Sauk Valley folks appear in online 
ag project: History presentation includes memories 
dating back to 1880s

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SPRINGFIELD – Anyone with a computer now can see and hear the history of Illinois agriculture told by the people who lived it, including a handful of folks from the Sauk Valley, past and present.

Meet the locals in the oral ag project

The Illinois State Museum launched its Audio-Video Barn Web site Tuesday.

It features 300 hours of interviews with more than 130 people involved with agriculture in Illinois over the past 129 years, including five Whiteside, Carroll and Bureau county residents.

The Web site is the culmination of a 2-year Oral History of Illinois Agriculture project led by the state museum and Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. 

The interviews tell the story of Illinois agriculture from the people who know it best – grain farmers, beekeepers, elk ranchers, 4-H kids, college professors, broadcasters and pumpkin growers, among others, from every corner of the state.

Visitors can search audio and video clips based on topic, name, date or geographic location.

The site also features educational resources for students and teachers, including instructional videos on how to do oral history interviews and lesson plans based on agricultural themes.

“The Audio-Video Barn Web site is rich with fascinating stories about Illinois agriculture,” Robert Warren, project director and curator of anthropology at the Illinois State Museum, said in a news release from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

“Visitors can search the Web site and find the answers to many interesting questions, such as ‘What was it like to farm with horses 100 years ago? How has agriculture changed since then? How are farmers coping with challenges to the family farm?’”

There are more than 70 new interviews, including some “walk-and-talks” on location in the field, dairy barn or orchard, and 60 interviews from old audio tapes archived in libraries at the University of Illinois at Springfield and Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

The oldest recalls memories from the 1880s. 

The project is supported by a $565,000 National Leadership Grant to the Illinois State Museum Society from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services.

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