Sustaining Community in Rural America: A History of Allenville (Wisconsin)

Dr. Stephen Kercher, Chair & Edward H. Rudoy Professor of History at UW Oshkosh, will present “Sustaining Community in Rural America: A History of Allenville” on Monday, October 22, 7:00 p.m. at the Neenah Public Library.

Derived in part from research on the history of Allenville as well as oral history interviews conducted with Allenville residents and farmers, this illustrated lecture will address the ways in which members of small farming communities such as Allenville created and sustained community throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Part of the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project, a University of Wisconsin system-wide project working to collect and preserve the oral histories of farmers, food producers, and community members from Wisconsin. Since 2012, students and faculty from four campuses (UW-Eau Claire, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, and project headquarters, UW-Whitewater) have collected over 300 interviews. Cultural, racial, and ethnic identity is at the heart of the project. The researchers explore how culture, race, and ethnicity have played roles in farming, food production, and land use in Wisconsin. The recorded storytellers and oral history narrators have ranged from farmers who immigrated to Wisconsin to farmers who employ immigrant and migrant workers and from farm workers to those involved in farm-to-table and other food production industries.

A traveling exhibit can be seen at Oshkosh Public Library, October 10 – 19, and at Polk Library, UW Oshkosh October 23 – November 1. For more information on the Wisconsin Farms Oral History Project and on exhibits and events, visit LandsWeShare.com.