Patchwork of Dependency

Patchwork of Dependency:

The Effects of World War II on Edwards County, Kansas

Kansans Tell Their Stories Community Heritage Grant

KINSLEY LIBRARY

Edwards County

Historical Society

We The People Initiative

Click to Link to INTERVIEWEES

Kay Carney

Jean Titus

Irene Woolard

Wayne Carney meets his baby

The wounds of the Great Depression with its failed banks and foreclosed farms were still open in Edwards County as the country entered World War II. The war helped the economy recover while demanding many sacrifices which made the people and communities more dependent on one another.

In January 6, 2009, the Kansas Humanities Council awarded the Kinsley Public Library a Kansans Tell Their Stories Community Heritage grant for $3,248 in support of an oral history project which will collect and preserve 20 interviews of citizens who lived in Edwards County between 1939-1948.

Amy Nichols in Copp Pharmacy

Click to Link to INTERVIEWEES

Parade in Kinsley

It was a time when the people in small rural towns came together to support each other and the war effort. Edwards County was a patchwork of seven communities: Belpre, Centerview, Fellsburg, Offerle, Kinsley, Lewis and Trousdale. The economy was based on agriculture, small business, and the railroad. The role of Edwards County citizens during the war is a story worth preserving.

Cordelia Froetschner

Wilma Lancaster

Patchwork of Dependency records the stories of not only the veterans, but also the farmers with agricultural deferments, the women who stayed home and those who left to work in war plants, the children, and the minority Black and Hispanic communities.

Hwy. 50 flooded in Kinsley

Bob Weidenheimer

Norma Gatterman

Ed, Paul & Charles Schuefler

Interviews were conducted each month from February to December, 2009. They are recorded on CD, cassette tape, and some clips on DVD with written transcriptions mades. Copies of CD's with transcriptions will be shared with the Edwards County Historical Society, the Kansas Historical Society, and the Kansas Folklore Society.

Jeff Mead

Jake Roenbaugh

If you or someone you know lived in Edwards County during the war years, would you please tell us. Your story could become part of this project to record those who witnessed the extraordinary events. Please contact the Kinsley Library at 620-659-3341 if you would like your story to be considered.

Wayne Carney in Africa

Virginia Rapp

Thelma Negley

Gilbert Herrmann

Wilma Kurth (Lancaster)

A. C. Kurth farm in 1945

Buford Brodbeck

Bob Stach

Marcile King

Principal funding for this project is provided by the Kansas Humanities Council, a nonprofit cultural organization promoting understanding of the history, traditions, and ideas that shape our lives and build community.