Black Blizzards and Dark Rooms:
Historical and Cultural Methods in Environmental Research
Good morning, I'm Cindy Wallace.
I currently work at the reference desk at the downtown library where you can come see me or
the other reference librarians anytime - and we will be glad to help you. I have taught at
Georgia Southern University and co-authored two books (we are working on our third book Touched With Fire) during which I gained some valuable insights and more than a few things
learned by "experience." I specialize in historic architecture and in genealogy and the research
that is used in both areas. Later, when you are home and have a moment please take a look at
my website:
cindywallace.com
and also
civilwarsavannah.org
Today I'm going to be sharing some resources for anyone that might be preparing a lesson
plan or gathering information to publish an article or book specifically geared to the subject of
the Dust Bowl; however, the use of these same resources can be applied to any number of
subjects. I will be making suggestions primarily for using the Amarillo Public Library System,
the National Archives and Records Administration (better known as the NARA) and the Library
of Congress.
SLIDE 1 Quote.... We Plowed the Prairie....
SLIDE 2 Header slide for Black Blizzards Dark Rooms
SLIDE 3
Getting Started
Step 1
Determine your Topic of Interest
Step 2
Make a list of local libraries, museums, state historical societies you want to do
research in.
Step 3
Do any internet research that you can ahead of time
Step 4
Call ahead for days the facility is open, times of operation
additonal questions such as
is photographing allowed
what is the cost of making copies
do I provide my own pencils and paper (many historic societys you check all your
belongings at the desk as you enter....some have a daily fee or a yearly fee...which
is a good reason to start with your local library which is a rich resource of FREE
information)
do you have information on publication prices and forms, copyrights etc and
Plan your visit and take any cameras, laptops, etc that you will be using.
SLIDE 4 What can I expect from the Amarillo Public Library?
Books: Fiction and Non-Fiction as well as DVDs
First Class Computer Labs
Archived Newspapers, Periodicals
Genealogy Records and Genealogy specific computers (no charge for copies) ANCESTRY!!
Microfich readers with dedicated printers (no charge for copies)
Color and Black and White Copier (B/W 15 cents a copy, Color a dollar a copy)
Books for your NOOK or KINDEL
SLIDE 5
Vertical Files by subject
Bush-FitzSimon Room
Interlibrary Loans
APL WEBSITE databases: online card catalog, photo archives, Heritage Quest
VERY helpful librarians who love their job assisting folks!
SLIDE 5 Photo of Kevin at reference desk
Periodicals
The July/August 2012 of the Smithsonian Magz. has a great photo and article about Woody
Guthrie. SHOW MY COPY
SLIDE 15 ABOUT POST OFFICE MURALS
During the Great Depression, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought
ideas for public relief projects to inspire Americans to rebuild their lives, an
artist friend asked the President to employ artists to beautify the walls of
public buildings with positive images of American life and history.
Just one of many notable storms in the 1930s, the storm of
9-11 May 1934 began in the far north-western Great Plains
and proceeded east over the northern tier of states and
parts of Canada and was notable for removing the vast
majority of the soil deposited since the last Ice Age over
some parts of its path.
The Dust Bowl had estimates of over 7000 left dead from
dust pneumonia and other dust related deaths. ...
Non-Fiction Books available at the Amarillo Public Library
Title:
Synopsis:
Reader Level:
Call Number
Cookbooks:
Junior Welfare League Recipes by the Junior Welfare League of Amarillo, TX 1932
Call Number 641.5 Juni
Synopsis: ___________________________________________________________
Dust Bowl as Subject:
Letters from the Dust Bowl by Caroline Henderson
Synopsis: Depiction of life on a stock farm in the Southern Great Plains – includes stories about
rain/drought, dust storms, wind and blizzards. It covers the labor of a farm woman, which
included working alongside her husband in the field, keeping a garden, raising poultry,
maintaining a house hold and rearing a daughter. Caroline had articles published for about five
years in the Atlantic Monthly, frequently submitting vivid descriptions of the dust storms that
ravaged the Plains.
Reader Level: Adult
Call Number B Henderson
On the Dirty Plate Trail by Sanora Babb
Synopsis: The story of the Dust Bowl migration --- a connection that affected thousands --some of the photographs alone ( by Dorothy Babb) are worth reading this book as it presents
vivid, firsthand accounts of the refugees, the migrant labor camps, the growth of labor activism,
the valleys connected by the dirty plate trail (highway 99 in California). Book draws on detailed
field notes that Sanora Babb wrote while in the camps.
Reader Level: Adult
Call Number 978.032 Ba
Texas Cattle Barons: Their Families, Land and Legacy by Elmer Kelton and Kathleen JoRyan
Synopsis: Covers ranches such as Brose Co., R.A. Brown, CF, 6666 (Four Sixes Ranch), McAllen,
Moon, Moorhouse, Powell, Ryan, Spade, and Vaquillas Ranches. This book is about how the
ranchers of today are environmentalists.
Reader Level: Adult
Call Number 636.201 KE
The Dust Bowl: An Interactive History Adventure by Allison Lassieur (You Choose Books)
Synopsis: This is a wonderful book that can be read multiple times about a family’s choices and
decisions during the dust bowl era – the reader chooses the middle and end of the story – there
are 4-5 possible outcomes.
Reader Level: Ages 3rd -6th grade
Call Number
The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan
Synopsis: This is a fact-based thriller, historical fiction, very artistic “graphic design” story
telling that will appeal to this age group.
Reader Level: 7th-9th grade
Call Number J978.032 LA
Additional Selected Resources for this Presentation:
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Allison Lassieur, (2009) The Dust Bowl: An Interactive History Adventure Capstone Press, ISBN 1-4296-3455-3
Ronald A. Reis (2008) The Dust Bowl Chelsea House ISBN 978-0-7910-9737-3
Donald Worster, 2004 (1979)Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s (25. anniversary ed) Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0-19-517489-5
Woody Guthrie, (1963) The (Nearly) Complete Collection of Woody Guthrie Folk Songs, Ludlow Music, New York.
Alan Lomax, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, (1967) Hard-Hitting Songs for Hard-Hit People, Oak Publications, New
York.
C. Vann Woodward, (1967) The Origins of the New South, Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0019-6
Timothy Egan (2006) The Worst Hard Time, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, hardcover. ISBN 0-618-34697X.
Katelan Janke, (1935) Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards, Dalhart, Texas, Scholastic
(September 2002). ISBN 0-439-21599-4.
Karen Hesse (paperback January 1999) Out of the Dust, Scholastic Signature. New York First Edition, 1997,
hardcover . ISBN 0-590-37125-8.