1 24 74 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/446626cc94678a24d70c909525e421d1.pdf c85300098517d754a7e41d7ab6ca0250 PDF Text Text Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department Jerry Brandel Interview Total Time – (1:09:11) Interviewed by Walter Urick, February 12, 2016 Family Background • He was born February 28, 1945 in Muskegon, Michigan • His grandparents lived on a 20 acre farm north of Hart, Michigan o They had 9 children, with Jerry’s father being one of them • Jerry’s father was Herbert Brandel o On their 20 acre fruit farm, they grew cherries, apples, and peaches • Jerry’s father came from Muskegon to Hart and bought a fruit farm in 1945 when Jerry was a baby o Farm was located on 84th Ave. and Fox • Jerry has been in the area for 70 years • Jerry’s mother was Ruth Samantha Jacobs o She was in the top 20 of her class in 1927 at Hart High School • Jerry had one brother, Richard, and also an adopted sister, Marilyn • Jerry bought the current property that he’s on when he was a senior in high school in 1962 o He paid $6,500 for 80 acres o He bought it with a land contract at 3% interest Childhood Memories – (4:20) • He grew up in Hart and has been there all of his life • He went to the one room school there called Danielson School o He had to walk half a mile there and back every day • When he was around 8 or 10 years old, he had to start doing chores o He had to feed and water the cattle at a barn and at home o Eventually he had to milk the cows too • When he was 16 his brother went into the army, and Jerry was the only one home with his dad then • He had to milk 24 cows by himself o He would get up at 6:00am and end up with 40 gallons of milk o He would separate the skim milk from the cream, and then would feed the skim milk to the pigs 1 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • • • • o It took about an hour to milk the two dozen cows By 9:00am he was at the cherry orchard o He’d drive to Hart or Shelby and unload all the lugs of cherries He’d get home about 10:00pm, eat supper, go to bed, and then do it all again the next morning for about 6-8 weeks Jerry’s father was the principal at Walkerville High School during the first year of his farm (1945) because the crops froze out o His father had the farm paid off by the second year though (1946) because of the big cherry crop o His father went back to teach at Walkerville for five more years when he was about 60 years old Jerry’s father was a schoolteacher for 20 years, and Jerry’s mother taught for 36 years o His mother taught at the middle school in Shelby o She would take Jerry to school every day when he was 4 years old o He was then a student there through 7th grade When Jerry was 7 years old, he’d pick two lugs of cherries in both the morning and night, and he got paid 50 cents a lug to pick them ($2 a day) o He bought his first bicycle for $42 in Hart when he was 7 years old Becoming Involved in Farming – (10:20) • When he was 13 years old, he bought 60 acres with his brother near Pentwater for $10 an acre o They planted 10,000 Christmas trees on it o Three years later he sold that farm and split the money with his brother, using his half to buy his current farm at 17 years old • He graduated from Hart High School in 1963 and went on to Michigan State University for a two-year agricultural course • After his schooling, he went into partnership for 10 years with his dad and brother o They farmed from when he was 20 to 30 years old, roughly from 1965-1975 o They had 2,500 acres all together, all in Oceana County o Their largest piece was a 500 acre section in Hart • Cherries were the biggest crop for their partnership o 150 acres of cherries o 40 acres of apples o 20 acres of peaches o At least 500 acres of Christmas trees 2 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • They tapped 3,600 taps to make maple syrup too, and Jerry was the head of this Farming on His Own – (15:06) • The partnership ended in 1975 when Jerry decided that he wanted to be on his own • He started growing 150-200 acres of pickles • He had bought other farms since the original 80 acres, adding up to about 800 acres • He also had cattle, hay, and pigs • He chose his cash crop to be pickles because he got along well with the migrant workers o He saw that when the cherry season ended around August 1, the migrant workers had nothing left to do o So he wanted to use the time that they had that last month before they went back to school to give them work with his pickle crop • The largest quantity of pickles he ever grew at one time was about 300 acres • All the pickles were harvested by hand The Migrant Workers – (18:00) • Oceana County had families coming from Tennessee and Arkansas who were white, non-Hispanics o They’d come to pick cherries for six weeks and then go back home • There would be African American families coming the 36 miles from Muskegon who wanted to pick cherries too • A woman named Ruth Coleman would come with 35 people with her in a bus, and they housed them in a labor camp o Jerry owned this camp then • When Jerry was about 15 years old, he would keep track of the amounts of cherries picked by people and would have to pay them every Saturday • The non-Hispanic work force was around 25-30 people o These people did not like the pickle harvesting work because it was too hard for them • The Hispanic migrant workers started coming to work in the late 50s and early 60s • They would come from Florida or Texas in big canvas-topped trucks o Crew leaders would bring 50-60 people in one truck • During the Mexican fiestas, the people would come out of those trucks in nice clothes and ready to dance o That was the migrant people’s culture • Jerry employed around 60-70 Hispanic people during his pickle operations 3 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department Farming Challenges – (24:53) • There were problems with drought and hot temperatures • In 1980, there were 22% bank interest rates o Jerry had to borrow $100,000 because he had lost money on the pickle crop one year • In 1976, Jerry was investigated for child labor in the fields o He got sued, and it took six years to get to the federal court o After an appeal, Jerry was the only person who has ever won that o Walter Urick was Jerry’s attorney • Jerry stopped farming pickles because they were costly to grow and a profit couldn’t be made • He then started into the broker business of doing the pickle selling for other farms or sheds o He usually gets around $200-400 per load that he sells for others o He knows the business and coordinates it all Relationship to the Migrants – (30:42) • There was an abundance of Mexican migrant workers coming in the late 60s and early 70s • They would come out of desperation because school was out o They would just show up because they didn’t know who to go to • Migrant organizations would call around to see if anyone had work for these migrants who needed jobs and housing • Jerry housed migrants and had them work in his pickle fields • Jerry wanted to increase the pickle market, so he started buying other farmers’ pickles as well as having his contract with Heinz • Jerry used to have strawberry acreage, and 350 migrants would show up to pick strawberries o It would spread by word of mouth that there was work at Jerry Brandel’s strawberry farm, and they’d come • He got along well with the migrants, and if there was conflict, they would compromise well 4 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • Jerry knew that he needed to settle misunderstandings because he had their goodwill, and he and they were all there to make money Migrant Housing and Living – (34:20) • The housing had to be licensed by the state of Michigan and meet standards • The housing was free to the migrants, which attracted workers to come • Jerry’s people had to maintain the housing themselves • The people who had trouble with the migrants were those who tried to cheat them somehow, by shorting how much they worked or picked • The migrants would have to be trained on how to best pick the pickles and maintain their sections of the fields • At this time there was no food stamp program, and people were so poor that they’d do whatever they needed to survive Jerry’s Family – (39:58) • He has two boys and one girl o Art is 47, Alan is 40, and Kathy is 44 • Art farms at the family place part-time • Alan is in Alabama, working for a 3,000 acre farm in the pickle business • Kathy is a schoolteacher in Hart Oceana Community – (41:24) • Jerry would like to see the Historical Society and the records to continue on for years • He also wants the county fair to continue running o He served 22 years on the livestock committee, promoting the 4-H program • The cell phone business has transitioned in to life now • Jerry farmed pickles for 17 years in Mexico o He would be there for 2-3 weeks at a time o They quit that business 3 years ago because of too many dangers and cartels o They had rented land there to farm o The U.S. would sometimes cause issues when they’d stop trucks for health inspections, and the pickles would have gone bad by the end of it 5 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • • • Jerry is in the Farm Bureau, but it isn’t as strong of a voice as it could be to help farming Migrants aren’t coming to work as much anymore because of the U.S. immigration changes, and people getting arrested now for being illegal o The government doesn’t have a program to let these people work legally here o It does exist in Canada though, so Mexicans or Jamaicans drive through to Ontario to work People who pick asparagus or apples are well-paid today, making $25 an hour People can be shying away from labor-intensive crops because they aren’t sure if they’re going to have the workers they need at the specific times their crops will need it Listening to the Tape in 50 Years – (51:44) • The population is stable and doesn’t grow very much • The area has been a good place to raise families • The biggest threat is some drugs coming into town now • There is a lot of goodwill and peace between the people • Jerry encourages young people to plant crops that will make money, such as fruit or asparagus farming • Farming today is so complicated that you have to be careful what you plant because you may not get enough profits to survive o The cost of farming is very discouraging for young farmers • Now there are many people without skills or a college education but are making so much money an hour picking • Jerry and his sons had lost money on crops, so they sold off some land to pay back debts • Today farmers have to guarantee hours and pay to workers whether there’s work or not • Jerry mentions current farming challenges and laws that cause many problems for farmers Final Thoughts – (1:00:32) • The migrants workers have always been a very important part of Oceana County, and some have settled and become good citizens, stabilizing the economy there • Jerry is in the process of selling his labor camp now • Segregation has been a problem too when some locals don’t want the Hispanics around • There’ll never be enough locals available to keep up with the work; migrants are needed • At one time, Oceana County was the biggest pickle county in Michigan 6 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9f4b1a96c894c610e0ee58c1ed002df9.pdf 6a907ab0e829fbf64df11eaa6192b1b1 PDF Text Text Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department Entrevista de Jerry Brandel Tiempo total – (1:09:11) Entrevistado por Walter Urick, 12 Febrero 2016 (Traducido al espaňol por Kassie O’Brien, May 2016) Antecedentes familiares • Jerry nació el 28 de febrero de 1945 en Muskegon, Michigan • Sus abuelos vivían en una granja de 20 acres al norte de Hart, Michigan o Tuvieron 9 niños, y uno fue el padre de Jerry • Su padre se llamaba Herbert Brandel o Cultivaban cerezas, manzanas, y duraznos en su granja de 20 acres • El padre de Jerry se mudó desde Muskegon a Hart y compró una granja de frutas en 1945 cuando Jerry era bebé o La granja estaba ubicado en las calles 84 y Fox • Jerry ha estado en el área por 70 años • La madre de Jerry se llamaba Ruth Samantha Jacobs o Ella estuvo entre los mejores de su clase en 1927 en Hart High School • Jerry tiene un hermano, Richard, y también una hermana adoptada, Marilyn • Jerry compró su propiedad actual cuando estaba en su último año de la secundaria en 1962 o Pagó $6.500 por 80 acres o La compró con un contrato de compraventa de terrenos con una tasa de interés del 3% Recuerdos de la niñez – (4:20) • Jerry creció en Hart y ha vivido allí por toda su vida • Asistió a la escuela llamada Danielson School que solamente tenía una aula o Cada día tenía que caminar por media milla de ida y vuelta • Cuando tenía más o menos 8 o 10 años, comenzó a hacer labores o Tenía que alimentar y dar de beber a los animales o Con el tiempo tenía que ordeñar las vacas también • Cuando tenía 16 años su hermano ingresó en el ejército, y Jerry fue el único que estaba en casa con su papá • Tenía que ordeñar 24 vacas por sí mismo 1 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • • • • o Se despertaba a las seis de la mañana y terminó con 40 galones de leche o Separaba la leche descremada de la nata, y daba de comer a los cerdos con la leche o Le tomaba una hora ordeñar dos docenas de vacas A las 9:00 de la mañana llegaba al cerezal o Conducía a Hart o Shelby y descargaba todas las cestas de cerezas Llegaba a la casa alrededor de las 10:00 de la noche, cenaba, se acostaba, y la mañana siguiente volvía a hacer todo de nuevo por 6-8 semanas El padre de Jerry fue el director de Walkerville High School durante el primer año que tuvo su granja (1945) porque los cultivos se congelaron o Durante el segundo año (1946) su padre terminó de pagar por la granja porque hubo una gran cosecha de cerezas o Su padre regresó a enseñar en Walkerville por cinco años más cuando tenía alrededor de 60 años El padre de Jerry fue maestro por 20 años, y la madre de Jerry fue maestra por 36 años o Su madre enseñó en la escuela intermedia en Shelby o Cuando Jerry tenía 4 años, su madre le llevaba a la escuela cada día o Jerry fue estudiante allí hasta el séptimo grado Cuando Jerry tenía 7 años, recogía dos cestas de cerezas por la mañana y por la noche, y ganaba 50 centavos por cesta ($2 por día) o Compró su primera bicicleta por $42 en Hart cuando tenía 7 años Participando en la agricultura – (10:20) • Cuando tenía 13 años, Jerry y su hermano compraron 60 acres cerca de Pentwater por $10 por acre o Plantaron 10.000 árboles de Navidad o Tres años después vendieron esa granja y se dividió el dinero entre Jerry y su hermano, y Jerry usó su mitad del dinero para comprar su granja actual cuando tenía 17 años • Se graduó de Hart High School en 1963, y asistió a Michigan State University por dos años para tomar un curso de agricultura • Después de su educación, se asoció con su padre y hermano por diez años o Mantuvieron las granjas desde cuando tenía 20 a 30 años, más o menos de 19651975 o Poseían 2.500 acres en conjunto en el condado de Oceana o La parte más grande fue una sección de 500 acres en Hart 2 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • Las cerezas fueron la mejor cosecha en su asociación o 150 acres de cerezas o 40 acres de manzanas o 20 acres de duraznos o Por lo menos 500 acres de árboles de Navidad También prepararon mucho jarabe de arce, y Jerry encabezaba este trabajo Su propia agricultura – (15:06) • La asociación terminó en 1975 cuando Jerry decidió trabajar por sí mismo • Empezó a cultivar 150-200 acres de pepinillos • Había comprado otras granjas además de los 80 acres originales, que sumó un total de 800 acres • También tuvo ganado, heno, y cerdos • Decidió cultivar los pepinillos como su cultivo comercial porque se llevaba bien con los trabajadores migrantes o Jerry notó que los trabajadores migrantes no tenían trabajo cuando terminó la temporada de cereza alrededor del primer día de agosto o Así Jerry quería usar el tiempo disponible durante el último mes antes de que regresaran a la escuela para darles trabajo con sus cultivos de pepinillos • Cerca de 300 acres fue la mayor cantidad de pepinillos que cultivó a la vez • Se cosechaban a mano todos los pepinillos Los trabajadores migrantes – (18:00) • Familias caucásicas no hispanas viajaron al condado de Oceana desde Tennessee y Arkansas o Venían para recoger cerezas por seis semanas y luego regresaban a casa • Familias afroamericanas que viajaron las 36 millas desde Muskegon querían recoger cerezas también • Una mujer que se llamaba Ruth Coleman venía en un autobús con 35 personas, y todos vivían en un campo de trabajo o Jerry poseía este campo de trabajo en aquella época • Cuando Jerry tenía más o menos 15 años, mantenía un registro de la cantidad de cerezas que recogió cada persona y les pagaba cada sábado • La fuerza laboral no hispana fue cerca de 25-30 personas 3 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • • • o A estas personas no les gustó cosechar los pepinillos porque el trabajo era muy duro Los trabajadores migrantes hispanos empezaron a trabajar a finales de los años cincuenta y al principio de los años sesenta Se iban de la Florida o de Texas en camiones grandes con lonas o Los supervisores traían 50-60 trabajadores en un camión Durante las fiestas mexicanas, la gente venía en estos camiones vestida en ropa elegante, preparada para bailar o Eso fue la cultura de los trabajadores migrantes Jerry empleó a 60-70 personas hispanas como parte de sus operaciones agrícolas con pepinillos Desafíos en cuanto a la agricultura – (24:53) • Había problemas de sequía y altas temperaturas • En 1980, hubo tasas de interés de los bancos de 22% o Jerry pidió un préstamo de $100.000 porque perdió dinero durante un año con su cultivo de pepinillos • En 1976, fue investigado por trabajo infantil en los campos o Fue demandado y después de seis años la investigación llegó al corte federal o Después de una apelación, Jerry fue la única persona que ganó o Walter Urick fue el abogado de Jerry • Jerry dejó de cultivar pepinillos porque costaron mucho y no pudo obtener beneficios • Luego empezó a trabajar en la venta de los cultivos de pepinillos de otros agricultores o Normalmente gana $200-400 por cargamento de pepinillos que vende o Entiende bien el negocio y coordina todo La relación con los migrantes – (30:42) • Había una abundancia de trabajadores migrantes mexicanos que llegaron a finales de los años sesenta y al principio de los años setenta • Llegaron empujados por la desesperación porque terminó el año escolar o Solamente aparecieron porque no sabían adónde ir • Las organizaciones migrantes hacían llamadas para buscar trabajo disponible para los migrantes que necesitaron empleos y vivienda • Jerry les dio vivienda a los migrantes y les dio trabajo en sus campos de pepinillos 4 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • • • Jerry quería engrandecer el mercado de pepinillos, así empezó a comprar los pepinillos de otros agricultores, además de su contrato con Heinz Jerry solía poseer acres del cultivo de fresas, y 350 trabajadores migrantes vinieron a recoger fresas o Se promocionaban las noticias de trabajo disponible por el boca a boca, y los trabajadores venían Se llevaba bien con los trabajadores migrantes, y si había conflictos, llegaron a un acuerdo Jerry sabía que era necesario resolver malentendidos porque tuvo su buena voluntad, y todos estaban allí para ganar dinero La vivienda de los trabajadores migrantes – (34:20) • Se necesitaba la autorización del estado de Michigan para cumplir las normas de la vivienda • La vivienda era gratuita para los trabajadores migrantes, y eso atrajo a los trabajadores • Algunos empleados de Jerry tenían que mantener la vivienda • Las personas que tuvieron problemas con los trabajadores migrantes fueron personas que trataron de engañarles por medio de decir que los trabajadores recogieron menos que la cantidad verdadera • Se necesitaba enseñarles la mejor manera de recoger los pepinillos y de mantener sus propias secciones de los campos • En ese momento no existía ningún programa de vales para alimentos, y la gente era tan pobre que hacía cualquier cosa para sobrevivir La familia de Jerry – (39:58) • Tiene dos hijos y una hija o Art tiene 47 años, Alan tiene 40 años, y Kathy tiene 44 años • Art trabaja en la granja de la familia a tiempo parcial • Alan está en Alabama y trabaja con pepinillos en una granja de 3.000 acres • Kathy es maestra en Hart La comunidad de Oceana – (41:24) • Jerry quiere que se preserven la Sociedad Histórica (Historical Society) y los documentos 5 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • • • • • • También quiere que la feria del condado continúe o Jerry participó en la comisión de ganadería por 22 años donde promovió el programa 4-H El negocio de la telefonía celular ha cambiado mucho en la vida hoy en día Jerry cultivó pepinillos en México por 17 años o Estaba allí por 2 a 3 semanas cada vez o Hace 3 años dejó este negocio porque había demasiado peligro y muchos carteles o Alquiló tierra allí para cultivar o A veces los Estados Unidos causaron problemas cuando detuvieron camiones para realizar inspecciones de salud, y la comida se puso fea Jerry es parte del Farm Bureau, pero cree que la organización no es bastante fuerte para ayudar a la agricultura Los trabajadores migrantes no vienen a trabajar tanto como antes a causa de los cambios en la inmigración de los EEUU, y hoy en día las personas ilegales son arrestadas o El gobierno no tiene programas en que estas personas pueden trabajar aquí legalmente o Sí existe en Canadá, así hay mexicanos o jamaicanos que viajan en auto para trabajar en Ontario Hoy en día se les paga bien a las personas que recogen los espárragos o las manzanas, y ganan $25 por hora La gente rehúye cultivos laboriosos porque no está segura si va a tener los trabajadores necesarios en los momentos específicos para estos cultivos Escuchar la grabación en 50 años – (51:44) • La población es estable y no crece mucho • El área ha sido buen lugar para formar una familia • Unas drogas que han entrado en la comunidad son la mayor amenaza • Hay mucha buena voluntad y paz en el pueblo • Jerry anima a los jóvenes que planten cultivos que ganarán dinero, como cultivos de fruta o espárragos • Hoy en día la agricultura es tan complicada que hay que tener cuidado en lo que se cultiva porque es posible que no se gane suficiente dinero para sobrevivir o El costo de la agricultura es muy desalentador para los jóvenes agricultores 6 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department • • • • Actualmente hay muchas personas sin destrezas o sin educación universitaria que ganan muchísimo dinero por hora cuando recogen cultivos Jerry y sus hijos perdieron dinero en cultivos, así vendieron parte de sus tierras para pagar unas deudas Hoy en día los agricultores tienen que garantizar horas y pago específico para los trabajadores sin importar si hay trabajo o no Jerry menciona desafíos actuales para la agricultura y leyes que causan problemas para los agricultores Reflexiones finales – (1:00:32) • Los trabajadores migrantes siempre han sido una parte muy importante del condado de Oceana, y algunos se han establecido y han llegado a ser buenos ciudadanos, estabilizando la economía allí • Jerry está vendiendo su campo de trabajo • La segregación racial ha sido problemática también porque algunos nativos del pueblo no quieren que los hispanos estén allí • El pueblo nunca tendrá residentes suficientes para hacer todo el trabajo; se necesitan los trabajadores migrantes • En cierta época, el condado de Oceana fue el principal productor de pepinillos en Michigan 7 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4c60e07d6225f6d2e1fabfe09c8e41a3.mp3 c58867556bce55c83ee3fc0d6e40d650 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Título Spanish language Title entry Brandel, Jerry (entrevista de audio y resumen) Descripción Spanish language Description entry Entrevista de historia oral con Jerry Brandel, Hart, Michigan. Entrevistado por Walter Urick. Idioma en Inglés. Febrero 12, 2016. Jerry Brandel nació el 28 de febrero de 1945 en Muskegon, Michigan. En ese año, su familia se mudó a Hart, Michigan, y compró una granja de frutas. Se graduó de Hart High School en 1963 y después asistió a Michigan State University por dos años para tomar un curso de agricultura. Después de su educación, se asoció con su padre y hermano por diez años para cultivar cerezas, manzanas, duraznos, y árboles de Navidad. En 1975, Jerry decidió cultivar solo y empezó a cultivar pepinillos en Oceana y en México. Luego, eligió trabajar en la venta de los cultivos de pepinillos de otros agricultores en todo el país. Jerry tiene dos hijos y una hija, y actualmente ha vivido en el área del condado de Oceana por 70 años. Sujetos Spanish language Subject terms La agricultura Granja de frutas Cerezas Pepinillos Árboles de Navidad Ordeñar vacas El cerezal Tasa de interés Acres Trabajadores migrantes No hispano Hispano Afroamericano Desafíos en cuanto a la agricultura Vivienda México Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Brandel_Jerry Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Brandel, Jerry Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-02-12 Title A name given to the resource Brandel, Jerry (audio interview and summary) Description An account of the resource Oral history interview with Jerry Brandel, Hart, Michigan. Interviewed by Walter Urick. English language recording. Summary in English and Spanish. February 12, 2016. Jerry Brandel was born on February 28, 1945 in Muskegon, Michigan. That year, his family moved to Hart, Michigan, and bought a fruit farm. He graduated from Hart High School in 1963 and then went on to Michigan State University to take a two-year agricultural course. After his schooling, he went into partnership for ten years with his father and brother, where they farmed cherries, apples, peaches, and Christmas trees. In 1975, Jerry decided to begin farming on his own, and he started growing pickles in Oceana and Mexico. Years later, he entered into the broker business, selling pickle crops for other farmers across the country. Jerry has two sons and one daughter, and he has now lived in the Oceana County area for 70 years. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Urick, Walter (interviewer) Shell-Weiss, Melanie (director) Subject The topic of the resource Farming Fruit farm Cherries Pickles Christmas trees Milk cows Cherry orchard Interest rate Acres Migrants Non-Hispanic Hispanic African American Farming challenges Housing Mexico Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng spa Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/89178933013f4019c6fdb8ff257d0b69.pdf cb5031c1aa558df4d19712edcad28135 PDF Text Text Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department Larry Byl Interview Interviewed by Walter Urick June 18, 2016 Transcript WU: My name is Walter Urick, and I'm here today with Larry Byl. We're at the Hart Area Library in Hart, Michigan. The date is Saturday, June 18th, 2016. And the purpose for this meeting is to obtain the oral history of the Byl family. The oral history’s being collected as part of the Growing Community Project, which is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Program. Larry, I just want to thank you for taking this time to talk to me today. I'm interested to learn more about your family history and your experiences living and working in Oceana County. Now, your full legal name is what, Larry? LB: Walter Lawrence Wesley Byl. WU: And your date of birth and place of birth? LB: Date of birth is March 7th, 1957. And the location was Grand Rapids, Michigan. WU: Now, do you have any siblings? 1 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department LB: I have three brothers and one sister. WU: Would you name each one for me? LB: Sure. The oldest was Margaret, followed by Paul, me, brother John, and then Tom. WU: And let's talk about your parents for a few minutes. Your father's name? LB: My father's name is Peter Byl. No middle initial or no middle name. And my mom was [?] Byl WU: And her maiden name? LB: Her name. Her maiden name was Westers. WU: Tracing the background of your parents and may get you to your grandparents… LB: Yep. WU: Sort of describe, as best you can, how your family eventually ended up in Oceana County and where did we start? LB: Sure. WU: In the Netherlands or some other part of the world? LB: Sure. I'm going to go way back because I think you might find it interesting on my mother's side, if you go back far enough, back when Napoleon was the ruler in France, they conscripted soldiers, including a fellow from Algeria, which would have been a great-great-grandfather of mine. And he, I'm going to say, abandoned… he didn't see eye to eye with Napoleon, so he deserted them, Poland's army, before Waterloo and went to Holland because the Netherlands was one location that accepted people regardless of race and religion. While his name, they couldn't pronounce it, so they called him France, which is French [?], which means outcast. So, my grandmother's maiden name was [?]. And so I come from a varied background. He obviously fell in love with a Dutch woman and they got married. And my dad's family came from the northern part of the Netherlands called Friesland. And in Friesland, they're known as either farmers, predominantly dairy farmers, because there's a lot of grass there or they were known as a fisherman. So, my dad's family came and they're also known as being hardheaded. So, my mom and dad actually didn't meet until 1948 in a boat coming from the Netherlands to the United States. And I'm going to give you a tiny bit of background to that. My dad's family was farmers and my mom's family... my grandfather was a Christian school principal and he moved around to several different schools. Well, you have to understand, during World War II, Germany occupied the Netherlands for about five years. So, my parents were both in their early teens during the war, which would have been a horrible time. And so, they both knew what it was like to live under martial law. And also, they knew what it was like to not have food all of the time. My parents, my grandparents, this would be my dad's mom and dad, their farmhouse on January 1, 1945 was accidentally bombed by the allies. What would happen is the Canadians and the Americans and the British would fly into Germany and if they had any bombs left over, they would look for opportunities to let those bombs go. And it just so happened, my grandparents lived fairly close to a railroad track. So, they let the bombs go and they missed the railroad tracks and accidentally hit my dad's house. So, for six months to a year, they had to live with another family. They were able to salvage the bricks and rebuild a smaller house like the typical Dutch. But you have to understand, they had nothing. I mean, they had two cows, I think, at the time of 2 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department the war. And the night that their house was bombed, one of the cows was killed and taken away. So, but, I never heard my grandparents complain. But in 1948, they had an opportunity. A man by the name of George Welch, who was the mayor of Grand Rapids, was visiting the Netherlands. And he was doing that because he was, I believe, the president of the United States Mayors Association. And he was looking at the rebuilding of Europe at that time. And one of his business partners was a lady by the name of Margaret de Groot. George Welch and Margaret de Groot owned a newspaper in Grand Rapids and she owned a farm just east of Grand Rapids in the Rockford/ Lowell area, and she was in need of some crop farmers to share... to work that farm and share the crops with her. So, my dad's family, when they met George Welch, they set up an interview and within three or four weeks, they went through all of the process. And because their house had been bombed by the Americans, they were put on a fast track to come to America. Well, my mom had just finished college in the Netherlands and she came to the United States to spend six months with some of her [?] family members who were... WU: Can you spell that name? LB: No, I cannot. WU: All right. I know the recorder/ transcriber is going to have difficulty with that, but continue on. LB: It starts with [?]. WU: [Laughter] LB: And they... she went to Chicago to stay with some cousins for six months because she really had a traveling bug. So, she had finished her college and she met my dad's family on the boat. So that's how my mom and dad met. WU: Was your dad on that boat, too? LB: My dad actually had flown to America just before the rest of the family because my dad had an invitation to join the Dutch army and fight in Indonesia, which was seeking independence. And they said if you leave now, you do not have to join the Dutch army and fight in the jungles of Indonesia. So, my dad was already over at the... what we call the Marcadia Farm, and that would be the farm located at 992 6 Mile Road, Rockford, Michigan. And that's where my mom met my dad because my mom enjoyed my dad's family. And when she went to Chicago, they said, well, gosh, you're close enough. Why don't you spend a month over there? Because she always enjoyed rural living. And this got her out of Chicago for a month. Well, she fell in love with my dad, but what happened then was she had to go back to the Netherlands because she applied for a permanent visa and they said that there's a quota. We only allow so many Dutchmen in the United States at any one time. So, she had to go back to the Netherlands for two years. She did and just about the time her two years was over, my dad, this would be 1950, had an invitation to join the U.S. Army and fight in Korea. So, my dad was in the U.S. Army, but instead of being stationed in Korea, he was stationed in Germany because he knew German, Dutch, English, and he was a medic there in Germany with the U.S. Army. So needless to say, my mom then came to America and she actually worked with my grandparents on the farm at Rockford for two years until my dad got out of the army. So, they got married and within the next seven years had five children. WU: Now, the farm in Rockford, as best you know, what type of crops or what kind of farming activities were involved that your dad apparently had to participate in or... 3 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department LB: My grandfather and father were both dairy farmers from the time they were little. This was... we considered it a huge dairy farm. There were between 30 and 32 cows that they milked. And it was a pretty modern farm with all of the tractors and they raised most of their own crops. And it was a wonderful place to live. My mom, on the other hand, hated the idea of being tied down twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. My mom loved to travel and explore, so she convinced my dad because my dad took over that farm when my grandparents, after working the farm for five years, had saved enough money to buy their own farm. She convinced my dad to let her go back to college with five little kids at home and she went to Calvin College because that was very close and also because they could read the Dutch transcripts from her college days in the Netherlands. So, they gave her about two years credit and over the course of the next five or six years, she got her teaching degree from Calvin College. And in about 1966, they purchased an eighty-acre fruit farm in the western end of Oceana County. WU: How did it happen that they got to Oceana? Was there a story behind that or is it just they found it somehow? LB: Now, how did they find… did they run out of gas as they were heading up north? I think it came down to they asked friends from their church. Many of the Dutch, especially the Dutch, they came to America, go to either... either went or currently attend Reformed and Christian Reformed churches. And that's been the case from about 1860 on. And so, I'm sure my parents were talking with other friends in church and they were put in touch with some friends in New Era Reformed Church. And one of the first area farmers that they met was Gord Vanderslice’s parents. And there was a farm for sale. There were several. One was in Ferry Township and one was in Benona Township. The one in Benona was owned by an estate of Pete Burmeister and they looked that over. They asked Mr. Vanderslice to look it over and he said, wow, a lot of blow sand and it's not the most productive, but it was pretty. There were a lot of old apple trees. My parents didn't realize the old apple trees weren't necessarily an asset, but it had peaches and sweet cherries and they could see a future. And more importantly, my mom could see that she wouldn't be tied down to the farm seven days a week. WU: Did away from the cow situation. LB: The cows, where you had to milk twice a day every day. And so, my parents, I told Mrs. de Groot they had purchased their own farm. So, there actually was an auction sale and the equipment on the other farm was sold and the cattle were sold. Other than my dad could not get away from cattle altogether. So, when they moved to Oceana County, my dad brought one cow with him. Now you'd have to realize how much milk one cow produces. Even with five kids and with cousins staying with us most of the summer, that cow was producing so much milk that my dad would make buttermilk. Well, you make buttermilk by taking sour milk and churning it. That was a lot of work. My dad, actually, and mom had an extra washing machine, so they used that extra washing machine to churn the sour milk and turn it into buttermilk. And then there's a dish. It's called [?]. And I'm sorry, Walter, I can't spell that either. But [?] is a Dutch buttermilk pudding. And I just remember when I was ten years old having [?] for breakfast, lunch and supper. And to this day, I can't stand it. And so, that's how my parents got started here. And within the following two years, between 1966 and ‘68, they purchased another hundred acres of agricultural land from a neighbor by the name of Leo Dzur, D-Z-U-R, and Leo was an immigrant from Germany, and he had two daughters who had both moved out of the area and it was time for him to 4 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department give up farming. So, that's how my parents got really started. And my mom, true to her word, started teaching that fall the year that we moved here. WU: Where did your mom teach? LB: My mom taught in Ferry’s school for the first two years and then moved to Shelby’s school, where she taught for seventeen more years. WU: Did she teach actually at Shelby or out at Benona or? LB: She taught right at Shelby itself. WU: And what... LB: Fourth and fifth grade. WU: So, she was the fourth and fifth grade teacher. LB: Yes. WU: That's quite a story. So now, let's see, you had an eighty-acre farm and a one-hundred-acre farm. LB: Yes. WU: So now your dad is in charge of one hundred and eighty acres, correct? Did that... all I want to do is briefly trace the farming experience of your father before we go further. Did he acquire more land or was one hundred and eighty acres basically his farm? LB: My dad was able to, over the next ten years, acquire another forty acres at the end of Shelby Road and Scenic Drive and another 40 on Woodrow Road next to the Dzur farm. And that was pretty much it until my oldest brother, like a lot of farms, the oldest son stayed on the farm and farmed with their father. My brother Paul went to Michigan State University for a two-year Ag. degree, and when he took over then fifty percent ownership, they acquired some additional land after that because obviously farming became even more mechanized as more modern sprayers, faster tractors and things like that. WU: OK, so basically, he had probably over three hundred acres that they actually owned. LB: Yes, by 1975 he had three hundred acres that they owned. WU: So, he had about three hundred acres they actually owned. I don't know if he went out and leased property? LB: He did not. WU: Okay, so what I'd like you to describe is the type of farming activities that were involved in this three-hundred-acres. I'm not sure if it was asparagus, cherries or the whole nine yards. You sort of describe it. LB: Yep. And, Walter, if it's okay, I might describe a little bit, too, us boys, the Byl boys, because there were four of us, from time to time, we could work for a neighbor by the name of Vernon Bull, who was one of the pioneer food processing and growers from Casnovia, who bought a second operation in Oceana County next door to my dad. And over the course of thirty years, when my dad would try and buy a farm, invariably Vernon would be there and once in a while they'd have to flip a coin to see who 5 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department could buy it or try to outbid each other. It was a relationship that was OK, but I'm sure there were times when it wasn't the best. But Vernon was able to hire us, along with a number of other young men in Oceana County for both horticulture purposes and for cherry processing. He had one of the first cherry processing plants along the lakeshore. And I remember asking Vernon why he wanted to get into the food processing business when just raising crops was a full-time job. Vernon explained to me in his particular case, he was largely along Lake Michigan, which meant that he was about a week later than the cherry crops closer to Hart and Shelby. Typically, along the lake, it's a little bit cooler and that holds back the fruit in the springtime and then the summer. It might be eighty degrees in town, but it'll be seventy degrees close to Lake Michigan. What Vernon had a problem with since he was on the tail-end of the production, if he brought his cherries in at that time to either Hart or Shelby, but if the processing plant had fulfilled their contract, they were no longer interested in processing more fruit. So, by Vernon having his own food processing/ cherry processing plant, he felt he could then market the processed fruit. He ended up building freezer plants to go along with the food processing plant so that he could store it. So, my dad was able to take advantage of that from time to time, as well, because that's the one thing we found out. You really want to have multiple food processors as opposed to being so reliant on only a single food processor. And basically, you're at their mercy. WU: Well, I'm going to want to talk to you more in detail about your youth and working for Vernon Bull. But before we get there, I want you to describe as best you can your father and maybe your brother’s farming operation at its peak. What are you producing or growing? And approximately how many acres, if you know. LB: Yeah, my father, when he first started in Oceana County, he had to learn everything. I mean, everything from the standpoint of what we call stone fruit here, peaches and cherries. He was used to corn and hay and cattle. There's a difference, but it's not all that great. And, you know, we had a wonderful neighbor with Vernon Ball. One of his employees helped us if my dad had questions. And of course, the chemical dealers were always happy to help you and sell product. My dad's main crops the first few years, when we bought the farm, there were probably twenty acres of apple trees with probably twenty-five different varieties. You had varieties called “Snows.” You had “Kings,” you had apples that we would call them today, vintage varieties. And like the snow apple, for instance, would be a lot like a Macintosh. But when you bite into it, it's really white on the inside. And that apple’s specialty was as a caramel apple because once you had caramel and you bite into it, it was really wonderful to see that white. Now, Pete Burmeister, when he had all of these trees planted, had his own little packing plant and would bring apples to various vendors. Well, my dad didn't have the patience to learn about all of the varieties. And at that time, cherries were becoming a bigger and bigger thing because cherries in about 1966, when we moved here to Oceana County, you really started seeing more Shaker's. Now, what the shaker did was it took away your need to have hundreds of pickers to harvest the cherries. So, my dad planted a lot of cherries. We had probably fifteen acres of peaches, largely Clingstone. A Freestone peach would be the type of peach that you would sell in the store. A Kingstone peach, we used to sell to Gerber's and that was used for food processing. My dad also, on the whole, Leo Desoer farm, the one hundred acres, he ended up planting asparagus when he bought that, it was open and old cherries. Over the course of about six or seven years, he removed the old cherries and we planted all of that into asparagus. My dad was probably one of the larger asparagus growers in the early ‘70s. 6 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: So, cherries... peaches, and asparagus… LB: …peaches and asparagus. And really moved away from apples completely until maybe ten years ago. WU: Well, now I want to take you back to your boyhood days and give an idea, first, what it was like growing up and what kind of farm chores, if any, you had to participate in. First, maybe at home and then maybe Bull Orchard? LB: At home, when we moved to Oceana County, the biggest job was, of course, harvesting of the fruit. And we were not large enough to own a cherry shaker. So, all of our cherries were harvested by hand, starting with about three to four acres of sweet cherries, which doesn't sound like very much today. But that job kept us busy for probably two weeks and then we moved to the sour cherries. Then, of course, just before that was thinning the peaches and then the harvesting of the peaches. And by that time, we were just so happy to have school started. We were... most of us were happy to get off the farm and back to the school. WU: So, basically what you're saying is you're one of the harvesters. LB: Yeah. WU: And this is at an age of ten or eight? LB: Yep. WU: As you get into your early teens, did your father have to hire harvesters outside of family and neighbors and so forth? LB: Because my mother's family, she has four siblings and they all moved to the Grand Rapids area. And I have probably twenty-five cousins, about the same age as our family, little younger. And most of those cousins in the summertime spent two or three weeks helping harvest. WU: So, this was a family - extended family - effort. LB: It was very much an extended family effort. We, at that time, we saw quite a few migrants, including some blacks that maybe came up from Chicago, but our farm did not employ it. It's not that we wouldn't have, but we had enough family members where we were able to harvest with our family. WU: Do you have any vivid memories, good or bad, of when you were a kid working on the farm, that you would care to make part of our interview here? LB: Sure. One of our cousins would not like me sharing this, but I had a cousin by the name of Peter Westers and he was one of the youngest cousins. He was two. Now, these were the days when you had the whole family out in the orchard. My aunt, typically my aunt and all of the kids, several aunts. And Peter was two and he was very fond of eating cherries. The problem was he would eat cherries, pits and all and he was still in a diaper. And about ten or eleven o'clock in the day, he would start crying because as he was sitting, those cherry pits would become very uncomfortable. So, we always used to tease Peter about that. Another memory that I have was our first year here in 1966, Vernon Ball had purchased some existing orchards in close proximity and those orchards were being transitioned - this was a cherry orchard - to 7 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department mechanically harvesting. So, what you had was, we call it a double incline shaker, with a little limb shaker - didn't shake the whole tree, just the little limb. But in order to get the tarps underneath the trees, you had to cut the lower branches. Well, before they cut the lower branches, they asked all of the neighbors if we would go and, for fifty cents a bucket, pick the lowest limbs. Well at fifty cents a bucket, I remember one day as a ten-year-old picking like twenty-five buckets and earning an ungodly amount of money, at least from my perspective, and my mom keeping all of us in toll and which was a whole lot nicer than picking my dad's orchards, which required a ladder and to reach all the way to the top. WU: Well, I'm going to switch subjects and go on to your educational background. Starting in elementary, I’m not sure if you ended up in the village of Shelby or if you were out in the Benona schools. I assume it was the latter, but… LB: Yep, I am fortunate. I say fortunate in that for my first three years of school, I actually went to a tiny one room schoolhouse. This was back near Lowell... Talbot. And we had around eighteen students and four of those eighteen were Byl kids. And I tell my children and now grandchildren that I can still name all of my classmates in first, second and third grade, both of them. So, when we moved in 1966, we went to Benona school, which had around twenty kids per class and some classes had two grades, most had one grade, and that went through eighth grade. And some of my fondest memories there were you didn't have to try out for the basketball team, you automatically made it. And we had the most fun on Wednesday nights playing against New Era, New Era Christian, Weare, Golden. We didn't play against the big schools of Shelby and Hart, but we played at the State Street gym here in Hart and gosh, I was just very... those are fond memories for me. WU: Any teachers in your elementary years that stand out in your mind that maybe helped mold you or mentor you in any way? LB: I had very decent teachers in Benona. Probably the best English teacher I had was a lady who... Mrs. Hammond. And she was one of those individuals who was very frank with you. And this is in seventh and eighth grade. She taught English and spelling and some of the others, but she hated math. So, she and Dennis Tucker traded places for those classes. And I remember her giving me a dictionary, which I still have. And she said, “Larry, you're smart, but you can't spell worth a damn. I want you to look up your words whenever you have a question so that you don't get it wrong.” And that was probably a very good thing in the seventh or eighth grader to have a teacher be that honest. And I still have that little dictionary. WU: So Benona schools took you through the eighth grade. Is that what you're telling me? LB: Yes. WU: Okay, so you finished the eighth grade and where did you go from there for high school? LB: From there I went to Shelby High School with a class of about one hundred and ten kids and I took your normal classes, except I did take various what I call FFA - Future Farmers of America - classes. Shelby had... Hart had a very good auto mechanic class where some of my friends went to Hart for two hours a day for that with Larry Wagner. Shelby had a very good Ag. program and a shop program with Tom Carey, a woodshop and a metal shop. So, they really had some very good vocational training back then between the two schools. WU: Between the two schools… 8 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department LB: Yeah, between the two schools. So, I took agriculture classes my last three years and FFA became a bigger part of my life along with my brother. And I learned parliamentary procedure and I took a forestry class which I didn't do real well in. But, in general, it was... I enjoyed it immensely and it served me well. WU: In terms of your high school experience, again, is there a high school teacher that stands out in your memory or is special? LB: In high school, I would say I had a… it's amazing how you connect with people that are close to your age. And we did have a single female teacher who by the name of Becky Gill, and she taught English and it seemed like most of us really could relate to her. And then also another English teacher by the name of Shirley Haeg. And one reason why I could connect with Shirley, her maiden name when she was first at Shelby High School was Bylsma. So, there was a little bit of kindred spirit there and she taught drama. And so, for plays, I had her and again, just a very good teacher. And she ended up becoming a minister. She was a minister at the church here in Hart Congregational for several years. WU: Her last name is… LB: Haeg, Shirley Haeg. WU: Yes, that’s interesting. Before I get you into college, I want to go back and visit the Bull situation and your work experience there. Just briefly, what you and your brothers were doing for... LB: Sure. The first time we worked for the Bulls was, of course, when Vernon Bull purchased this orchard close to our farm. And we got it as ten, eleven, twelve-year-old kids picking all the low branches. So, we thought Vernon was the best because we always didn't get paid when we worked for our parents. So, we really wanted to work for Vernon. Vernon, in 1971, there was a pretty big cherry crop and he needed more people to work in the cherry processing plant. And that was about three weeks, three and a half weeks, worth of work. And at age fourteen, he first of all, grabbed my brother Paul, who was sixteen. I was fourteen. So, I went there the next day asking him if I could work. And then he ended up hiring my brother John, who was thirteen at the time. I was... the only criteria, Vernon said, was if anyone asks, tell them you're 16. So, I got to work, what they called an IQF, which is an individual quick freeze. And what that would do was take the sour cherries after they're pitted and a certain amount of those cherries went through the IQF machine and I was to box them up and to keep it running. And so, I filled boxes and stacked it for about three and a half weeks. And then my brother, John, was able to run the cooling pad with the forklift outside and Paul was running one of the three shakers. WU: So, the Byl boys were running this plant that... teenage years, basically, with some adult supervision. LB: Some adult supervision. And of course, we felt very special because I was working with folks like Kim Griffin from Shelby and another fellow who I think is an attorney or a judge in Kalamazoo, Doug Burmeister. And so, they were all older than us, but they treated us... as long as we did our job, they treated us as an equal. WU: Well, briefly, describe your years, your educational years after Shelby High. From there you went where? LB: OK. From Shelby High School, I went to Hope College. And, actually, by the time I was sixteen, I worked on Dad's Farm and Vernon Bull and I have a little bit of my mom's blood; I wanted to do some 9 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department exploring. So, I asked my parents if I could go out west and work for an uncle who was the head gardener for Henry Kaiser from Kaiser Steel and Aluminum, who had a summer estate in the Puget Sound off Seattle. And it was probably a three-hundred-acre estate with seven homes and greenhouse. And I was one of seven gardeners. And I got to use my farming skills, which was spraying, weeding, mowing, and I really enjoyed that. WU: This was the summer of your junior year or going into your senior year? LB: I actually worked out there for three different summers. WU: OK. LB: So that gave me just a little different perspective because like a lot of kids, when you’re sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, you know, mom and dad isn't the brightest. At least they didn't seem that way at the time. And you want to spread your own wings. And I just really credit my parents for saying, OK, as long as Paul stays because he's the most gifted in terms of driving a tractor and helping out with the farm. But I know my interest was not going to be the farm. At least I thought that was the case. And so, then I went to Hope College for four years and got into real estate my sophomore year of Hope College. WU: What type of program were you on at Hope from an educational standpoint. LB: Econ and Poli Sci. WU: Okay, and then you started to tell me about getting interested in real estate. So, let's pick it up from there. LB: Sure. My sophomore year at Hope College, I talked to Pete Wickstra, who I knew from church, and he had a son a few years older than me who had dropped out of law school and had gone back into their family real estate business and was obviously doing very well financially. And that looked like something of some interest to me. And Pete Wickstra was interested in mentoring someone who could work with Jim Wickstra and so that was the start of what would eventually become a partnership. And then eventually I bought out Jim Wickstra as he retired early. WU: So that's what you ended up as your life's work, basically? LB: My life's work was real estate. But an interesting aspect if we get back to the agriculture... WU: Yes, that's where I was hoping... LB: In ‘91, ‘92, I was involved in my largest development project. I, and two other partners, purchased a Girl Scout camp at School Section Lake, and we subdivided that into forty waterfront lots and cleaned that up and sold that. And I did very, very well in that project. Now, what I did with the profits from that project, I turned around and purchased a one hundred sixty-acre asparagus farm in Walkerville. So here I went from couldn't wait to get away from the farm to wanting to purchase a farm and recognizing how capital intensive a farm is because in addition to the land, you either have to have trees or in my case, asparagus roots, which is going to cost you another ton of money and then the equipment and then making sure you have labor to harvest, which might mean housing. So, I got into a pretty good-sized asparagus operation and one of the reasons was I had three young children and I realized my children did not have to work. I had to work growing up. There was no... never any question. If we wanted to eat, if we wanted a bicycle, if we wanted anything, we had to work for it. My children did not have that 10 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department luxury. I mean, they were… I'm not going to say they were born with a silver spoon, but how could I say we can't afford to buy you a new bike? So, by purchasing this asparagus farm and intentionally I stuck with asparagus because pretty much by the Fourth of July, you're done with the crop. You're done harvesting. You've closed it and there's still some minimal upkeep, but it's not like cherries and peaches where you're slaving and working hard all summer. This still gave... I expected my kids to work hard and I paid them well. And being the Dutchmen that I am, by paying them well, they could then pay for part of their college. I could deduct the amount that I paid them and write it off as an expense. WU: And they reported income at a lower bracket. LB: ...at a lower bracket. So, it worked out well. Plus, if I would have simply paid for their education, which I could have done, it… I don't think they would have appreciated it as much. Now, they had their own money to decide, “Hey, do I really want Hope College.” And my three kids went to Hope college, and one went to Northwestern in Chicago, and my daughter went to Syracuse. Now the one that went to Northwestern was about double what Hope College was and Hope College was fifty percent more than U of M, where he had been accepted. But Northwestern just had the feel for him and for him that was the right choice. But he knew he would never have a car while at college like my son, oldest son, did at Hope. You make sacrifices and that's okay. WU: Probably to fill out your family tree, so to speak, you were married when? LB: I graduated from Hope College and got married in 1979. WU: And your wife's full name? LB: My wife's full name is Ann Chase Davenport. And now, of course, Ann Chase Byl. WU: Right. LB: And she is from New Jersey. Her father... she's the youngest of four children and her father was a CPA at Rutgers University. And Mom was a stay at home mom who ended up doing some tax work later in life. WU: And you met Ann where? LB: At Hope College. WU: And was she in your class or? LB: She was in my class. WU: So, both of you graduated about the same time from Hope. LB: Yes. WU: And right from college, did you come back to Oceana immediately or was there an interlude there? LB: No, because I was working in the real estate business in the summers. By the time I was a senior at Hope College, I had a Monday night class, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; Thursday night I was back here in Shelby working real estate Friday, Saturday... WU: With Wickstra? 11 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department LB: With Wickstra. WU: Okay. LB: So, I was working three days a week at Wickstra and my wife was a business major and right out of college she got a job at Silver Mills Food Processing in Accounts Payable. WU: Henry Perlowitz [?] and his gang came to town. LB: Yes. WU: Gosh, Dan Bernson [?] was a great friend of mine and I really miss Stan. [?] He's still alive, but I just don't get a chance to socialize with him like I did once upon a time in my life, but that's an aside. Why don't you name your children and best you can, at least, the years they were born. LB: Sure. I have three children. My oldest is Ben. He was born in or around 1981. Then I have Jacob. Jacob was born around 1983. And then I have Christa, who was born around 1986. WU: And all these children, I'm sure, are out of the nest now. LB: They are all out of the nest. They are all married. My oldest, Ben, went to Hope College and this is going to tie in with the farming. WU: Okay. LB: Ben graduated with a history degree. Now, why my kids were liberal arts instead of having something practical, I don't know. But he was a history major and out of college, he really didn't know what to do. So, he actually went into the Peace Corps and was in Madagascar for two and a half years where he worked in ecology, they called it, and in agriculture. And that really stirred his interest in that area. So, when he got back, he asked me to continue with the farming operation. In fact, we bought another 40 or 80 acres in just east of Shelby for fruit production and Ben then went and enrolled in a two-year master's program at Michigan State in Ag. Research, Fruit Tree Research, and started farming full- time and met an absolutely wonderful gal from Kent City, Amber [?], whose parents are big apple growers and neighbors of Vernon Bull. And so, Ben, today... she, Amber, was also in the Peace Corps and they had met at a Peace Corps event. And so, Ben is farming with his father-in-law, which allowed me to, as I semi-retire, I ended up selling my asparagus farm two years ago to Ryan and Chris Mahlberg. [?] I was holding the farm back in case Ben wanted to farm full-time, recognizing it’s so capital intensive. If there isn't some help from the parents, it's never going to happen right away. WU: Right. But at this point, it's more or less working. Did he marry this gal? LB: Yes, he married this gal; that is his wife. WU: And so, he's working with his in-laws? LB: And he's working with his in-laws. He puts on a lot of miles with his little S-10 pickup. He still has the eighty-acre farm here in Shelby, and that's largely cherries and apples, some cherries. And so, he and his wife, she works for Gordon Food Services buying products, especially fruits and vegetables for them because of her background. And they do a Farmer's Market on Fulton Street and in Rockford on Fridays and Saturdays. And they help run the family farm at Kent City, as well as the Shelby farm, 12 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: Well, I'm going to lead you into community activity because I know you're very much involved in that. And then we'll see if there's anything special you want to say and items that I haven't touched, at least for the purpose of today. Just briefly, you're involved in your County Commissioner to begin with, correct? LB: Yes. WU: And you've been there for how long? LB: I have been a County Commissioner for around thirteen years. Before that, I was on the Shelby Village Council for about twelve years, including Village President. WU: And are you from a church or a service club situation? Why don’t you describe that? LB: Within the church family, I'm a member and the chairman of the Deacons of New Era Reformed Church. And for organizations, I am a member and have been for over thirty years to Shelby Rotary Club. And I'm a member of, of course, Farm Bureau, member of MSU Extension Advisory Committee. And that would be a four-county committee. And part of being a County Commissioner also puts you in with other activities. One is I'm a member of the Michigan Works and that would be the West Central and that would be a total of six counties. I'm one of three members representing Oceana County. So, we look and we have an office here in Oceana County and Shelby and we work hard to get enough employees with the farmers, which is becoming a bigger problem. WU: Just to get the help needed. LB: Just to get the help needed. And part of it is, when I was in high school, all high school kids worked. Today, that isn't the case. I'm not saying they're lazy, but they've got band camp, they've got football camp, they've got cross country camp, they've got basketball camp. They've got all kinds of things going on. WU: And in what ways have you seen our area change since your boyhood days? LB: Since my boyhood days, I would say when I was in school, I'm happy to say we've always had pretty good race relations. And that, what I mean by that, is the Hispanics that were in my high school class were friends and they still are friends. But that probably represented five to ten percent of the class. Today, I think both Hart and Shelby, probably forty to forty-five percent of the student population would be Hispanic. I'm not saying that's bad or good, but, you know, that's probably the biggest change. And what I have found, Hispanics - in general, and I'm generalizing - but they really value hard work. They don't value education. You're going to see a lot of the parents will encourage the boys at sixteen or seventeen: Why continue with school if you're going to... if you can work elsewhere. WU: And make some money right now. LB: Right. WU: Well, if someone listens to this interview or reads the transcript that eventually will be made, say, thirty or forty years from now. What would you most like them to know about your life and the community? LB: Well, one of the things... I'm going to borrow a phrase from my old or former Shelby High School or Shelby School Superintendent, John [?]. John said he couldn't wait - as he was growing up on a farm - he 13 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department couldn't wait to get away from burning wood. He said it seemed like every Saturday we had to go out, chop down trees, cut wood. And he said, you know what happened? Of course, he started building homes in the summer. And he said, as I got older, I went back to burning wood because I needed the exercise and I enjoyed it. And I think back probably my least favorite thing to do in the wintertime was cutting wood on Saturday, using a two-wheel drive pickup, getting stuck, and having to cut wood with my dad and brothers and not liking that at all. Hey, the last two or three years, I’ve really enjoyed cutting wood and stacking it and burning a little wood along with my gas. WU: Well, is there anything that you would like to share that I may not have asked you about? Sort of an open-ended question... LB: Sure. WU: ...to give you a chance to say something that you think is important to, as part of this interview. LB: And again, this interview primarily ties in with agriculture. I am hopeful that we will continue to remain to have a strong, viable agriculture community. Obviously, we have the food processing plants, Gerber is very important, Peterson is important. But when I first moved here, in fact, when I graduated from college in ‘79, there was no such firm as Peterson’s Food Processing. Things are always changing and embrace that change. And hopefully you will get some dynamic people like an Earl Peterson who will continue to invest in the area and that we have smart enough government officials that basically stay out of the way when you have a responsible person like Earl who's willing to invest. And you can go through history over the last one hundred and twenty years, those individuals have stepped up. And it just seems to me like government is doing what it can to put a harness and hold back some of those folks. And I'm hopeful that in this area will continue to see people - again, I use the word “responsible” people - who won't leave a legacy of pollution like they did in the White Lake area. But that will continue to employ people, buy products here, and do what we call value-added services to our agriculture. WU: Well, I see the time that we had allotted is about to expire here. Larry, I just want to thank you for your time and for sharing your memories with me. And this formally concludes our interview. Thank you very much. 14 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c816ace3fec8a9d7c1ec5c3235a0d7d9.mp3 25f7e47e9ff6887f4a4bcd689b9622db Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Byl_Larry Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Byl, Larry Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-06-18 Title A name given to the resource Byl, Larry (audio interview and transcript) Description An account of the resource Oral history interview with Lawrence (Larry) Byl. Interviewed by Walter Urick on June 18, 2016 in Hart, Michigan. English language. Larry Byl was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1957 as the son of two Dutch immigrants. Larry and his family moved to western Oceana County in 1966 and created a life for their family on their eighty-acre fruit farm, which over the years grew to become a three-hundred-acre farm. He attended Shelby High School where he took Future Farmers of America classes, and later graduated from Hope College in Holland, Michigan before finding his life’s work in real estate. Larry also served many years as County Commissioner and Village President for his community of Shelby, Michigan. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Urick, Walter (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Fruit growers Future Farmers of America Hope College Audio recordings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/34038c27fc5f74aa2406b01375bbe74c.jpg 4bc2c3e9ef4e52e5372cf1628068ae84 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_MoulE_photo-001 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cotton family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1950 Title A name given to the resource Cotton family, circa 1950 Description An account of the resource Photograph of the Cotton Family. Family picked cherries for many years. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Moul, Esther Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives 1950s https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/944be5d9d5b24b7a826ff449d3b1fffb.pdf 7645257c4b9ecb261a34ba25a5fcc804 PDF Text Text Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department Ralph Dold Interview Interviewed by Walter Urick & Kimberly McKee June 18, 2016 Transcript KM: We're all set. WU: My name is Walter Urick and I'm here with Dr. Kim McKee. We're here today on this June 18th, 2016, in the city of Hart Community Center at Hart, Michigan, for the purposes of obtaining the oral history of the Ralph Dold family. And obviously, Ralph is present today. And this oral history is being collected as part of the Growing Community Project, which is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Program. Ralph, I want to thank you for taking the time to visit with Dr. Kim and myself today. We're both interested to learn more about your family history, your experiences living and working in Oceana County. And so, we'll start out with some easy questions and we'll work from there. First, when and where were you born? RD: I was born in Detroit in 1931. WU: The exact date of your birth is? RD: November 13th, Friday. That's what started the… [laughter]. 1 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: [Laughter] Friday, the 13th. Well, tell me a little bit about your parents, their names? RD: I had real good parents. Frank Xavier didn't like that middle name. Frank was my father and Magdalena was my mother. They both came from Illinois. Father was a carpenter and of course, from [?] farming. He grew up on a farm and my mother grew up on a farm. My dad was a first-generation immigrant and my mother about the second generation. WU: From, what...? RD: Germany. WU: All right. RD: There's a clutch of Dolds in Freiburg, Germany. WU: Really, the Black Forest area? RD: [Laughter] Yeah. WU: Very familiar with it. RD: My [?] owns the brewery. WU: We have relatives in the Black Forest. So, your dad and mom were first generation Americans? RD: My dad was first generation, my mother the second generation. WU: Now, apparently you were born in Detroit. RD: Born in Detroit, East Side. WU: And your dad was a carpenter? RD: Yeah. Except at that time there wasn't much building going on because we had a phenomenon: The Depression. WU: Right. What about your mom? Was she working outside the house? RD: No, she never did that part. Dad thought that was not proper. Figured if you had to have your wife work, you were a poor excuse for a man. [Laughter] WU: Did you have any siblings? RD: Yeah, I have a sister who is still alive and two brothers. One brother died last year. Ninety-four. My sister is ninety-three now and still going strong. So, we're long livers. And one brother died of a heart attack fifteen years ago, so. WU: Well… RD: Detroit, that was a nice place when we lived there. I mean, it turned into a high crime area later, but... and now it's turning into a brownfield, about everything was torn down. WU: Well, I want to talk about your childhood or try to get you to talk about your childhood a little bit. Were you raised in Detroit? 2 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Yeah, up until nineteen forty-six I lived in Detroit. WU: So that would have made you fifteen years old or thereabouts. RD: Yeah, that's right. WU: Let's just briefly go through that period of your life. RD: You know, I can remember, like I said, it was the Depression. I can remember things about like four or five years old. You start remembering things and I remember that it was awful hard to find money. Of course, unemployment and market collapse didn't mean much to a five-year-old, you know. WU: Were you're living in a group home of sorts or a single family…? RD: No, it was a… we had our own home. It was a red… of course, houses were close together. You know, I could reach out like this and touch my house in the neighbor's house. [Laughter] WU: But it was a single-family home? RD: Yeah, single family. WU: And east side of Detroit. RD: Yeah, and I went to school at Stevens Elementary School, which has recently been torn down, and they must have ran that right under the ground because it was old when I was going there. So, they got their full use out of that building. WU: So basically, at least through an educational standpoint, you were a city kid up until age fifteen or so. RD: Yeah, that's right. WU: Did you have any reason to go into the countryside during the summers and so forth? RD: My dad was tired of the city and, you know, the neighborhood was going to pot already anyway. And so, I figured, you know, it would be better out in the country, be better for me. And well my brother was already gone from home by then. Yeah, and so we moved out to White Lake area, which is west of Pontiac. WU: Okay, White Lake, west of Pontiac, not the White Lake that I’m thinking of. RD: No, not this one. I think there's probably a couple more. I went to Huron Valley School [?] consolidation. And it was in the process of consolidating with all the usual complaints and what have you. I have a history of going through consolidations. When I got work in New York, they were going through a consolidation, the same complaints. And when I got here, they were consolidating. Same complaints. [Laughter] WU: Before you moved out of Detroit, just since we’re doing sort of an oral family history, are there any special childhood memories that you had that you'd like to share with us or with whoever might be reading or listening to this years from now? RD: Well, like I say, the Depression was going on. Our playground was the alley and we had our own games: Duck on the Rock, you played with tin cans, and Tippee, that you played with broomsticks. And 3 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department then one of the things was trying to kill rats [laughter], the sport of kings. So, they had big garbage containers. There was a four-family flat next door, and they had a big garbage container, and you dump the garbage in the top and then they shoveled it out the other end onto a garbage... city garbage truck. So we would throw a match in the top and get stuff burning and the rats that were in there had to make a break for it. And then we threw rocks at them. [Laughter] WU: So those are some of your vivid childhood memories. RD: [Laughter] Kind of a warped childhood. WU: But so, you finished… what, you must have been about a sophomore in high school when you left Detroit? RD: I was a... finished half of the ninth grade because Detroit went... they ended one half the grade in the spring. And the second half, you know, they had… WU: And then you had a November 13th birthday, which put you in a little different category, I guess. RD: So, when I got out to Milford, I finished the ninth grade at Milford and then tenth played football. And it wasn't very active in the social life because we lived about nine, ten miles from Milford. WU: But you were living on what... was this a home or was it a farm? RD: We had... it was about like an acre of land and we built a house there. I helped my dad build. He was a carpenter, so. WU: So, you build your own home or your dad did? RD: Yeah. WU: With help from you and your brother or whomever. RD: Yeah, and so that was a good experience for me. Yeah. WU: Did you have any… RD: We had some chickens. WU: ...animals? That’s what I was alluding to. RD: But nothing very... much bigger than that. WU: You didn't have a cow… RD: No, no. WU: ...or a horse or anything like that? RD: We did have a big garden. We grew just a lot of stuff. WU: And basically, for home consumption? RD: Yeah, basically for home consumption. WU: Like what do you remember? 4 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Potatoes, of course. And I used to keep cabbage at the root cellar. One of the things, and this kind of goes back to the German background. One of the things my folks always had on hand was honey. Bought a sixty pound can of honey every year. So, Germans like honey. WU: Did you get into the bee business or anything at all? RD: No, we could buy it. And, of course, the other thing we always made was sauerkraut, you know, so... I still make sauerkraut once in a while. WU: So, those are some of your childhood memories of living at home? RD: Of course, White Lake, because we were on the lake we spent a lot of time in the water. WU: And you're talking about swimming and…? RD: Swimming and fishing. But swimming a lot, four hours a day swimming or something. WU: During the summer months. RD: Yeah. WU: So, you graduate from high school in what year, Ralph? RD: [Nineteen] forty-nine. WU: And at that point? RD: I started at Michigan State that fall. WU: Okay, and you went to Michigan State for any particular? RD: Crops and soils. Went there for four years WU: What caused you to pick that? RD: Well, I was interested in growing things. We had the garden and I guess I just and I had won a scholarship; I was in the FFA in high school. WU: So, in high school you were active in the FFA. You were active in trying to grow crops like the natives and whatnot. RD: So, I majored in Crops and Soils and it was pretty uneventful for four years, I guess, just doing what everybody does. I had fairly good grades - three-point-four average, I think. WU: And you graduated what year, you said? RD: Graduated in [nineteen] fifty-three. Graduated in June, went active in the service and... WU: So right out of Michigan State, you end up in the service. What branch of the service? RD: After basic, I was an officer ROTC. WU: You were in ROTC at State, correct? RD: Yeah. 5 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: Okay, and so now you're in what branch of the service? RD: Army. And so, I went through basic in the officer’s course for a few months and went to Germany. And I was ammunition supply officer for a Berlin command and I didn't do very much because we were within the city, you couldn't shoot anything very big without disturbing people. And so, like I say, it was pretty easy, a little bit of small arms and grenades and a few things like that. But mostly we just sat on it and… WU: ...had it ready to go if you needed it. RD: Well, yeah, we wouldn't have lasted long if the flap went up because we were surrounded [laughter]. They could’ve put up a division against every platoon, we wouldn't have been there very long. WU: So, your service, is this a couple of years or? RD: Two years, yeah. And then got out of service, went to work in New York for the Cooperative Extension Service. KM: In New York City or? RD: Oh, Chenango County, New York. KM: Could you spell that? RD: C-h-e-n-a-n-g-o. KM: Okay. RD: The pill works [?], Norwich Coracle Company [?]. Truckloads of Aspirins. [?] WU: Tell me, help me understand, what part of the state of New York that was? RD: That would be Southcentral. WU: Largest town that I might be familiar with? RD: Binghamton is just a little south of us. KM: Okay. RD: Syracuse was quite a ways north of us. Hamilton was just a little ways north. KM: Okay. WU: Well, that helps. So, now you are working for the state of New York? RD: It's a combination thing, a combination of Chenango County and the state; a good deal like they have it set up here. WU: So, it's the extension service? RD: Cooperative Extension Service. Actually, I was hired by Cornell, somebody at Cornell. 6 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: So like Michigan State is sort of the college that keeps our programs going here. Cornell University was doing the same thing in the state of New York, is that a fair…? RD: Yeah, it's their agricultural college. And I was there a couple of years and I kind of wanted to get back to Michigan and I had a chance to come to work in Hart. WU: Well, now let’s wait because I've lost track of the Michigan connection. In fact, I'm not so sure we've made it yet. RD: Just the fact that I was from there. I was from there. I was from Michigan. WU: Oh, Michigan. I was thinking of Hart. KM: So, what year did you come back to Michigan? RD: I came here in nineteen fifty-seven and that's why I think I'm a relatively recent arrival. Why am I having anything to do with the history? [Laughter] RD: But so, I arrived here, Bill McClain, you probably remember... WU: Oh yes. RD: ...County Agent. I was a 4-H Agent here for - I can’t even remember - until sometime in the nineteen sixties. And I don't know if I was ever really very good as a 4-H agent. I don't know that I really did a super good job. WU: Before we go much further, I want to make sure I understand the transition. True, you grew up in Michigan? RD: Yeah. WU: But you had no connections with Hart, Michigan? RD: Not up until I arrived. WU: Or Oceana County, is that true? RD: Yep. WU: So, then you're working in New York, you're gaining experience working with the agriculture community. RD: Yeah, 4-H. WU: And Bill McClain, who was… was he the County Extension Agent at that time? RD: He was the County Extension Agent. WU: How did you even find out that there was an opening? RD: Michigan State had a locator service. 7 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: I see. So, that's how you heard that there's a possibility in Oceana County for a 4-H agent. You obviously applied; this is how you showed up in Oceana County. Was that a quick summation of it? RD: Yeah, that’s about right. WU: Now, were you single or married at that time? RD: I was single at that time. WU: Okay, and the year was nineteen fifty-seven that you showed up? RD: Right. WU: A year I remember well. That's the year I graduated from Hart High School. RD: So anyway, Bill McClain was the County Extension Agent. Bob Hopkins, who you probably remember… WU: …very well. RD: ...was District Horticultural Agent. And Barbara Culver was the Home Agent. WU: Barbara Culver, okay. RD: I fixed that, I married her! [Laughter] RD: And we didn't quite make it to our forty-fifth anniversary before she died. WU: Well now help so I understand her background. The builder Culvers, is that…? RD: No connection that I know of. WU: No connection. Okay, well I know enough about your background that it made me wonder: is that how you got into electricity? But that’s another subject. RD: No, that’s different... WU: Yeah, let's not go there yet. [Laughter] WU: Alright, so we have you in Hart. You're working with Bill McClain and you're working with the 4-H folks. RD: Right. WU: And in that situation, at least help us understand, what 4-H was doing at that time and how it was working with agriculture? RD: Well, and at that time there were a lot of 4-H clubs that were Dairy clubs. We had a lot of small dairies at that time and they've sort of faded, you know. But anyway, so we had...well, the kids had all kinds of projects from rabbits and gerbils up to cows, you know, and a big thing was trying to develop 8 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department leadership in the kids. And we had some bookkeeping projects; when they had like a cow, how much they put in and how much they got and so forth. WU: Yeah, keep track of everything…what you fed them... RD: Yeah, a little basic economics. WU: Okay. RD: And I went on, I can't even remember just exactly when I quit, but Charlie Halbert hired me for Farm Bureau services, selling farm supplies but a commission if I sold buildings. Pole buildings were getting big then because farms, like I say, the small farms were fading out of the picture and the big [?] were coming in, they needed big machinery and expensive machinery. So, we got to have big open buildings to store that stuff in and handle it. That’s where pole buildings came in. WU: Okay, so at this point you’re in Oceana County and we talked a little bit about the 4-H program. I know 4-H and the county fair was one big… RD: Oh, yeah. WU: Just briefly describe how 4-H and the county fair sort of work together and what the kids were trying to accomplish at that stage? RD: The kids, of course, it was a lot of exhibits, still is. You know, probably most of the exhibits are 4-H. Of course, like I said, the kids had projects and the county fair was the culmination. You know, if you had the grand champion or so forth, a feather in your hat and so forth. But that hasn't changed much, I guess, it’s still about the same thing. WU: Well, now do you remember the year that you started to work with Charlie and Farm Bureau? RD: It must have been about [nineteen] sixty-one. WU: Okay, now were you married at that time? RD: Yeah, by then I was, I think. WU: You had married Betty by then? RD: Been married about a year. That was another thing, being a 4-H agent and being married was kind of a conflict because we had to be out for meetings on so many evenings. WU: Never home, indeed. RD: Well, and that didn't go over very good. So, Barb didn't like that idea. I didn't either. WU: Excuse me, it's Barb. Did I call her Betty? RD: Barbara. WU: It’s Barbara, yes. So then, I can say that I went to work with Charlie at Farm Bureau. And it wasn't very long before I stopped selling just about everything except buildings, the first year or two I sold a few buildings. And before we got done, well, first of all, I had three crews running. Before long, we were building - I don't know how many by then - and that was keeping me busy, but it was fun work. 9 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: Was the Farm Bureau doing that? Or was this Buildings Plus? RD: No, they didn't exist yet. WU: Okay. RD: Yeah, and then Harry Lynch came to work for me - you remember Harry. WU: Very well. RD: Okay, so there were two salesmen and he was well acquainted up around Custer so we could get our business up there. And like I said, the first year it was one or two buildings. Before long it was a hundred and fifty. WU: Where is it? I am being called to start another interview. RD: Yeah, go right ahead. KM: I’m going to finish... WU: ...and she's going to take you through the rest of your oral history and get a chance to work with you on some of those issues. So, excuse me, I'm very pleased that you're willing to share all this. RD: So, like I said, we had a lot of pole buildings going. Harry Lynch came to work for me. And then by that time, we had five building crews going and one of the crew leaders sprung off and became our third salesman. KM: So, around what year was this? RD: Well, it went up until about all through the [nineteen] seventies. And we had some big projects: the bowling alley out north of town was one [laughter]. Like I said, big buildings and the city maintenance garage and so forth. That's a big one, but a lot of them were just... a lot of thirty-six-point-forty-eights because they would hold a Friday cherry shaker. KM: Oh, okay. RD: So, we built a lot of farm buildings and a few commercials. So, this went on, had a little debate with the building inspector on one, and then we had a big hassle with the electrical inspector. We had a hog house going, a big one, and just before the pigs are due to arrive, he came in and said, you're not meeting the electrical code. The Michigan legislature accepted the bill - the agricultural bill - from the building, from the electrical bill. I said, “we don't have to have that.” They says you do. Well, the owner was getting peeved, he says, if that building ain't ready by the time the pigs get here, I'm going to put half of them in your basement and the other half in the electrical inspector’s basement.” [Laughter] So, okay, we complied with the law. Even though we weren't supposed to, we did it real quick. That bill cost us about thirty-five hundred bucks. So, after the dust had settled, I called down to the State and found out I was right. We didn’t have to send the supervisors a bill for thirty-five hundred. KM: Did they ever pay you back? 10 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: They said, “we won't pay.” Pretty soon I got a call from a prosecuting attorney. I go up there with all my books and he says, “don't even open your book.” He says, “you're right.” But the supervisor still wouldn't pay. I said, “you will pay!” They said, “okay, we'll see you in court.” So, I sued the county. [Laughter] KM: Did you win? RD: I collected, but not the full amount; that attorney caved in. So anyway, the building business went on and in nineteen eighty we could begin to see Farm Bureau Services was making some bad decisions, big mistakes. This company is teetering. So, we had one fellow in our crowd there, Les Sieber [?], who was good with legal things. He went and we started to set up a corporation called “Buildings Plus.” KM: Okay. RD: And thought we'd have that on the shelf if Farm Bureau collapsed. We never got it on the shelf; Farm Bureau collapsed. They just wanted to get rid of the building business, they wanted to get rid of everything. So when we opened the doors of Buildings Plus, we had a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of sales! They just gave it to us. So, Buildings Plus went on pretty good and went on quite successfully. KM: And so, you only had the one partner? RD: Oh, there were ten of us. KM: There's ten of you? RD: ...in the corporation. Les Siebert [?] shot himself, not because the corporation, I know he had bad family problems. We had one of the members die, and so forth. We’d have them over [?], they would get paid off if they retired or quit or whatever. KM: Sure. RD: And this went on until Charlie, as manager - the manager before - he retired, got paid back and I took over as manager. KM: So, do you remember what year that was? RD: It was nineteen eighty-seven and I stayed manager for about seven years and retired. KM: Okay. RD: Yeah, and the company then, I don't know, some bad decisions were made or whatever. They collapsed. Not because I left [laughter], but the company collapsed and this just left me all alone. Oh, I should go back a little bit. The electrical business. KM: Yes. RB: Okay, after that practice with the electrical on that hog house, that kind of t’d [ticked] me off and I said because, “this guy is going to have us have to have a license to screw in a bulb; by God, I’ll become an electrician.” KM: So what year did you become an electrician? 11 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Well, it takes time. So, we fudged a few figures because I’ve done some electrical work. And I don't know, it must have been sometime in the [nineteen] seventies, I went down and took an exam to be… the Journeyman’s exam, which I passed. And then I waited two years and then I was eligible for the Masters, which I did. And we were doing pretty good electrical business before long. We had two electrical crews working, the buildings we built and others, I mean... KM: So how many building crews did you have at that time? So, you had the two electrical crews and? RD: Two electricals and I think about five buildings. We went up, at maximum, I think we had about fiftytwo employees then. KM: Okay. RD: Because we had a bookkeeper because, of course, computers arose, which I'm not much of a bookkeeper to start with and with a computer, forget it, you know? [Laughter] But she was good. So okay, we went through several before we got one that was really good. And we had a receptionist and had some people at the counter because we also did retail sales. And so, I went over the electrical business, so that's kind of fun. I enjoyed that. KM: Okay. RD: So, after I retired, I still got a little electrical work. Let’s see, Barb died. That was eleven years ago. Yeah, about eleven and a half years ago, and, you know, the first while after she died, that house was awful empty. So, I did a lot of work. If I remember right, I did about thirteen thousand dollars’ worth of electrical work just on the side. KM: Oh, wow. RD: And I wasn't trying to do, you know, just whatever came along. But anyway, so I stayed in that until about... I ran out of gas, so I just got to where unfortunately I'm not as strong as I used to be. I’m slow; I can't charge people for working like that. So, I don't do much of anything anymore. KM: So, then you retired and you said nineteen ninety-four from Builders Plus? RD: No, no. About two thousand two, I think. KM: Two thousand and two, okay. And then that's when you started the electrical? RD: Well yeah, we've been doing electrical for about... KM: Well, I mean… RD: Buildings Plus had electric crews. KM: Sure, but you had been working and doing stuff at Buildings Plus until two thousand two. RD: Yep. KM: And then you started to take on more electrical. RD: I just did electrical on my own. Buildings Plus was still doing electrical at that time, they were still operating under my license. 12 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Okay. RD: Which last January I let all my licenses go. I didn't want to pay the bill for them because I can't do the work. KM: Sure. RD: And I'm kind of proud of the fact that a lot of the people that we started at Buildings Plus went on to do electrical work, including the line superintendent for the city hired. Oh, you know, and a lot of the people that we got started in the building business went on. I feel good about that. We got people started out on good things, you know. KM: That's great. RD: So that's about it. KM: Well, let's go back in time because we talked a lot about what you did in terms of work, but you got married? RD: Yep. KM: And so, when you first arrived in Oceana County, what was it like? What was it like to be in Hart, at that time? RD: Oh, it was a lot different and it was different socially. We had many more migrants then because cherries were picked by hand and they were all thought of - the term “Latino” hadn’t become involved they were Mexican. Probably most of them were. And they had the Mexican fiesta downtown. Of course, downtown was a different looking place due to several fires. Some buildings disappeared, some were rebuilt. Some got the top floors knocked off. You know, they were… so the landscape changed a little bit. And, like I say, the small farmers who were good fellows and all that, nice people, but dairy is very time consuming. You're stuck fourteen hours a day if you can do the chores in two hours and that's got to be oppressive. And so, the small dairies went out and the dairies that remained were big enough to where they could have many people. You didn't have to be there all the time. And then the shift came to… we always had asparagus, it was always big stuff and of course, there’s a lot more now and the tree fruits, of course, but then we started in with the truck crops like carrots, squash, pickles... cucumbers. People always laugh, they aren’t pickles until you pickle them. [Laughter] RD: So, yeah, we had a lot more of the farm crops. I mean, like corn, especially corn. KM: Okay. RD: We had, well, some very fortunate years where the corn belt had a terrible drought and we didn’t. And so, and of course, I always was familiar with cherries and like I say the “tree foods” were always big. But, yeah, Hart changed a lot, like working at Farm Bureau still had the old feed mill. People brought in grain and had it ground and mixed and so forth. Well, one of our electric projects was rewiring that and we pulled the old feed mill out and junked it. 13 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Okay. RD: It no longer, I mean, nobody does that anymore. KM: What year was that? RD: I can’t tell you for sure. KM: Decade? RD: Huh? KM: What decade? RD: Oh, it must have been probably early middle [nineteen] eighties, maybe? KM: Okay. RD: No, wait a minute. Yeah, it would have been about the middle [nineteen] eighties. KM: So, when you first moved here before you got married, did you live in sort of downtown Hart or were you further out? RD: I rented a room over here for about, oh, six to eight months. And then I built a garage to live in until I could build a house; that didn't work out too good. I couldn't get a well, so we jacked it up and moved it and got a well where we moved it to. And that was the house that Barbara and I started; it was real small. KM: So where did you move the house? RD: Over to the west side of town. KM: The west side of town? RD: Originally it was on the east side. KM: Okay. RD: Yeah, you know this business about you're supposed to be able to be the guy that divides the water with the… you know, goes along with… the stick dips when he goes [?]. KM: Yes. RD: We had two of them, one who was sort of an amateur with the stick and one [?] who was supposed to be super at it. They laid out this van [?] of water. They drilled six holes, three holes up. None of them had water. I had a hole three hundred and eighty feet deep and no well. I paid half price at that time. KM: Sure. RD: So, it was still darned expensive to find out there wasn't water there. So anyway, we moved it over and they got a good well there, so they're still going. And I say that was the house that Barbara and I had when we got married. It wasn’t very big. And so we went along pretty good. We adopted a baby. 14 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Okay. RD: That was okay. The adoption agency said it was pretty small, so by the time we said we're going to adopt a second one, they said you’ve got to have more room. So, we built the house we’ve got now. KM: Okay, and where is that still on the west side? RD: South of town on top of the hill. And I pulled off some of the guys from my crews and got the thing framed in and we did a lot of work ourselves. Of course, we hired the plasterer. We hired some work, we hired a lot of the work. Fortunately, we had some money on hand and could finance the thing. Still kept the small house. KM: So what year did you move to the second house? RD: Well, it must have been about fifty years ago. That would make it when? Sometime in the [nineteen] sixties. KM: Yes. RD: Because the first baby we adopted is fifty-one now. KM: Okay. RD: And that went on. Then we adopted another one who he lives here in Hart and adopted a girl. And if we were to be sure we could get another girl, we would have tried adopting a fifth one. But the agency says, you know, enough already. KM: What agency did you go through? RD: Catholic Social Services. KM: Okay. RD: You could guess by my mother's maiden name or first name, Magdalena. KM: Yes. RD: Who else? [Laughter] RD: So that, of course, kids went through the whole school system here at Hart and I think they all got a pretty good education. I think Hart’s got a good system here, yeah. But, I say there's been a lot of change in Hart and I think, you know, one of the things kind of impressed me. Like I say, the little farmers went out and of course, land became so valuable, farmers had access to credit now. And most of them knew how to do what [?]. I'm really impressed by what some of the young farmers are doing. I mean, this is computerized and controlled by satellites. You know, we are a long way from what I know about. And yeah, they go across the field in the fertilizer, putting on more or less fertilizer because the satellite up there is telling it what to do. So, like I say, this is kind of beyond my scope. KM: So, do you have any memories besides the ones you've shared about living at Hart? 15 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Oh, I have to think about that a little bit. Well, I knew a lot of interesting people. You know, when you were doing building work, you met people. Oh, I knew Walter, here, you're from fixing his sprinkler system, which was an annual occasion, it seemed like. [Laughter] And his garage door operator. You know, you just met a lot of... went to a lot of interesting places. KM: Okay. RD: And some are more interesting because they were pleasant and some are more interesting because they were unpleasant. KM: Sure. RD: Yeah, you know, some of the places you did work, you put your boots on to go in. KM: So, you mentioned one of your children still lives in Hart? RD: Yeah, Gregory, my youngest boy. KM: Okay. RD: He lives in Hart. He works on a farm and he has worked in industry, too, but he likes to work on a farm. And my daughter lives in Whitehall, so that's not too dreadfully far away. But she did six years in the Air Force before. And my second oldest son did four years in Germany. Unfortunately, the oldest boy wanted desperately to get into the Coast Guard, but he could only see with one eye, he was blind in one eye and they wouldn’t take him. And the youngest boy, would have tried to get into the service, but he has had seizures and they won’t let him in. They’re pretty picky. KM: So, do you think one of the reasons why they wanted to go into the service was because you were in the service? RD: I think it was just expected that people did about then. You know, I mean they had the draft; it was Vietnam and we still had the draft running. KM: Sure. RD: So, you joined, I think maybe Mark was drafted. I can't remember. KM: Okay. RD: Anyway, you know, I went in ROTC and if I hadn't, I'd have been drafted. KM: So, and I forgot to ask you this earlier when you were talking about your parents, since your dad was first generation and your mom was second generation German, did you grow up speaking any German? RD: I wish I had; they both spoke German whenever they wanted to talk about something they didn't want us to know. [Laughter] But I should’ve learned German then. KM: Okay. RD: My uncle spoke German; I should have. I couldn't recognize things in German when I got to Germany. But Germany is like here, there's a lot of difference between South Germany and North Germany. You know, just like Georgia… 16 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Sure. RD: ...and New England. KM: Okay. RD: Where did you come from? Are you…? KM: So I'm adopted. I was adopted from South Korea. RD: Oh, okay. KM: Yep, and I grew up in western New York actually. So, I grew up in Rochester. RD: Oh, yeah. Rochester is in the Lake Plains region. KM: Yes. RD: That's the fruit growing region for New York. KM: Yes, it is. RD: That's kind of an interesting background. You ought to put something… [laughter]. KM: So, did any of your children get into building then? You mentioned your one son did a little bit. RD: He worked with us at Buildings Plus for a little while. KM: Oh, okay. RD: He didn't get along the best… he isn’t a person that works good with other people. But we were building at that time a big structural steel building and he was good at that because he wasn't afraid of heights. KM: Oh wow, okay. RD: So, you know, he could get up there. And I had a couple of people that were very good at heights, you know. One guy, whether it was three feet off the ground or thirty - it was all the same. You could walk around then, so, you know. And it's kind of sad. He comes to our church now and he's got Alzheimer's disease and you think, boy, how able he was and now, you know, it's kind of sad. KM: And so, what do you think of Hart today? RD: I think Hart’s doing good. You know, the buildings are up. Well, they're having a little trouble keeping some of them occupied. But, you know, the town is in good shape. We don't have a slum. Well, we don’t have a slum area or anything like that. They keep the streets up nice, the town looks good, and I think Hart's doing very well. And which is pretty hard to do in small town USA because your businesses can't compete with the big box stores. So, it's just hard to keep a business going in Hart, supermarkets, that type of thing - food. 17 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department But we had a very good clothing store here, Powers [?], and they had to shut down; they couldn't compete. I really hated to see them go because they were really helpful. And well, we’ve got one hardware store left in town. We had two or three. Of course, again, the same thing - how do they compete? KM: Yeah. RD: But I think Hart is keeping the town looking good and reasonably prosperous for a small town. I think they're doing good. KM: Okay, so remember that this interview will be saved for a long time. RD: Oh, okay. KM: So, when someone listens to this tape fifty plus years from now, what would you like them to know about your life and community? RD: I don't know; I don’t know what they'll be interested in then. KM: Well, what do you think is... from all of your fifty some odd years living in Hart, what do you think is something that you want people to remember? RD: I think I’d like them to remember some of the people here that I think were so good. Some of the people in our church that I always thought were so remarkable. One of the farm families out here, Helen Gilliland, and I think everybody ought to remember her. She was such a remarkable woman; not that she had years of college, but, boy, she was intelligent. I don't know, I guess, I think some of the people that built things up here or some of the farmers that established. I think Greiner Farms out here that started processing their own fruit and have grown very large. Todd Greiner out here… around here, when you say Greiner, that doesn't narrow it down very far - there’s a lot of them. KM: Okay. RD: But anyway, Todd Greiner did the same thing, build up a very successful business. Yeah, I think they ought to remember people like that and how much they did. I suppose you ought to remember some of the politicals. Yeah, we've had, I think, some outstanding mayors and some not so outstanding. KM: So, can you give me an example of maybe an outstanding mayor? RD: So, I’m trying to think. I think Harry Lynch did well, the guy that was a salesman for us. I think, I can't pick out… of course, I'm not in the city. KM: Sure. RD: But I think, you know, I can't pick a particular one, but I think they've done a good job with the town. KM: Okay. RD: And then, of course, you also have city managers. And I think the one we’ve got now - oh, I ought to know his name. I'm getting old, I don't remember a thing like that. 18 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: That’s okay. RD: We had some that I thought were really poor, but hey, I wasn't paying their wages so I guess I shouldn't say too much. [Laughter] KM: So, do you have any advice to a young person who may be listening to this tape? RD: I guess my ID's are pretty outdated, but I think people ought to look for getting into a job that produces a tangible result. Everybody is producing printouts and pictures and games, but I think we ought to go back. We ought to have some engineers and we ought to have tradesmen. KM: Okay. RD: Boy, it is hard to find people who can take the blueprint and build something out of it. I mean, you know, polymer sheet metal workers, mechanical contractors; the ones that are here do very well. KM: Yes. RD: But it's hard to find people to do that. And kids aren't interested in it. They want to do things that are to do with computers and what have you. So, I think… well, I guess what I thought is they ought to look into the trades. KM: Okay, and then is there anything else that you'd like to share that I have not asked you? RD: I think we've covered an awful lot. [Laughter] I think you’ve got it. KM: Alrighty, well, thank you so much for your time and for sharing your memories with me. 19 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abf077a2a53c54c7afd9dce147755bed.mp3 fefc2059101959bdad91a7bd497128d7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Dold_Ralph Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dold, Ralph Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-06-18 Title A name given to the resource Dold, Ralph (audio interview and transcript) Description An account of the resource Oral history interview with Ralph Dold. Interviewed by Kimberly McKee on June 18, 2016 in Hart, Michigan. English language. Ralph Dold was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1931 as the son of first and second generation German immigrants. His childhood was spent in Detroit during the Great Depression before moving to Milford, Michigan for high school. Ralph later attended Michigan State University and majored in “Crops & Soils” after being a member of the Future Farmers of America while in high school. After graduating from college and serving in the army, he relocated to Hart, Michigan in 1957 where he served as the 4-H Agent and later worked for Farm Bureau Services. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McKee, Kimberly (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Detroit (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Farms Farmers Future Farmers of America Michigan State University Audio recordings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. 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Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-family-journal_1937-1938 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937/1938 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Travel Journal, 1937-1938 Description An account of the resource Field Family travel journal, including trips to Mexico City, Texas, and California November 21, 1936 to April 3, 1937 (California), December 17, 1937 to April 14, 1938 (Mexico City). Blank pages not scanned (including pp247-325). Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Diaries Travel Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6b74e3ea85e07b9a3db0ac7240eb42e4.pdf 664c3b59a0d9fc4a0c05869aeb6efbf9 PDF Text Text ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-family-journal_1939-1940 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939/1940 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Travel Journal, 1939-1940 Description An account of the resource Field Family travel journal, including trips to California, New York, and Florida. Blank pages not scanned. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Diaries Travel Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/484e6db25d1edae70eefead9a368b75a.pdf f88ba31c25b3235db9a4ad9eaed1df88 PDF Text Text ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-family-journal_1941 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Journal, 1941 Description An account of the resource Field Family journal, includes notes about daily life in Shelby, Michigan and Long Beach, California as well as other notes from trips. Of particular note are reflections and description from December, 1941 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Blank pages not scanned. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Diaries Travel Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/00ff88574bee7460c56a7e2579ad092d.pdf d344692611904c3320431d9b67f203c4 PDF Text Text ���������������������������������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. 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Some details regarding household expenses also included. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. 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This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1927-1928 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1927/1928 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1927-1928 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1927-1928. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Some details regarding household expenses and insurance are also included. 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This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1929-1930 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1929/1930 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1929-1930 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1920-1930. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b212ee6f34c15d518fee5bb97240102a.pdf fe53926df22533bebd6df7ac1aed373e PDF Text Text ���������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1930 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1930 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1930 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1930. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/63d6b5be7a718789fced27916321b58c.pdf e66c97539798491c6b9a043f30deba99 PDF Text Text �/ ·, I D (E II F G H I J K L M M� N 0 p Q R s T u V w y z ���������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1931 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1931 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1931 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1931. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/41ec2607960aa8d51e55ff17a35c6294.pdf 2347c9b4482c61308560923d2f012d05 PDF Text Text ��������������������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1934 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1934 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1934 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1934. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for 1934, including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0b91638632811338c04c35b49fea3ac8.pdf 1a1b3dd97e9474a8570cd5387b644298 PDF Text Text ��������������������������������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1935 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1935 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1935 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1935. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for 1935, including cost of sales. Pages 54-86 were blank so were not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/147749f23136e872ce51bde21246950a.pdf 25ac84c08e7dac4ecb30ab6f2f7bdb43 PDF Text Text ������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1936 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1936 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1936 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1936. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for 1936, including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5f9b87a14fe030fa4480a26af2310eff.pdf 2855bb56170abdcb7ade2c3d34c0f6d9 PDF Text Text �������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1937 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1937 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1937 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1937. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/55611449f60f37d17c8e180f226390db.pdf 6978c55bb8d381fa90282b23a8389cd7 PDF Text Text ���������������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1939 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1939 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1939 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1939. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/33da56baf0a9a3d400722d76c79a9721.pdf 4329d0df43c07a8071fbb592102a20f2 PDF Text Text �������������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1940 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1940 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1940 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1940. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3d0972ffb1fad9723eeff1c901921eeb.pdf 9c5905582bba5424672c0e34226d7acb PDF Text Text ����������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1941 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1941 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1941 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1941. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/945155ebe9729c005123c4ddf2b22d2e.pdf 48d0583cedee877b4d2c5b1b10c3fddb PDF Text Text ����������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1942 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1942 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1942 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1942. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/60b3a620bc1e91a896023d1b76b324dd.pdf 5896ba2dfd619bb6ad58c6881c325658 PDF Text Text ��������������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1943 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1943 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1943 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1943. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b9621b9c653db4c7f1889f8221450dd4.pdf bbd7eca21e9c3d91d2dd6bbd44cfab2c PDF Text Text ����������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1944 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1944 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1944. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/249df92e9386ddc5e10221c38d790ae6.pdf 1f294004581660ce3d7b0ef13b35faaa PDF Text Text ������������������������������ Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1945 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1945 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1945. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/959ff207113e25c35927ee6dd0ae23de.pdf 040a3d4eaf35f874c79c8223962d1ddf PDF Text Text ��������������������������������������� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Oceana_Field-farm-records_1946 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Field family Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1946 Title A name given to the resource Field Family Farm Records, 1946 Description An account of the resource Farm Records from 1946. Diary includes all expenses, crops, and labor related to family farm for that period including cost of sales. Blank pages not scanned. Shelby, Michigan. Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Peterson, Marjorie (Field) Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage Project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Subject The topic of the resource Shelby (Mich.) Farms Account books Diaries Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives