agricultural technology and Robert Daugherty was a young entrepreneur. In this video podcast, Daugherty remembers how he bought the patent for the first center pivot system and then spent years improving the reliability of the system.

Omaha Stockyards

At its height, the Omaha Livestock Market hired 300 to 400 people to process six to seven million head of cattle, hogs and sheep a year. In this video podcast, both farmers and workers remember how the market operated and what it meant to them.

VJ Day

August 15, 1945, the news broke that World War II was over. Victory over Japan was celebrated all around the world – including the small city of North Platte, Nebraska. This video podcast features historic footage of the celebration in North Platte.

Kooser Nebraska

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser says a poem that began as an exercise in resentment and then became a love poem to a state.

Kooser Abandoned

“Abandoned Farmhouse” is a poem that is reproduced in several school literature textbooks. This video podcast uses small details to fill out a full story of the lives lived in an abandoned farmhouse.

Kooser Corners

“Something is calling to me / from the corners of field,” says Ted Kooser, former U.S. Poet Laureate, in this video podcast.

Kooser Foretell

Because he grew up in the Midwest, former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser has heard perhaps hundreds of ways to foretell the future. In this video podcast, Ted Kooser reads his poetic renderings of folklore weather predictions.

Kooser Osage

In this video podcast of his poem, Ted Kooser says “Osage” is a gift from the Great Plains to the world.

Kooser Riding

No one but a poet would look out of a bus and see a barn “loosen itself from its old foundations.” In this video podcast, Ted Kooser transforms a quick glance into an imaginative evocation of rural life.

Kooser Winter

In this short video podcast, Ted Kooser explores how he feels when he experiences the “Great Plains in Winter.”

Kooser Tillage Marks

The former U.S. Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, reads “Tillage Marks,” a poem about the marks that farm tools make on stones in a farmer’s field in this video podcast.

Kooser Barn Owl

For 20 years, Ted Kooser wrote a new poem each Valentine’s Day. He sent them as postcards to his wife and friends. In this video podcast, Ted reads a Valentine’s Day poem that still has a rural theme, “Barn Owl.”

Kooser Horse

When horses were introduced to the North American continent by the Spanish explorers, the lives of Native Americans, European settlers and American farmers changed profoundly. Ted Kooser reads a short poem about the primal power of the “Horse.”

Kooser Zenith

During World War II, folks at home listened closely to war news on the radio. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser reads his poem “Zenith” in this video podcast.

Kooser Plowing

Ted Kooser says that, “when they’re lucky, poets can give people ways of looking at the world afresh.” Here, Ted reads “Spring Plowing” One reader was so moved by the poem that she wrote she would never look at a newly plowed field in the same way again.

Kooser Wind

On any given day, you might find former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser touring country cemetaries around his rural Nebraska home. In this podcast, Ted reads “There Is Always a Little Wind.”

Kooser Great

In this video podcast, former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser reads “The Great Grandparents”. Ted remembers meeting them at the train depot and the sense of history that they brought with them in their very beings.

Kooser City Limits

How did a nation of pioneers settle down and accept the limits of civilization? Former U.S. Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, reads “City Limits” in this video podcast.

Kooser Memory

In this video podcast, Ted Kooser reads “Memory” that, he says, is about the way memory works for writers. It’s also about some of the touchstones of rural life.

Borlaug Bio

In this video podcast, Dr. Norman Borlaug remembers the events that led him from a farm in Iowa to the Nobel Peace Prize for the Green Revolution. Norman says serendipity played a large part in the process.

Borlaug Mexico

In this video podcast, Borlaug recalls the major events that helped save millions from starvation.

Borlaug India

From Mexico, Dr. Normal Borlaug began working in India and Pakistan where millions faced hunger. In this video podcast, Borlaug talks about overcoming technological, psychological, economic and political hurdles to get new varieties and agricultural practices adopted.

Sorensen on the Farm

Theodore (Ted) Sorensen was President John F. Kennedy’s speech writer and special assistant. In this video podcast, Ted talks about Kennedy’s farm programs – he may not have understood them, but JFK was able to relate to farmers in the same way he related to other voters.

Assassination of John F. Kennedy

In this video podcast, Ted Sorensen says the future might have been very different if John F. Kennedy had lived – different for young people and minorities, different for the economy, and different for the Vietnam War and prospects for peace.

Sorensen Fallout

Ted Sorensen remembers that early in the Cold War governments and families built fallout shelters and practiced “Duck and Cover” drills to try and survive a nuclear attack. In this video podcast, Sorensen wonders if they would have been effective.

Underwriting for the Wessels Living History Farm has also been provided by these Silver Donors:

Dale and Joan Clark
Don R. Freeman
C. G. (Kelly) & Virginia Holthus
Conner Roofing Company, Inc.
Greg and Kris Holoch
Boyd and Elaine Stuhr

The 1920s section of this site was developed by the Interactive Media Unit of Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. The 1930s, 1940s, 1950s-60s and 70s to Today sections were developed by The Ganzel Group Communications of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Skip to content