Dust Bowl Memories

on January 24, 2013

K-State is offering a sociology course on “Environment and Society” this semester. The course will focus especially on the Dust Bowl. As part of the course, Professor Matthew Sanderson would like students to speak with persons who experienced the Dust Bowl while living in Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, or the Panhandles of Texas or Oklahoma during the 1930s.

The Dust Bowl (also known as the “Dirty Thirties”) is widely considered to be the worst environmental disaster in American history. A decade-long drought, made worse by poor farming practices, damaged millions of acres of farmland and caused hundreds of thousands of people to leave the Great Plains region.

The Dust Bowl has much to teach us about the relationship between humans and the natural environment. However, because nearly 80 years have passed, the memories, stories, and experiences of those who lived through the Dust Bowl are becoming scarce. Many people alive today are not aware of just how important this era is to American history and society.

Professor Sanderson wants to preserve these important stories and memories, and give his students an opportunity to learn from the experiences of Dust Bowl survivors.

If you lived through the Dust Bowl and would like to share your memories with a few K-State students, please contact Professor Matthew Sanderson at your earliest convenience. You can call his office phone: (785) 532-4969 (please leave a message if he does not answer; he will return your call); or you can send him an e-mail: mattrs@ksu.edu

Your discussion with the student(s) should require approximately 30 minutes to one hour of your time. The student(s) can meet you in person at Meadowlark Hills, or you can talk over the phone, at a time and date that is convenient for you.