More than a Farmer\u27s Wife: Voices of American Farm Women, 1910–1960

Review of: More Than a Farmer\u27s Wife: Voices of American Farm Women, 1910–1960, by Amy Mattson Lauters

Farmers Helping Famers: The Rise of the Farm and Home Bureaus, 1914-1935

Review of: "Farmers Helping Famers: The Rise of the Farm and Home Bureaus, 1914–1935", by Nancy K. Berlage

Working for farm and home : the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Women\u27s Committee, 1921-1974

Between 1921 and 1974, members of the Iowa Farm Bureau Women\u27s Committee worded to better rural families and communities through education and political action. The Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, the most popular organization in the state, maintained a strong membership, and advocated change only through education and legislation, not direct action. The Women\u27s Committee played an important role in organization building and also in promoting leadership amongst rural women. Due in part to strong leaders and a close relationship with the Cooperative Extension Service, members of the women\u27s committee established statewide leadership networks. Through these networks, farm women learned about such topics as nutrition, childcare, textiles and clothing, home management, school consolidation, politics, government, voting, international relations, and farm safety. The ultimate gaol of Farm Bureau women was to improve rural standards of living to be on par with urban families. Women\u27s activities changed over time, however, and as they achieved better schools, roads, nutrition, health services, and other amenities, women began to embrace more abstract and intellectual political issues. Farm Bureau women also adjusted to changing social and cultural norms in the United States. In their writings and handbooks, they reacted to the Great Depression, the Second World War, the Cold War, and the social turmoil of the 1960s. This study emphasizes the idea that farm women acted in the interests of agriculture, thereby defending the interests of their class and occupational groupings. Though farm women\u27s roles changed as technology altered their labor patterns, they retained their identities as farm wives and they continued to work for agricultural issues

Our cherished ideals : rural women, activism, and identity in the Midwest, 1950-1990

Between 1950 and 1990, American agriculture experienced tremendous changes. New technologies and economic conditions increased production but drastically reduced the number of farm families, and forced many to reconsider definitions of a family farm. In order to understand the rural response to these changes, this dissertation, titled, Our Cherished Ideals : Rural Women, Activism, and Identity in the Midwest, 1950-1990, explores women\u27s roles in agricultural organizations in Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska in the latter half of the twentieth century, as well as their relationship to changing economic policies, new technologies, and ideas about gender.;In general, rural women in the Midwest defended the family farm ideal, and they shared an identity rooted in agriculture. They expressed this identity through memberships in organizations, both conservative and radical. Rural women rarely utilized feminist rhetoric to achieve their goals, but rather they declared that they shared an equal stake in the farming enterprise with men. A study of various organizations, including the Farm Bureau, Home Economics Extension clubs, the National Farmer\u27s Organization (NFO), the Iowa Porkettes, and Women Involved in Farm Economics (WIFE), illustrates that women shared an identity shaped by their relationships to agriculture, considered themselves imperative to farming operations, and consistently utilized social networks to strengthen changing rural communities

Joining In: Exploring the History of Voluntary Organizations

Review of: "Joining In: Exploring the History of Voluntary Organizations," by Karen J. Blair

The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland

Review of: "The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland," by Gretchen Heefner

Women in Agriculture: Professionalizing Rural Life in North America and Europe, 1880–1965

Review of: "Women in Agriculture: Professionalizing Rural Life in North America and Europe, 1880–1965," by edited by Linda M. Ambrose and Joan M. Jensen