Kansas History - Spring 2026
Spring 2026
(Volume 49, Number 1)
"A Tempest in Farm Country: Interview with Peggy Arensman on the American Agriculture Movement and 1979 Tractorcade"
Edited and introduced by James N. Leiker
In 1979, Kansas farmers with the American Agriculture Movement (AAM) joined a nationwide tractorcade to Washington, D.C., in protest of U.S. agricultural policy. While the farm crisis of the 1970s made farm auctions and foreclosures a sad but familiar sight on the rural Plains, it also inspired activism not seen since the Populist era. AAM attempted to create a "pan-farmer" identity that united grain and livestock producers across the country. The movement even transcended gender as farm women took leadership roles, not only in AAM, but in organizations like WIFE (Women Involved in Farm Economics). This oral history interview with Peggy Arensman, conducted by the Kinsley Public Library in 2012, provides a close-up look at the travails of family farming during a time of economic and social crisis, as well as how rural Kansas sought to improve their lot by employing the tactics of mass demonstration that had proved effective by the women's and civil rights movements.
"Kansas: A Centennial Portrait"
by Emory Lindquist, with a foreword by Jay Price
This 1961 article in the Kansas Historical Quarterly, which reflected on the first century of statehood and asked “what is Kansas?”, provides an opportunity to consider where Kansas has been and where it is going, in light of our own experiences during the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding. As Lindquist notes, “Kansas in the dimension of time, like every populated geographic area, has a history which casts long shadows into the future—some good, some evil—a history not always fully understood.” Here he, along with Wichita State University’s Jay Price, explores that history.
Book Reviews
Book Notes
