Work Paper #20 (Spring 1976)

Work Paper #20 (Spring 1976)

Cover: Beet-field workers in Logan County, Colorado, early 1900s. An 80-page issue, half of which is devoted to the experiences of Germans from Russia who were part of the sugar beet industry, includes Clara Hilderman Ehrlich’s recollections of her “Childhood on the Prairie”; a study of Hope Williams Sykes and her novel about German-Russian beeters, Second Hoeing, by Timothy J. Kloberdanz; Albert Hamburg’s evocation of the life of beet workers in Nebraska’s North Platte Valley; The “Story of the Beeters in Adams County, Nebraska” by Dorothy W. Creigh; and a section on beet work including reader contributions (pictures, recollections, a recipe for Ruebe Saft), and a poem. John B. Toews continues his study of “Documents on Mennonite Life in Russia 1930-1940” with a description of the cultural and intellectual life in the Khortitsa colonies; John and Avis Schritter provide a history of “The Russian Settlement’ of Kit Carson County, Colorado, 1890-1975.” Adam Giesinger’s village series deals with the Liebental colonies near Odessa. Other regular features include Lawrence Weigel’s column on music, a genealogy section with “Queries,” “Surname Exchange,” and “Passenger Lists.” The Folklore Forum considers “Funerary Beliefs and Customs of the Germans From Russia.” The issue also includes a picture story introducing readers to the art of Fraktur.