The Eleanor Strait interview chronicles her life and volunteer activities. It describes the personal and family aspects of her leadership roles in various organizations and does not touch upon political issues.

The interview follows the chronology of the life of Virginia Striegel from childhood, to widowhood, and leadership in conservation and farm issues. Virginia Striegel stated she would not attempt to be accurate with dates, but spoke with conviction about her experiences and opinions. In 2002, she reported that she “held back” during the interview, concerned that the tape was meant to be honorary rather than documentary.

The Marjean Sutter interview consists almost entirely of accounts of her experiences during the farm crisis and her activism with PrairieFire. She was a full partner in the Sutter Farm enterprises and the motive force behind the bus trips to Washington. She describes the benefits of the women’s conference, Harvesting Our Potential, from a traditional, rather than feminist perspective.

The Jane Svoboda interview follows her life chronologically from young farm daughter to worker, wife, and mother. It includes rich reminiscences from her childhood in a Catholic, Irish-American farm family, her reciprocal relationship with her husband, their problems during the farm crisis and their solutions, and the variety of farm women’s contributions to family income. She responded to interview questions quickly and with energy. She voiced few ideas that related the changes in her rural community to economic forces, globalization, or national farm politics.

The Marlys Svoboda interview follows her life chronologically from young farm daughter to wife and mother. It centers on her choice to raise her family on a small-scale farm without outside employment. She voiced few ideas that related the changes in her rural community to the economic forces, globalization, or national farm politics.

2 interviews. The Linda Terry interviews focus on three areas of her life: the transition from her childhood as the daughter of the mayor of a rural town to her life on a central Iowa commune; her roles as a progressive woman, farm wife of a leading rural activist, and mother; and her experiences as a widow and single mother. The interviews are highly personal accounts as well as documents of the development of progressive politics in Iowa before the farm crisis emerged on the national level. Her discussions about the attendance of young progressives at the meetings of the USFA in the late 1970s provide essential history about continuity between farm radicals of the 1930s and 1980s.

The Donna Winburn interview follows her life chronologically from her childhood on the farm, through several years of working for Maytag Corporation in Newton, Iowa, to her role as wife, mother, and farmer in the 1960s and 1970s. The bulk of the interview consists of her account of her circumstances, experiences, and activism during the 1980s farm crisis. Winburn was the bookkeeper of the family and had a clear grasp of how to deal with bankers and lawyers. She became a public speaker in the 1980s and became active with the Farmers’ Union in the mid 1980s. This interview also recounts her memories of African American children at her high school in the coal mining community of Albia.

The Esther Stratton Witmer interview follows her life chronologically from her small town childhood through her experiences as a young farm wife and her various roles in farm organizations. She articulates her belief that men and women have different talents and have different roles in organizations and family life.

The Luella Zmolek interview follows her life chronologically from young farm daughter to wife and mother, with the preponderance of the interview centering on the years from 1955 to the mid-1960s when the Zmoleks were active with the NFO. It emphasized the fluidity with which both Luella and Donald moved from farm work to wage employment over the course of their marriage. She related the changes in farming to economic forces and national farm politics.