Search results | Digital Grinnell

Title: American Farmer: Industrialization, Myth, and Autonomy in Iowa’s Corn Belt
Description: Farmers are seen as the ultimate independent agent in American society, but this is not reflected in the reality of modern farming.
Date Created: 2013
PID: grinnell:5753

Title: Characteristics of the Times and Seasons
Description: Journal kept by Richard Spire from 1894-1918 in which he recorded his observations on weather, crop yields and prices, land values, and a few comments on presidential elections and World War I. Richard Spire farmed in Sheridan Township, Poweshiek County, Iowa, from 1872-1910. He and his wife, Isadora Hatfield, had eight children. He was engaged in several livestock buying partnerships and was a large feeder of cattle. In 1899 he was elected assessor. Drake Community Library (Grinnell, Iowa) Archives. Collection #56.
Date Created: 1894
PID: grinnell:12351

Title: Characterizing the soil microbiome and quantifying antibiotic resistance gene dynamics in agricultural soil following swine CAFO manure application
Description: As agriculture industrializes, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are becoming more common. Feces from CAFOs is often used as fertilizer on fields. However, little is known about the effects manure has on the soil microbiome, which is an important aspect of soil health and fertility. In addition, due to the subtherapeutic levels of antibiotics necessary to keep the animals healthy, CAFO manure has elevated levels of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Using 16s rRNA high-throughput sequencing and qPCR, this study sought to determine the impact of swine CAFO manure application on both the soil microbiome and abundance of select antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile element genes (erm(B), erm(C), sul1, str(B), intI1, IncW repA) in agricultural soil over the fall and spring seasons. We found the manure community to be distinct from the soil community, with a majority of bacteria belonging to Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. The soil samples had more diverse communities dominated by Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and unclassified bacteria. We observed significant differences in the soil microbiome between all time points, except between the spring samples. However, by tracking manure associated taxa, we found the addition of the manure microbiome to be a minor driver of the shift. Of the measured genes, manure application only significantly increased the abundance of erm(B) and erm(C) which remained elevated in the spring. These results suggest bacteria in the manure do not survive well in soil and that ARG dynamics in soil following manure application vary by resistance gene.
Date Created: 2020
PID: grinnell:28277

Title: Dale Wolfe Early Life in His Own Words
Description: Autobiographical account of the life of Dale Wolfe from his birth in 1931 in Malcom, Iowa, until 1950 when he was released from the Army. He describes his life growing up during the depression and the various farm jobs he held before he entered the military. Others mentioned in the account are Virgil Taylor, Harold Wallace, La Vern Helm, Ray Puls, and Paul Thomson.
Date Created: 1950
PID: grinnell:17376

Title: Decline and Renewal in the Heartland, Tutorial, Fall 2004, Decline and Renewal in the Heartland
Description: The first year tutorial, taken in the fall semester, is Grinnell College's only general academic course requirement. The college intends the tutorial to assist students in further developing their critical thinking skills and in improving their written and oral communication skills. Each of the tutorials offered in a given fall semester is based around a particular subject matter, which provides the vehicle by which the above goals are accomplished. The arrival of European Americans in the Upper Midwest in the middle of the nineteenth century led to dramatic changes in the region's ecology. In what was perhaps the most rapid and extensive degradation of a natural ecosystem in human history, in the space of 50 years settlers plowed under millions of acres of the native tallgrass prairie and replaced it with a diversified agricultural ecosystem on what proved to be some of the best farmland in the world.
Date Created: 2004
PID: grinnell:317

Title: Decline and Renewal in the Heartland, Fall 2003 Syllabus, Tutorial, Fall 2003, Decline and Renewal in the Heartland
Description: The first year tutorial, taken in the fall semester, is Grinnell College's only general academic course requirement. The college intends the tutorial to assist students in further developing their critical thinking skills and in improving their written and oral communication skills. Each of the tutorials offered in a given fall semester is based around a particular subject matter, which provides the vehicle by which the above goals are accomplished. The arrival of European Americans in the Upper Midwest in the middle of the nineteenth century led to dramatic changes in the region's ecology. In what was perhaps the most rapid and extensive degradation of a natural ecosystem in human history, in the space of 50 years settlers plowed under millions of acres of the native tallgrass prairie and replaced it with a diversified agricultural ecosystem on what proved to be some of the best farmland in the world. As agriculture expanded, the prairie diminished.
Date Created: 2003
PID: grinnell:316

Title: Elizabeth Schultz Interview, American Beliefs and Cultural Values
Description: Elizabeth Pfund was born in Jewell, Iowa. She came to Poweshiek County in 1927 as a rural school teacher. She married Ervin Schultz on Nov. 27, 1929. They raised their two children on the family farm in Malcom Township where she lived for over 65 years. She was active in 4-H, the Farm Bureau, and she served as a Sunday school teacher and in other positions at Trinity Lutheran Church. Interview conducted as part of American Beliefs and Cultural Values, an American Studies class taught by Hanna Griff at Grinnell College in 1993.
Date Created: 1993
PID: grinnell:26710

Title: Gran Bwa
Description: This block was created to represent the environmental turmoil experienced by Haiti since the introduction of sugarcane to the island over 400 years ago. The images in this block are layered in resin, with some images appearing farther from the viewer than others. The layers progress in relation to time, representing different stages of the Haitian environment. The bottom layer of the block is adorned with flowers, referencing the botanical beauty that could be witnessed on the island of Hispaniola before the plantation system took root. Introduction of sugarcane to the island is represented by the Gran Bwa veve, a religious symbol representing the loa Gran Bwa, a Vodou loa responsible for the health of herbs, trees, and other inhabitants of the land. In this block, the artists have chosen to include the Gran Bwa veve to represent an opposing force to the influx of sugarcane. After introducing the two opposing forces, the artists added images of malignant bacteria on the bottom left to symbolize the destruction that sugarcane caused on the island. The bacteria also represents the infectious nature of both sugarcane and plantation slavery, calling attention to how both quickly overtook the island and its people.
Date Created: 2017
PID: grinnell:25511

Title: J.R. Steele Describes Union Twp., J.R. Steele Describes Union Township
Description: Newspaper article written by J.R. Steele and published in the Grinnell Register, on Monday, August 7, 1922, describing life in Union Township, Poweshiek County, Iowa, in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Also includes photos of the Steele home, Little Mount Baptist Church, and the J.R. Steele family including Mr. Steele, his daughter (Garnette Mae Steele Wheeler), and his wife (Ruth Mae Davis Steele). Drake Community Library (Grinnell, Iowa) Archives. Pamphlet file. Poweshiek County (Iowa) -- History -- Union Township.
Date Created: 1922
PID: grinnell:13068

Title: Kathryn Louden Interview, American Beliefs and Cultural Values
Description: Kathryn Louden was born in Delaware County, Iowa, and grew up in Wichita, Kansas. She attended John Fletcher College in Oskaloosa, Iowa, for two years obtaining a teaching certificate, and then taught fifth and sixth grades in Newburg, Iowa. In 1942 she married Warren Louden, who farmed near Newburg; they had two children. She was active in her church, the Farm Bureau, 4-H, the Iowa Porkettes and many other organizations. Interview conducted as part of American Beliefs and Cultural Values, an American Studies class taught by Hanna Griff at Grinnell College in 1993.
Date Created: 1993
PID: grinnell:26711