FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 16, 2012

CONTACT: Jeff Mammenga, Media Coordinator, (605) 773-6000, Jeff.Mammenga@state.sd.us

Museum of State Historical Society Participating In National Youth Summit—The Dust Bowl

PIERRE, S.D.—The Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society (SDSHS) at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre will join eight Smithsonian Affiliate organizations and the National Steinbeck Center on Wednesday, Oct. 17, in hosting Regional Youth Town Halls, bringing together middle and high school students across the country to explore the story of The Dust Bowl.

The event will take place at the South Dakota Capitol from 12-2 p.m. CDT.

The Town Halls coincide with a live National Youth Summit taking place at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History Warner Bros. Theater in Washington, D.C. Participants at the Regional Town Hall sites will pre-record questions on video to be played during the live National Youth Summit webcast. The summit examines the consequences of the Dust Bowl through current issues of drought, agricultural sustainability, and national and global food security.

The live webcast is available to educators and students through free registration at http://americanhistory.si.edu/nys

In the 1930s, severe drought and extensive farming caused widespread agricultural damage, crop failure and human misery across the Great Plains. Called “The Dust Bowl” because of the immense dust storms created as the dry soil blew away in large, dark clouds, it is considered one of the worst ecological disasters in American history. Millions of acres of farmland were damaged and hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes. Many migrated to California and other western states where the economic conditions during the Great Depression were often no better than those they had left.

“The Dust Bowl was an important event in South Dakota as well as the rest of the nation,” said Jay Smith, director of the Museums of the SDSHS, “We are excited to be a participating organization in the National Youth Summit and the Regional Youth Town Hall meetings because of their relevance to our state today. With last year’s flood and the drought of 2012 still clear in our minds, this is an appropriate topic for our schools as well as within our communities.  We think that the students attending the event in Pierre, and those who watch the National Youth Summit via the web, will not only learn a great deal about our past, but they will take new information and understanding back to their classrooms, farms and homes.”  

Museum of South Dakota State Historical Society Regional Youth Town Hall

The Regional Youth Town Hall will start immediately following the Youth Summit. Two area experts will serve as speakers, with the discussion moderated by historian Dr. Brad Tennant from Presentation College in Aberdeen. Speakers will include State Climatologist Dr. Dennis Todey and Eric Stasch, operations project manager for the Oahe Project with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pierre. Stasch and Todey will be answering questions about the flood and the drought, with Dr. Tennant providing historical perspective as needed.   

National Youth Summit, Washington, D.C.

The National Youth Summit brings middle and high school students together with scholars, teachers, policy experts, witnesses to history and activists in a national conversation about important events in America’s past that have relevance to the nation’s present and future. The program is an ongoing collaboration between the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the National Endowment for the Humanities, PBS and museums across the United States in the Smithsonian Affiliations network.

The summit will include segments from award-winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns’ forthcoming film “The Dust Bowl” and a panel discussion, moderated by Huffington Post science editor Cara Santa Maria, and featuring: Ken Burns, Dust Bowl survivor Cal Crabill, United States Department of Agriculture ecologist Debra Peters, 5th generation farmer Roy Bardole from Rippey, Iowa; and farmer and founder of Anson Mills, Glenn Roberts. Panelists will take questions from students participating in the summit, and offer their own perspectives on what history can teach us about our relationship with the environment. In addition to the presentations at the Capitol through the South Dakota State Historical Society, the Smithsonian Affiliate Youth Town Halls will take place at:

• Durham Museum, Omaha, Neb.
•  Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Ft. Worth, Texas
• Senator John Heinz History Center, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• History Colorado, Denver, Col.
• Miami Science Museum, Miami, Fla.
• The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Dubuque, Iowa
• Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa, Calif.

 Programming for National Youth Summit on The Dust Bowl is produced by the National Museum of American History and the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with Smithsonian Affiliations and PBS/WETA.

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The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Tourism. The Department of Tourism is comprised of Tourism, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the State Historical Society. The Department is led by Secretary James D. Hagen. The State Historical Society is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call (605) 773-3458 or visit www.history.sd.gov for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call (605) 394-1936 for more information.

Smithsonian Affiliations collaborates with museums and educational organizations to share the Smithsonian with people in their own communities and create lasting experiences that broaden perspectives on science, history, world cultures, and the arts. More information about Smithsonian Affiliations is available at www.affiliations.si.edu

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. NEH grants typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars. For more information on the NEH visit http://neh.gov.

The National Museum of American History collects, preserves and displays American heritage in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific and military history. To learn more about the museum, check http://americanhistory.si.edu. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.