The Way We Worked Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition has come and gone at the Stevens County Library in Hugoton and the High Plains Museum in Goodland, but you can still learn about the work stories of these communities through audio tours recorded for the exhibition.
Stevens County Library, Hugoton
Cowboys, wildcatters, one-room schoolteachers, and postmasters — the list of occupations in Stevens County in the late 1800s and early 1900s reads like something out of a Wild West novel. However, life and work in southwest Kansas was anything but fiction. Click on the titles to listen to the work stories of Stevens County.
Where We Worked: Southwest Kansas Cowboys. The Beaty family established cattle ranches in southwest Kansas in the late 1800s. Transcript
How We Worked: Gas Capital of the Southwest. The discovery of natural gas in Stevens County in the 1920s changed life and work in Hugoton. Transcript
Who Works: Rural Children at Work. Rural children led a busy life balancing schoolwork with farm chores. Transcript
Why We Work: Mail Call. Whether by cart, wagon, rail, or auto — it took a lot of work to deliver the mail to southwest Kansas farmers and homesteaders. Transcript
High Plains Museum, Goodland
From the farmer using a mobile app to track water usage to the family trading corporate careers in the city for the slower pace of jobs in a small town, work in northwest Kansas takes many unexpected forms. Click on the titles to listen to the work stories from Goodland.
Where We Worked: Changes on the Farm. Over a century, high tech equipment has replaced simple machines on the farm. Transcript
How We Worked: Education. A look at the work of students, from slates to computers. Transcript
Who Works: Work in a Small Town. A couple abandons corporate jobs and urban amenities for a new life in Goodland. Transcript
Why We Work. What happens to our work when we retire? Transcript
Click here to learn more about The Way We Worked Kansas tour.