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.

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 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 Vivian Schelker interview follows her life chronologically from her childhood in East St. Louis and Tama to her transition to farm life, marriage, and motherhood. She spoke candidly and with self-respect of her bi-racial marriage, her experiences as a young wife and mother, a woman, a farmer making a living on a hill-country farm, and a widow.

The Wilma Embree interview follows her life chronologically from a childhood on a farm, through several years of teaching during the second World War to her role as wife, mother, farmer, and teacher in rural Iowa. Her experience documents the attitude of farmers whose membership in the NFO was passive rather than organizational.

The Sheryl Jesina interview follows her life chronologically from the almost seamless transition from farm girl to farm wife and mother. It includes her perspective on the reasons they invested in a large scale hog confinement operation.

The Lucille Matthey interview follows the chronology of her life from childhood on a farm to courtship, marriage, farm manager, and widow. The majority of the interview concerns her experiences before coming to the Terra Farm. She attributed her leadership in the Farm Bureau to her personal preference for farming and politics ahead of homemaking.

2 interviews. The Patti Barker interviews follow the chronology of her life from childhood to young adulthood, marriage, motherhood, and divorce. She describes the potentials and limits of rural women’s opportunities during the 1970s and 1980s. She also describes the difficulties divorced women and single mothers face in rural areas.

The Sally Puttmann interview follows the chronology of her life from a rather isolated childhood on a farm to courtship, marriage, farm leader and widow. She attributed her leadership skills to her volunteer activities with her local church and discussed her path-breaking leadership as a woman in the church, the Farm Bureau, the Iowa State Soil Conservation Commission, and the Leopold Center.