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Emanuel Julius was born July 30,1889 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Russian immigrants and upon arriving in the United States had to change their surname from Zalujetzski to Julius, which was easier to pronounce. Emanuel's father was a book binder but was unable to provide enough for the family thus, at age 13, Emanuel was forced to quit school in order to work. After he quit school Emanuel worked in a toy factory (a sweat shop) making only three dollars a week. After that he held many odd jobs including: usher in a theater; bellhop in a private school for girls in Terrytown, New York; and, occasionally, boxing.
Emanuel enjoyed school and he decided to enroll in night classes at Brown Prep School while working. However, due to trouble with algebra and Latin, he quit Brown and enrolled in night school at a local high school. Emanuel soon decided he wanted to publish books that were affordable for most people. This interest lead to jobs in the journalism industry. He worked for the Milwaukee Leader; Philadelphia Daily as a copy reader; Daily Leader as a feature writer and City Hall reporter in Milwaukee; Chicago Evening World as courtroom and police reporter until 1912; Western Comrade in Los Angeles as a copy writer; New York Call as Sunday editor and dramatic critic from 1914-1915; and Appeal to Reason as editor in 1918.
Emanuel's first publication, "Mark Twain-Radical," appeared in The International Social Review. He also had his own monthly publication called American Freedom as well as his own magazine, Life and Letters. He wrote two autobiographies, My First 25 Years (published in 1949), and My Second 25 Years (also published in 1949). On June 1, 1916, Emanuel married his first wife, Marcet Haldeman, and the two decided to legally combine their names to Haldeman-Julius, the name that Emanuel became famous under. The two bought the Appeal's printing factory and together their publishing industry flourished and many pieces they wrote were published by their company. Emanuel became famous for the books that he published. First called the "Appeal Pocket Series", then the "People's Pocket Series" and, finally, the "Little Blue Books", the name for which they are best known.
These books sold for five to twenty-five cents and were considered a university in writing owing to the classical literature printed within the pages of these pocket books. They enabled those with little money to afford such classics as Shakespeare and Voltaire which they might otherwise have not been able to read. The title of the first publication in the blue book series,"The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" was published in 1919. Emanuel's dream had been realized and, not only were these books popular in the United States, they had appeal throughout the world.
Emanuel died July 31, 1951 at his home in Girard, Kansas. He was found drowned in his own swimming pool by his second wife of nine years, Sue Haldeman-Julius. Suspicion surrounded his death and rumors of involvement by J. Edgar Hoover and the F.B.I. spread because of Emanuel's socialist beliefs and his dislike for Hoover and his "tyrannical tactics against perceived enemies". Biographical Information for this sketch was compiled from several Internet sources and the contents of this collection.

Marcet Haldeman-Julius (nee Anna Marcet Haldeman) was an American feminist, actress, playwright, civil rights advocate, editor, author, and bank president.
Marcet was born in Girard, Crawford, Kansas, on 18 Jun 1887, the daughter of physician Henry Winfield Haldeman and his wife Alice Addams. Alice was the sister of Jane Addams, 1931 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
Marcet studied at the Rockford Seminary for Young Ladies and then the Dearborn Seminary in Chicago, until the death of her father in 1905, followed by Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. While at Bryn Mawr she became on of the closest friends and confidantes of the poet Marianne Moore. After three years she left the college to continue her stage acting, graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1910.
Marcet's parents ran the Bank of Girard. When her mother died in 1915, Marcet returned to her hometown where she took over managment of the bank. In 1916 she married activist and publisher Emanuel Julius. They both adopted the surname Haldeman-Julius. They wrote both separately and together.
They had two children, Alice (1917-1991) and Henry (1919-1990) and adopted a third, Josephine (b. 1910). Marcet and Emanuel separated in 1933. Marcet died of cancer on 13 Feb 1941.

Susan Haney was born 28 Jul 1907 in Cherokee county, Kansas, the daughter of Arthur C. and Lena (Burg) Haney. When she was young the family moved to Girard, Crawford, Kansas. Shortly thereafter, in 1918, her father died, leaving her mother to raise five children alone.
She began working for the Haldeman-Julius Publishing while a young woman. At 18, in 1925 she worked as a book binder. In 1930, she was a mailer in a book plant. and in 1940 she was a secretary in a publishing office.
In 1942, she married the recently widowed Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. He died in 1951. She died on 19 May 2003 in Pittsburg, Crawford, Kansas.

William B. Hanger was a U.S. Marines servicemember and a veteran of World War 2. Hanger first joined the Marines in 1929 and was first promoted to corporal in 1937, then sergeant in 1938. By 1941, he was promoted to platoon sergeant and was awarded a Character Excellence and Good Conduct Medal Bar. While serving in World War 2, he was given temporary ranks of 1st Lieutenant and Captain, but after the war returned to the rank of Master Sergeant. Hanger was honorably discharged from the Marines in 1948 but continued to serve as the sergeant in charge of a Marine Corps recruiting station until 1951. Hanger worked as a sales representative for the Spe-De-Way Company in Springfield, Missouri from 1951 until his death in 1955.

Mary Theresa Harman was born to Joseph Slingluff and Kezia (Allen) Harman on August 21, 1877 in Odon, Indiana. She graduated from Indiana University in 1907 with a bachelor's degree in botany, 1909 with a master's degree in biology, and in 1912 with a doctorate in zoology. She taught zoology at Pennsylvania State College from 1907 to 1909 and at Indiana University from 1909 to 1912. She began teaching at Kansas State Agricultural College in 1912 specializing in embryology and cytology classes. Besides teaching Mary was involved in the beginnings of both the KSU Social Club and the Kappa Alpha chapter of the Chi Omega sorority, both are still active here at K-State. During the summer she worked at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Station and in 1925 and 1927 at the University of Washington Biological Station at Puget Sound. In 1928 she went to Europe to visit different educational institutions and do research. While in Europe she began to write an embryology textbook that was published in 1932 and used here in the U.S. as well as in China, India, and some South American countries. During her years at K-State she published many scientific papers both alone and with others that furthered knowledge in her scientific fields. Other organizations she was involved in were Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Sigma Delta, American Society of Zoologists, Genetics Society of America, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1948 Mary officially stopped teaching at K-State although she continued to teach a cytology course for seven years afterwards. In 1955 she moved to Camden, North Carolina. She passed away on July 15, 1961.
1877                Born in Odon, Indiana on August 21
1906                Summer spent as a Pioneer Maiden with 7 other women
1907                Graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Arts in Botany
1907 - 1909    Taught zoology at Pennsylvania State College
1909                Graduated from Indiana University with a Master of Arts in Biology
1909-1912      Taught zoology at Indiana University
1912                Graduated from Indiana University with a Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology
1912-1948      Professor at K-State, taught embryology and cytology
1925                Spent summer at University of Washington Biological station
1926                Served as President of the Kansas Academy of Science
1927                Spent summer at University of Washington Biological station
1928-1929              Spent abroad visiting biological institutions in Europe
1948                Officially retired from teaching at K-State
1955                Moved to Camden, North Carolina
1961                Passed away July 15

Cynthia Harris was born in eastern Kentucky. While in high school she enlisted in the Women's Army Corps. After graduation, Harris was stationed at Fort Jackson, South Carolina for basic and advanced training. Upon completion of her training, Harris was stationed in Nuremberg, Germany for four years then transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas. After leaving the military, Harris made Kansas her home. She worked at Westmoreland Grade School (Westmoreland, Kansas) and First Presbyterian Church (Manhattan, Kansas) before returning to college to finish her B. A. in History and a Minor in Geography. While in college, Harris became a student assistant in the Morse Department of Special Collections. After graduation, she worked in Extension Agronomy for one year then applied for the position of Manuscripts/Collections Processor in Special Collections and was hired in 2001.

Vida Agnes Harris was born on 29 March 1893 in Harveyville, Kansas. She was the daughter of Samuel Murrell and Sarah Elizabeth (Thackrey) Harris. She was a home economics graduate of the Kansas State Agricultural College (B.S. '14). She began her career as a domestic science teacher at the American Missionary Society's Tillotson College in Austin, Texas. Short stints teaching at the University of Oklahoma and the Stout Institute were punctuated by returns to K.S.A.C. to participate in advanced summer courses. By the early 1920s, Harris had returned to Manhattan permanently. She taught art and design courses, developed illustrations for various faculty publications, and participated in the Cosmopolitan Club. She served on the Kansas State faculty from 1924 until her retirement as an associate professor in 1963.
Throughout her career, Harris sought educational advancement. She received a Master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1927 and subsequently studied at the Chicago Art Institute, the University of Mexico, and the University of Colorado. In 1930, she toured museums in Italy, France, and Spain under the tutelage of Michel Jacobs (1877-1958), the founding director of the Metropolitan School of Art. She was a Fulbright teacher in India for two years (1951-52) and worked as an interior designer for five.
During her time at Kansas State, she co-authored a Lippincott text, Costume Design, wrote a bulletin titled The Picture on Your Wall, and created an illustrated map of the Manhattan campus. Printed by the Greiner-Fifield Lithographic Company, Ye Campus Mappe. . . of ye. . . Kansas State College was commissioned by Home Economics Dean Margaret Justin.
Harris died on 25 May 1985 and is buried in Manhattan's Sunset Cemetery.

Jack Hartman was the head coach for the Kansas State men’s basketball team from 1970 to 1986. Hartman played basketball and football at Oklahoma A&M from 1943 to 1944 but failed to graduate due to his service in the Navy in World War 2. Upon the conclusion of his service in 1947, he returned to Oklahoma A&M, again playing football and basketball, before graduating in 1950 with a BS in Education. Hartman began his coaching career in 1951 coaching high school football. In 1954, he earned his master’s degree from Oklahoma State University, while also working as a graduate assistant coach to the Oklahoma State basketball team under head coach Henry Iba. Hartman became the head basketball coach for Coffeyville Junior College in 1955. Hartman coached the team to an NJCAA national championship victory in 1962, after which he became the head coach for Southern Illinois University. Southern Illinois won the NIT championship in 1967 and Hartman was named Sporting News Coach of the Year. He left Southern Illinois for Kansas State in 1970. While head coach at K-State, Hartman’s teams won 3 Big Eight Conference championships and Hartman was selected Big Eight Coach of the Year twice. He was also selected as Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches in the 1980-81 season. Hartman retired in 1986 and has since been inducted into the Southern Illinois University Hall of Fame, Kansas State University Hall of Fame, State of Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and Coffeyville Community College Hall of Fame. Hartman died in 1998

Bonnie Clarinda Baringer was born on June 2, 1907, in Beattie, Kansas, to Sylvester Baringer and Minnie Davison Baringer. In January 1914, the family moved to a farm northeast of Burlington, Coffey County, Kansas. After leaving high school Baringer became a school teacher and later received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1962 and her Masters of Science in 1967, both from Emporia State Teachers College.

On February 16, 1929, Baringer married Allen Wendall Coryell and they lived in Madison, Kansas, until 1931, when they moved to a farm at Blaine County, Oklahoma, near the town of Hitchcock. To this union were born three children (David, Kendrick, and John). Allen Coryell died of pancreatic cancer in September 1974.

On December 29, 1975, Bonnie Coryell married Homer Dale Hatch. In 1977, the couple moved to Coffey County, Kansas, west of the town of Burlington. Bonnie Baringer Coryell Hatch regularly attended church. She was also an amateur radio operator. Coryell Hatch was a member of the Quarter Century Wireless Association, Otter Creek Grange, Ladies History Club of Burlington, Kansas, and the Coffey County Historical Society.

Bonnie Baringer Coryell Hatch died on December 2, 2010, Derby, Kansas.

Nancy Hawkins served as the American Council on Consumer Interests representative to the United Nations from 1963–1991 (and perhaps longer). From 1963–1972 and 1984–1991 (and perhaps longer), Nancy represented the International Organization of Consumers Unions at the United Nations. She worked on consumer issues that were discussed by the UN’s Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly. Nancy and Persia Campbell worked to have Consumer Education and Information included in the economic rights section of the Declaration on Human Rights. Nancy wanted to make sure future students of the consumer movement had access to this information. Nancy also served from 1960–62 as the president of the Consumers League of New Jersey.

Leonora C. "Nora" Hering (1898-1983) collected poultry art, artifacts, and publications. The scarcity of fresh eggs during the Second World War prompted Hering to begin breeding poultry. She voraciously read books and articles on the topic, frequently contacting land grant university librarians in order to track down elusive publications. She subscribed to poultry journals and amassed a sizable collection of books on the subject. Her acquisitions included books from the estate of Cornish poultry breeder Godfrey Trevelyan Williams. She also collected taxidermy specimens and depictions of poultry in art and on postage stamps.
By 1950, she had become an authority on the topic of poultry. James W Gwin, poultry marketing specialist at the University of Maryland, lauded her as the "poultry historian." Hering expressed a commitment to donating her various poultry-related collections to Kansas State College and coordinated her efforts with Department of Poultry Husbandry chairperson Loyal F. Payne.
In January 1953, Stanford University's Main Library displayed some of her books, drawings, and prints. In August 1955, she presented on the topic, "The Chicken in Art and Literature" at the 44th annual meeting of the National Poultry Science Association at Michigan State University in East Lansing, and later published an article of the same name in Cackle and Crow. She spoke to the Grolier Society on the topic of the Araucana breed in May 1959, and later developed an article on the topic for Poultry Press.
Over a twenty-five year period, Hering accumulated a collection of nearly 1000 poultry publications. Her international contacts included poultry specialists in New Zealand and Japan, and she was frequently recommended to those who sought historical information about the poultry trade, the origins of poultry breeding in the San Francisco Bay region, and other related topics.

Mary Louise (Lou) Wilkins Herndon Was born February 26, 1924, to Loren and Ruth Wilkins in Liberal, Kansas. Her father was a jeweler, a watchmaker and later an optometrist. Her mother was a concert pianist. They moved to Wichita Kansas when Lou was in about sixth grade. Herndon attended Allison Junior High in Wichita and then graduated from Wichita High School North in 1941. On June 27, 1943, she married Billy Bob Herndon who was originally from Anson, Texas. They were married at West Side United Presbyterian Church, Wichita, Kansas. They had one daughter and three sons, all of whom have made their homes in Sedgwick County.

Herndon was very active in the Wichita and Goddard communities. She was a 4-H project leader and a community leader of the Rolling Hills 4-H Club for many years. She was a lifetime member of the Prairie Gem Home Extension Unit from the time the unit was started until it was disbanded (for lack of members). Herndon also served on the county extension council for several years and was a treasurer for Attica Township. At the same time, she was the caretaker of the Pleasant Ridge cemetery in Goddard, Kansas.

In about 1963, Herndon began china painting and was a member of the Sunflower China Painters in Sedgwick county. She was the state president of the Federated China Painters Association of Kansas for two years. Herndon was passionate about encouraging all the painters in Kansas to exhibit their work at the Kansas State Fair.

More than anything else, Herndon enjoyed her 15 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. She passed away November 11, 2018, and a Memorial headstone is in Pleasant Ridge Cemetary, Goddard, Kansas.

Arthur W. Hershberger was a lawyer and former chairman of the Kansas Board of Regents. Having grown up in Greensburg, Kansas, Hershberger earned his LL.B. from the University of Kansas in 1918, after which he was admitted to the Kansas Bar. From 1919 to 1924, he was a practicing attorney in Kiowa County, Kansas, while from 1924 to 1937, he practiced law in Wichita with the firm Slick, Pryor and Lockhart. Hershberger first joined the Kansas Board of Regents in 1951, and he became chairman in 1954 and again in 1957. Hershberger died on May 3, 1976.

Frank Caldwell Hershberger was born in Veedersburg, Indiana on 20 May 1888. An accomplished horseback rider from an early age, he spent time at George D. Rainsford's Diamond Ranch near Chugwater, Wyoming. He received his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from the Kansas City Veterinary College in 1913. Shortly thereafter, the Chinese government hired Hershberger as a veterinary surgeon specializing in horses and cattle. He traveled to Manchuria and Siberia to investigate an anthrax outbreak. He remained in the employ of the Chinese government until 1918.
His enlistment with the Veterinary Corps during World War I led to a long career with the United States Army. He underwent cavalry training at Camp Marfa, Texas in 1919-20. He graduated from Medical Field Service School in 1923, from Army Veterinary School in 1924. From 1930-31 he attended Fort Riley's Cavalry School, where he completed the Troop Officers' Course. Sent to the Philippines, he inspected abattoirs for Fort Mills in Corregidor.
A European trip in 1936-37 took Hershberger through Marseille, Berlin and Amsterdam. He gathered postcards and mementos from hotels, clubs and other sites. An assignment with the Veterinary Corps at Fort Hamilton, New York quickly led to a reappointment by the Order of the Secretary of War in February 1938. Hershberger was given the task of inspecting food shipments through the New York Port of Embarkation in Brooklyn. When the United States entered World War II, the port handled inspections for food shipments to troops overseas. Hershberger established and operated a school to provide intensive training to newly commissioned Veterinary Corps officers.
Upon his death, Dr. Hershberger donated the bulk of his estate to Kansas State University. His relationship with the school began when his alma mater closed in 1918 and transferred its graduate records to Kansas State Agricultural College's Division of Veterinary Medicine.

Randall C. Hill was born on Sept. 30, 1901. He lived in Manhattan from 1917 to 1979 and attended Kansas State from 1919 to 1924, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity. He later became the financial advisor of the fraternity. After completion of his bachelor’s degree in social sciences in 1924, and his master’s degree in sociology in 1927, he was hired to teach at Manhattan High School. Hill decided to further his education by attending the University of Missouri where he completed his doctorate in sociology and rural sociology in 1929.
After returning to Manhattan, he became an associate professor in the Department of Economics and Sociology at Kansas State, and began service as the Kansas Supervisor of Rural Research for the Federal Emergency Relief Association in October of 1934. He was promoted to a full professor at K-State in 1935. Hill was elected secretary-treasurer of the National Rural Sociological Society in 1949. In July of 1956, he became a Rural Sociologist on the International Cooperation Administration-India-Kansas State College Team to Poona, India. Hill had a special interest in India thus he spent much of his time and research there.
He retired from Kansas State in 1969 and died on February 9, 1995.
Maurice Hil, the younger brother of Randall Hill, was born on November 7, 1904. He also was a Manhattan resident and attended Kansas State from 1923 to 1925. While at the college, Hill was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa, and he later served as a financial advisor for the fraternity. After his time at Kansas State, Hill worked as a banker at Union National Bank of Manhattan for 22 years. In 1947 he took a position at Home Building & Loan Association, where he worked for 35 years. Hill was very active in the financial affairs of the Manhattan community. He met Opal and the two were married on December 22, 1928. Maurice Hill died on March 18, 1982.
Opal Brown Hill, the wife of Maurice Hill, was born on September 23, 1903. She attended Kansas State and received her Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics in 1944. She was employed as a clerk in the business office at Kansas State for seven years when she resigned to pursue a master’s degree in art, which she received from Kansas State in 1950. Mrs. Hill taught interior decorating, along with other subjects, in the art department as an associate professor. At that time, subjects such as interior decorating and architecture were part of the art department. Hill retired from the university in 1969, and in 1983 she received the Art Department Recognition Award. She died on August 14, 1997.

Walter Harold Hilts was born 28 July 1891 in Larned, Kansas. He graduated from Kansas State University in Veterinary Medicine.
He was a veteran of WWI.
He moved to Reno, Nevada in 1920 where he lived until his death on 08 Nov 1975.
He was a past eminent commander of Scottish Rite Bodies in Reno, a member of the Royal Arch Masons of Reno, past commander of Knights Templar, past potentate of Kerak Temple Adah Chapter 4, past commander of Darrell Dunkle Post of American Legion, member of 40 & 8 and secretary-treasurer of Nevada Shriners Widows and Orphans Fund.

To be updated.

Ruth M. Hoeflin was a longtime professor and Dean of Home Economics at Kansas State University. Hoeflin attended Iowa State College from 1935 to 1940 when she earned her B.S. in Child Development. From 1940 to 1942, Hoeflin was Director of the Nursery at Sherwood School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, followed by serving as Director of the Nursery School at Lanham War Nursery in Highland Park, Michigan from 1943 to 1944. At this time, while attending the University of Michigan in the summer, she also helped start two different wartime nursery schools in Highland Park. She received her Master’s degree in Parent Education from the University of Michigan in 1945. Hoeflin then worked as an Instructor from 1947 to 1950 in Home Economics at Ohio State University, where she earned her Ph.D. in Family Life in 1950. She was then promoted to Assistant Professor and remained at OSU until 1954.

In 1957, Hoeflin was hired as a professor and head of the Department of Family and Child Development at Kansas State. By 1958, she was also serving on the Kansas Family Life Association Board, as well as the Kansas Home Economics Association Executive Board, which she would serve on until 1977. In 1960, she became professor and Associate Dean of the College of Home Economics at K-State. Hoeflin also served as Dean of the College of Home Economics from 1974 to 1983.

Hoeflin was active for many years in the Kansas Home Economics Association and in the American Home Economics Association. She spoke at numerous conventions and served in many executive roles, including as chairman of AHEA from 1972 to 1973, President of AHEA from 1980 to 1982, and President of KHEA in 1975. Hoeflin was also a well-published scholar, publishing many textbooks on home economics, including “A Prospectus of Home Economics” in 1968, and dozens of research articles in home economics journals.

In 1977, Hoeflin partnered with Dr. John Chalmers, the Vice President of Academic Affairs at K-State, in the opening of a childcare center on the K-State campus. The center utilized a remodeled 100-year-old stone house located off of Manhattan Avenue. The center was officially opened for daycare in August of 1977. In 1983, the center was named the “Hoeflin Stone House Childcare Center” in her honor.

After her retirement as Dean and from teaching in 1984, Hoeflin was the director of the Fenix office from 1984 to 1988. In 1985, she published her work “History of a College: from Woman’s Course to Home Economics to Human Ecology, 1873-1988 Kansas State University.” She received the Ohio State Home Economics Alumni Association: Distinguished Alumni Award from Ohio State University in 1991, and she was active as President of the Manhattan Area Retired Teachers Association from 1992 to 1993. Hoeflin died on August 30th, 2000.

Custom grain harvesters in the Great Plains own harvesting machinery and typically move their combines and other equipment to Texas or Oklahoma in May or early June to begin the wheat harvest season, and then move north as the wheat ripens, ending the wheat harvest season in North Dakota, Montana, or Canada. Custom harvesters are also known as custom combiners, and many now harvest fall crops as well. They own combines, trucks, tractors, grain carts, and bunkhouses (travel trailers), and move all the equipment from place to place to harvest for farmers that do not have their own harvesting equipment. Most live in their own bunkhouses, while some stay in motels along the harvest route. Custom harvesting began at a smaller scale with the pull-type combine before World War II, taking the machines out of state to harvest wheat. The invention of the self-propelled combine allowed owners to more easily move the machines long distance to harvest wheat and other crops in multiple states. In the United States most of this type of custom harvesting work is done in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. Custom harvesters also work in Canada in the Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.

The seeds of this project began in 2008, when Dr. Jason Holcomb, the project interviewer, recorded the oral histories of Geral and Margie Schmidt, owners of Schmidt Harvesting in Sterling, KS. Dr. Holcomb worked for Schmidt Harvesting for all or most part of the summers between 1988 and 2004 while he completed degrees in geography at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University and even after he started his work as a geography professor at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY. The Schmidt’s retirement from custom harvesting in 2006 provided the impetus to record their personal experiences, as both Geral and Margie were children of custom harvesters and thus spent much of their lives doing the work of harvesting crops and living this unique lifestyle. Mr. Schmidt suggested other custom harvesting families in the vicinity of Sterling to interview, and from there the project grew to include custom harvesters from multiple states. Dr. Holcomb recruited additional oral history participants by contacting members of the United States Custom Harvesters, Inc. Some interviews were recorded in 2008 or 2009 while the largest number were recorded when Dr. Holcomb was on sabbatical in 2010. Many of those interviewed were retired while others were still working in the harvesting business.

The primary goal of this project was to document the experiences of people with firsthand knowledge of the origins of custom harvesting in the first generation of custom harvesters after World War II, and how it developed in subsequent decades. As children of the first generation of custom harvesters, Geral and Margie Schmidt and other participants remember those early days. The project permanently preserves the memories of people who have taken part in this very important part of Great Plains agriculture. Another related resource completed by the Inman Museum Association is titled Sixty years of custom harvesting on the Great Plains: Oral histories, and is available at McPherson College’s Miller Library in McPherson, KS.

The project was funded through grants from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, and the Kansas Humanities Council.

Harvey Honnold (born Ohio, 1858, died Olathe, Kansas 1906) was a house and sign painter in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas. The Honnold family were active in the American Civil War, serving in the Ohio Infantry Regiment.