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Prairie Studies Initiative Resources
The Prairie Studies Initiative aims to strengthen dialogue and inspire creative scholarship among those engaged in studying the natural ecosystems, history, culture, and livelihoods of the prairies.
Library Research Guide
Select Books on the Konza
History
Poetry
Biology
Prairie People
Food
Travel
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Konza Book Specifics
History
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve legislative history, 1920-1996 by Call Number: KF5648 .C66 1998Publication Date: 1998
Ghost Settlement on the Prairie by Call Number: F689.T56 H53 1995ISBN: 0700606807Publication Date: 1995-01-29In the heart of the Flint Hills lies the abandoned settlement of Thurman. At the turn of the century Thurman was a prosperous farming and ranching settlement with fifty-one households, a post office, two general stores, a blacksmith shop, five schools, and a church. Today, only the ruins of Thurman remain.
Joseph Hickey uses Thurman to explore the settlement form of social organization, which—along with the village, hamlet, and small town—was a dominant feature of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American life. He traces Thurman's birth in 1874, its shallow rises and falls, and its demise in 1944.
Fire on the prairie; Methodism in the history of Kansas by Call Number: BX8248.K2 H6Publication Date: 1969
Addie of the Flint Hills by Call Number: F687.C35 S68 2009ISBN: 1602801231Publication Date: 2009Addie of the Flint Hills is the memoir of 94-year-old Addie Sorace. It is a tale of human struggle that transcends time and place to strongly echo our modern family situations and current economic times.
Reflections of Kansas by Call Number: F682 .W66 1988ISBN: 0962127302Publication Date: 1988-10-01
Poetry
Moods of the prairie : in verse and art by Call Number: PS3509.A44 M66 1974Publication Date: 1974
Late harvest: plains and prairie poets by Call Number: PS615 .K54Publication Date: 1977
Prairie Sketches by Call Number: PS3564.E4746 P7 1992ISBN: 9780962794780Publication Date: 1992-10-01
Biology
Wildflowers and Grasses of Kansas by Call Number: QK161 .H33 2005ISBN: 9780700613700Publication Date: 2005A guide to 264 wildflowers along with 59 grasses, sedges, and rushes. These comprise many of the state's most common and conspicuous species—as well as some seldom encountered or listed in field guides—and include many that are found throughout the Great Plains.
Grassland historical studies: natural resources utilization in a background of science and technology by Call Number: HC107.A17 M3Publication Date: 1950
Prairie People
Just Folks: earthly tales of the prairie heartland by Call Number: PS3605.N47 J87 2005ISBN: 9780977125500Publication Date: 2006Earthy Tales of the Prairie Heartland is the first volume in the Just Folks series of short fiction stories by Jerry Engler that earned him the Heartland Reviews accolade, “a Mark Twain for this generation.” The stories are mostly humor, but also are noted for their historic authenticity, nostalgia and poignancy.Prairie farms and prairie Folk by
Call Number: F534.V7 G4Publication Date: 1872
Cowboys and Kansas by Call Number: F681 .H69 1995ISBN: 9780806126883Publication Date: 1995Essays and tales about cowboy life based on personal experience, folklore, and history. Cowboys—famous and obscure, historical and contemporary— tell about troublesome horses they have ridden, rattlesnakes they have encountered, and outlaws they have met.
Also explored are the details of the cowhand's daily work (roping, counting, and shipping cattle, riding with a trail herd) and play (rodeos, horse races, roping contests, poetry).
Dying and Living on the Kansas Prairie by Call Number: RC685.V2 B787 1994ISBN: 9780700606498Publication Date: 1994This is Carol Brunner Rutledge's diary of the three months preceding the death of her mother, Alice. In the tradition of earlier plainswomen, she fuses deeply personal emotions with universal themes tied to family, community, religion, and work - amidst the stark beauty of the Flint Hills.
Rutledge vividly describes the people and the seasons of the prairie, providing insight into how generations of tall-grass people have related to the land. She offers nostalgic memories of her childhood and family history, as well as reflections on the Kansas pioneer spirit and its special brand of humor.
Rutledge also records with excruciating honesty her frustration at the insensitivity of high-tech medical professionals who ignore her mother's strong spirit while continuing to labor over a body that no longer works. Throughout, the silent, powerful prairie provides solace and strength.
Farming the Dust Bowl by Call Number: S417.S94 A3 1986ISBN: 9780700602896Publication Date: 1986By exploring the history of an eighteen-county region, Robert Gough illustrates the travails of farming in "marginal" areas.
He juxtaposes the social history of the farmers with the opinions and programs of the experts who sought to improve the region, and shows how what occurred in the Wisconsin cutover anticipated the sweeping changes that would transform American agriculture after World War II.
Farming the Cutover is a readable story of the hopes and failures of people who struggled to build new lives in an inhospitable environment. It makes an important counterpoint to Turnerian myths and the more commonly-told success stories of farming history.
Food
Pure Prairie: farm fresh and wildly delicious foods from the prairie by Call Number: TX715 .F38 1980ISBN: 9781878686169Publication Date: 1995Cooking with the freshest seasonal ingredients captures the essence of this great book on midwestern foods. Native persimmons, black walnuts, brook trout, sunflower seeds, farmstead cheeses, and more are here. 'Wild Plum and Walnut Tart,' ' Fly-Over Country Confit,' and Jack o'Lantern Compote' are a sampling of the more than 125 recipes in this collection.
Travel
Prairie traveler: a hand-book for overland expeditions. With maps, illustrations, and itineraries of the principal routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific by Call Number: F782.P63 M8 1859a v.16Publication Date: 1959
