Settler life in Arkansas in the late nineteenth century seen through the WPA early settler interviews.

摘要

In the early 1940's, a branch of the WPA, the Federal Writer's Project, worked throughout various states to preserve stories, folklore, and culture from the late nineteenth century. The Federal Writer's Project started a project in late 1939 to preserve settlers' stories over a series of fifty-nine questions. The Arkansas Federal Writer's Project never completed all the interviews nor published its work. Various transcribers gathered 237 interviews from both men and women in thirty-two counties in predominately the western half of the state. These interviews provide a glimpse into what life was like for many settlers who came to the state from other parts of the country, lived in Arkansas their entire lives, or immigrated from another country. Farmers, housewives, doctors, teachers, railroad and lumber workers, and many other occupations also provide information on how different settlers earned a living in predominately rural areas. Their stories from the Civil War and Reconstruction parallel what historians have written about the time period. The settlers stories about cultural and social events, however, provide a unique and personal aspect to these interviews.