Letters from the Farm is a documentary film, written and directed by Steve Wursta that tells the story of American farm families caught in a transition between the traditional agrarian way of life and the alluring conveniences of modern life that are still too far out of reach.
During the first decades of the 20th century, the country was undergoing enormous change as more and more people left the country side for a better life in the modern cities and their suburban counterparts.
In an attempt to understand what was needed in the rural countryside, in 1913 the Secretary of Agriculture sent a open letter to 55,000 farmers wives asking for their input.
He received just over 2000 responses.
While small in number, these letters gave an insight into the lives and needs of everyday farm families and were used to create federal programs that still exist even today.
The film will explore rural schools, electrification and communications.
Children harvest sugar beets in Sterling, Colorado, 1915.
Between the Past and Present
West Texas tenant farm, 1900.
The Atlantic City Boardwalk around 1910.
“Oh, the weary arms that pump the water, carry it down step and around the corner, up two steps, through two doors, giving the pail a final hoist to a high shelf, table or sink. Then the water must be carried out. Few men can see a slop pail. The same arms carry a larger pail, its weight enhanced with floating peelings and kitchen refuse, carry it down the same steps, around the corner and 4 rods through mud to the pigpen handily arranged for a lift over a stock fence.”
–Farm wife, Kansas, 1914
Arctic Circle Productions
62804 Montara Dr
Bend, Oregon 97701
541.255.2420
Macy’s Department Store Building , New York City, 1907
Letters from the Farm
A documentary film by Steve Wursta
© Steve Wursta, Arctic Circle Productions, 2013
