Records

This photo, reprinted from the World War I book Called to the Colors, published last year by the Historium, is believed to show the second contingent of 64 military draftees who gathered in Gainesville in February 1918 to be taken to the train station in West Plains in a caravan of 15 cars. The Times reported, “It took a half hour for all the cars to cross the North Fork on the Hodo ferry. Crowds thronged the ferry and the waysides to wave cheer and blessings.” The book lists the names of the men separately from the photo, so we don’t know who’s who in the picture. But one of them is believed to be Lawrence Cates, who shipped out with the second contingent, and whose death at Camp Funston was reported in the April 12, 1918, Times item shown below.

Ethel Bohannon

This photo of “Elbert Amyx and His Project” is taken from a 1930-31 booklet in the Historium’s collection that was published by Bakersfield School to promote its innovative programs. The text with the photo says, “Vocational Agriculture is the only course offered in high school in which the boy earns while learning. Each boy taking Vocational Agriculture is required to carry on a home project related to the school work and supervised by the instructor, carried to completion on the farm. ... [T]he boys are given practical training in farm shop in which they learn the fundamentals of woodwork, sheet metal, hot metal, concrete, leather and rope. Students are also given practical training in the field in almost every line of farm management such as soil improvement, erosion, pruning, and judging.” Interestingly, while the 1930s text refers only to boys, state numbers show that the number of vo ag students today is split about evenly between male and female students. And two of Ozark County’s four high school vo ag teachers are women.