Dust, Drought, and Dreams Gone Dry: A Traveling Exhibit and Public Programs for Libraries about the Dust Bowl

FAIN: GI-50542-13

ALA (Chicago, IL 60611-2729)
Susan E. Brandehoff (Project Director: August 2012 to June 2015)
Melanie Welch (Project Director: June 2015 to October 2016)

Funding details:
Original grant (2013) $263,000.00
Supplement (2014) $14,160.00

Implementation of a traveling exhibition and public programs for 25 libraries examining the history and impact of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

In collaboration with the libraries of Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Mount Holyoke College, the American Library Association proposes a traveling exhibit and public programs for 40 libraries examining the history and legacy of the Dust Bowl. The project spotlights Ken Burns' film "The Dust Bowl," and brings to public view 2 little known Dust Bowl archives: online oral history interviews of Dust Bowl survivors at OSU, and letters and essays of Caroline Henderson, a Mount Holyoke alumna who farmed in Oklahoma throughout the Dust Bowl. Libraries will display the exhibit for 6 weeks and present at least 3 public humanities programs from a list provided. The project humanities themes include the interaction between humans and nature; the different ways human beings respond to adversity; and how people living in the Dust Bowl tried to understand their social, economic, and ecological environment. Cultural expressions of the Dust Bowl, such as Woody Guthrie's music, are also addressed.