Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2024
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
History
First Advisor
Molly Rozum
Abstract
This master’s thesis examines the emergence and evolution of the Living History Farms (LHF) and the living history farm museum movement in the Midwest region during the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Originally envisioned as institutions that preserved the knowledge of a form of farming that had largely disappeared due to the rise of post-WWII mechanized commercial agriculture, most Midwestern living history farm museum organizations in the 1970s and 1980s reacted to both societal and museum industry developments and made their exhibit site programming more inclusive of various demographic groups. The LHF responded to this trend by including more exhibit site programming (mainly through staff demonstration activities) that pertained to nineteenth and early-twentieth century rural white settler women. The LHF in the early 1980s also created an Indigenous farm exhibit site location that centered on the depiction of the eighteenth-century agricultural practices of Indigenous Ioway peoples. Not all endeavors were successful. Living history farm museum organizations that attempted to go beyond their mandate of educating the public about past agricultural practices faced both funding and interpretation issues. The LHF experienced this firsthand with the Farm of Today and Tomorrow exhibit site. Due to technological changes and funding issues, the LHF closed the Farm of Today and Tomorrow just a decade into the exhibit site’s existence. Besides unfortunate incidents like the closure of the Farm of Today and Tomorrow exhibit site, the number of living history farm museums significantly expanded between the 1960s and the 1980s and the quality of programming offered improved to meet the desires of parents and teachers.
Subject Categories
History
Keywords
Living History Farms (LHF), Midwest region, living history farm museum, Ioway peoples
Number of Pages
163
Publisher
University of South Dakota
Recommended Citation
Moore, Ryan, "THE EVOLUTION OF THE IOWA LIVING HISTORY FARMS (LHF) FROM THE 1960S THROUGH THE 1980S" (2024). Dissertations and Theses. 278.
https://red.library.usd.edu/diss-thesis/278