 | Growing Up with the Town: Family and Community on the Great Plains Subjects: Presho (S.D.) -- History -- 20th century; Presho (S.D.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century; Presho (S.D.) -- Biography; Schwieder Dorothy 1933– -- Childhood and youth; Hubbard family; Great Plains -- History -- 20th century; Great Plains -- Soci; In this unusual blend of chronological and personal history, Dorothy Hubbard Schwieder combines scholarly sources with family memories to create a loving and informed history of Presho, South Dakota, and her family's life there from the time of settlement in 1905 to the mid 1950s. Schwieder tells the story of this small town in the West River country, with its harsh and unpredictable physical environment, through the activities of her father, Walter Hubbard, and his family of ten children. Walter Hubbard's experiences as a business owner and town builder and his attitudes toward work, education, and family both reflected and shaped the lives of Presho's inhabitants and the town itself. While most histories of the Plains focus on farm life, Schwieder writes entirely about small-town society. She uses newspaper accounts, state and county histories, census data, interviews with residents, and the childhood memories of herself and her nine siblings to create an entwined, first-hand social and economic portrait of life on main street from the perspective of its citizens. Dorothy Schwieder is university professor emerita of history at Iowa State University. For thirty-four years at Iowa State University, where she researched and taught courses in the history of Iowa, American women, and the Midwest. She has written numerous books and articles on Iowa and midwestern history. |
