Make Do or Do Without

Dorothy Hellen Jungles feeds chickens on her family's farm.

As the only child of a Labette County farmer, Dorothy Hellen Jungles fed chickens, gathered eggs, shucked corn, and made cottage cheese. Like many of the area's farmers, the family worked together to make a living during the Great Depression. Jungles recalled her father saying that "other people needed [help] worse than we did..."

 

The Southeast Kansas Farm History Center in Parsons documented the Great Depression stories of Jungles and other southeast Kansas residents in their oral history project, The Impact of the New Deal on Southeast Kansas Farm Life. Oral history transcripts and DVDs are available at the Parsons Public Library and excerpts are available online. The project was supported by a KHC grant. 

 

The oral histories are also the subject of 1930s Farm Life in Labette County, a companion exhibition to the Kansans Tell Their Stories traveling exhibition. Both exhibitions will be on display at the Parsons Public Library February 28 - April 8.