Blakesburg Historical Preservation Society is hosting “The Early Depression Dilemmas of Rural Iowa, October 1929 to November 1932” at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 29 at Blakesburg Christian Church. Presenter Dr. Lisa Payne Ossian thoroughly covers the early years of the Great Depression from October 1929 to November 1932 during President Herbert Hoover’s administration. For Iowa, these years marked the middle of two decades of agricultural depression which began shortly after World War I. Ossian’s presentation includes how rural and urban Iowans met both economic and emotional challenges with great wit, humor and intelligence. Rural Iowans especially wrestled with several economic and social dilemmas—the aftermath of the 1929 New York Stock Exchange crash, agricultural consequences of increasing tariffs, demise of soft coal mining industry in this area, Prohibition, increasing rural violence and consequences of the 1932 presidential election.

Dr. Ossian, a regular presenter of Humanities Iowa, is professor of history at Des Moines Area Community College in central Iowa. She has authored three books, two of them concerning World War II effects on Iowans as well as “The Depression Dilemmas of Rural Iowa”.   She has twice been elected to the State Historical Society of Iowa Board and has served on the National Education Association national board, the Hoover Presidential Education Committee, the Humanities Iowa Education Committee and several other history or education oriented boards and committees.

The Blakesburg Historical Preservation Society received funding from Humanities Iowa, a private, non-profit state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities to host this presentation.

The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served after the program.