Wessels is the "Outstanding Tourism Attraction"

The Wessels Living History Farm has been named the "Outstanding Tourism Attraction" in the state by the Nebraska Travel and Tourism agency. The annual award is iven to a Nebraska tourist attraction that has worked toward the continued success and growth of it community and the tourism industry in the state. Bob Sauter, executive director of the York County Visitors Bureau, nominated the Farm for the award. He noted in his nomination that the Farm has increased its annual attendance at the physical site to over 8,000 visitors a year. Visitors have come from 49 states and 19 foreign countries. Memberships have grown to almost 200. There are now nine buildings on the Farm site south of York. And the Farm's educational programs have kept the Farm open six days a week for seven months with a full schedule of special events during the other months. In addition, this Web site has now reached over 5.4 million visitors from all over the world. They have read through over 9.6 million page views, and the site's movies have been viewed over a million times. Sautter says, "Not only is [the Farm] an excellent educational opportunity, but an entertaining experience as well for those individuals and families seeking wholesome family fun." Dale Clark credits the tireless efforts of the volunteers and board members for the success of the Farm. "It's been a joint effort of the whole community."

Father of the Green Revolution Passes On

The father of the Green Revolution, Dr. Norman Borlaug, died Saturday, Sept. 12th, in Texas. Borlaug was an agricultural innovator who was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 and over 20 other awards during his 95-year lifetime. But Dr. Borlaug was clearly not motivated by collecting awards. Instead his passion was alleviating hunger across the globe. His work in developing and disseminating hybrid wheat varieties has been credited with saving the lives of over a billion people. In 2005, the Wessels Living History Farm was honored to conduct an extensive interview with Dr. Borlaug. The story of the Green Revolution and excerpts from the Borlaug interview start here. We also have a biography of Dr. Borlaug's life here.

2009 Events

Sunday, September 13th, around a hundred family members gathered at the Wessels Farm for a Living History Activities Day. They watched volunteers demonstrate some of the key agricultural technologies that made a 1920s farm work. They saw blacksmiths, candle makers, soap makers, quilters, and human-powered woodworkers. They saw how a corn crib worked. They were entertained by The Kopsas, a family musical group. We have a slide show here.
      Below is the schedule of the remaining special events at the Wessels Living History Farm. The admission price for all events is $5.00 for adults, $4.00 for senior citizens and $2.00 for children. The farm can also be rented for parties, reunions, weddings and other special events. Call Dale Clark for details at 402-710-0682.

• December 12 - 22, 1:00 - 4:30 p.m. – Christmas on the Farm.

Tractor in 360°

	See this 1938 John Deere B from all sides. Click and drag to rotate the tractor 360°. Larger version of this movie here. A slide show of the event is here.

Urban residents don't often have a chance to walk all the way around an historic tractor like Mike Farmer's 1938 John Deere Model B. In this QuickTime VR object movie, you can rotate the tractor and see it from all sides. Just click on the movie and drag it from side to side to rotate the tractor. There is a larger version of this movie here, but it may take a while to download to your computer.

Recognized!

This Wessels Living History Farm web site was recognized as one of the "one of the best online resources for education in the humanities" by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). In 2007, a panel of reviewers voted to include this site on EDSITEment, a gateway to the highest quality humanities-related educational content on the Internet. We have more about this honor here. This recognition prompted the Omaha World Herald to say we are "A Virtual Must-See." In addition, we continue to receive messages from folks across the country who are using the content and learner resources we offer. We've got excerpts from some of these e-mails here. It's heartening to know that the material we're working hard to provide is being used and appreciated – by almost 800,000 of you in 2005. Thanks!

Featured Movies and Slide Shows

• On the Media Resources page, we have a new set of Video Podcasts with former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser about rural themes, along with a new podcast about the history of the Omaha Stock Yards.
• A 1920s threshing day when neighbors gather to bring in the wheat harvest.
• A modern corn harvest, presented here in a 30-second time lapse movie.
• What does it take to build a center pivot irrigation system?

(11/11/2009)

The 1920s section of this site was developed by the Interactive Media Unit of Nebraska Educational Telecommunications. The 1930s, 1940s and 1950s-60s sections were developed by The Ganzel Group Communications of Lincoln, Nebraska.

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Looking for the Living History Farms in Urbandale Iowa?
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