Bull Threshers and Bindlestiffs: Harvesting and Threshing on the North American Plains

by Thomas D. Isern

Bull Threshers and Bindlestiffs is a panorama on a continental the Great Plains of North America, stretching from Texas to Alberta. Onto this surface the author lays the large features of regional practice in the harvesting and threshing of wheat during the days before the combined harvester--harvesting with binder and header, threshing with bull thresher and steam engine. Into the picture he places the key figures who accomplished the task of gathering the grain--the farm men and women, the custom threshermen, and the bindlestiffs, or itinerant laborers. Affectionately he sketches the small details of folklife that comprised the everyday work and culture of the wheat belt--building shocks, loading racks, constructing stacks, pitching bundles into the separator, hauling water to the engine, drinking deep from the crockery water jug. Bull Threshers and Bindlestiffs is a profusely illustrated study of a complex, vigorous regional culture concerned with the production of wheat--a culture that centered around the annual harvest and declined with the advent of the combine. This is an examination of the interaction of culture, environment, and technology with import for the fields of agricultural history and regional history. More than that, with its grassroots research, its descriptions of tools and customs, and its lavish illustrations, it is a re-creation of a proud phase of regional life previously captured only in yellowed albumen photographs.

264 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Professor of History & University Distinguished Professor, North Dakota State University
Author & presenter of Plains Folk on Prairie Public radio (and NPR One)
Author & presenter of the Willow Creek Folk School, livestream at plainsfolk.com
Married to historian & editor Suzzanne Kelley
Home in North Dakota, farm in Kansas
Bethany Swede
OSU Cowboy
NDSU Bison
Originator of the following Goodreads Listopia lists:
*The Dakota War in Dakota Territory
*German-Russian Country
Goodreads group manager, "Great Plains Book Club"

Join Prof. Isern for the Willow Creek Folk School, Fridays at 8pm Central, on the Facebook timeline of Plains Folk.

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Reviews

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dad grew up as WWII was taking his older brothers off to war or they were starting their own careers. So he, as a farm boy, lived through the end of the harvesting and threshing life and the start of the combine on our farm. As a farm boy myself, he would often tell stories of what things were like then. This book was great to help fill in some of the gaps. Now I wish he were still around as I have lots of questions about each era and how our farm progressed from one to the other. Even if you don't have this background, but are interested in plains life, you will enjoy.