How can you see me in living color and talking, too? How did the Round Barn become part of Illinois? Listen, my children, and ye shall hear –
I’d heard that Illinois’s two major museums: the Illinois State Museum and the Abraham Lincoln — were into a big oral history project on Illinois farming. So of course, I ignored it. However, I attend an archaeology lecture once a month at the Illinois State Museum, and one night after the session, a man approached me holding the Northwestern “Stories from the Round Barn” and a colorful map of Illinois marked off into counties, and on the very top – Illinois makes a straight line – a little red square cupola. I began to laugh for it was obviously Rock County, Wisconsin: from our back field, you can spit into Illinois with a high wind. The man laughed, too. It turned out that Illinois wanted to incorporate Rock County, Wisconsin, into Illinois for the purposes of their oral history, for I had more going back than anybody. I figured Rock County wouldn’t mind, so I didn’t ask it, but the oral history project recorded me talking for nine hours (yes, we did it in two sessions) and I still have a half hour to add because their last question was important and took me by surprise (I’ll write about that later). You can find the whole interview at the Illinois State Museum’s Audio-Video Barn along with a lot of other interesting interviews, but of course, none so interesting as mine. 🙂 Another reward of all this activity: the museums had a show at the State capitol, their booth right in the middle of the rotunda, huge television screen – I walked in and there was me, talking away. I found me rather fascinating, but needing a hair cut.
I’d heard that Illinois’s two major museums: the Illinois State Museum and the Abraham Lincoln — were into a big oral history project on Illinois farming. So of course, I ignored it. However, I attend an archaeology lecture once a month at the Illinois State Museum, and one night after the session, a man approached me holding the Northwestern “Stories from the Round Barn” and a colorful map of Illinois marked off into counties, and on the very top – Illinois makes a straight line – a little red square cupola. I began to laugh for it was obviously Rock County, Wisconsin: from our back field, you can spit into Illinois with a high wind. The man laughed, too. It turned out that Illinois wanted to incorporate Rock County, Wisconsin, into Illinois for the purposes of their oral history, for I had more going back than anybody. I figured Rock County wouldn’t mind, so I didn’t ask it, but the oral history project recorded me talking for nine hours (yes, we did it in two sessions) and I still have a half hour to add because their last question was important and took me by surprise (I’ll write about that later). You can find the whole interview at the Illinois State Museum’s Audio-Video Barn along with a lot of other interesting interviews, but of course, none so interesting as mine. 🙂 Another reward of all this activity: the museums had a show at the State capitol, their booth right in the middle of the rotunda, huge television screen – I walked in and there was me, talking away. I found me rather fascinating, but needing a hair cut.
