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This is a gripping autobiographical narrative written by Louis Palenske after leaving Wabaunsee County in search of work. It is entitled, "My Experiances and Observations Since Leaving Wabaunsee Co." After the failure of his flour mill at Alma, Kansas, the family faced financial ruin, and Palenske returned to the photography trade in McFarland. That venture was unsuccessful, and he traveled to Scammon and then to Burlington, Kansas in hopes of establishing a photo studio. He settled in Burlington, as World War I had just begun. Although Palenske was born in a log cabin on the banks of Mill Creek in Kansas Territory, his parents were German immigrants who spoke only German. Hence, he spoke German before he learned English, and there were no schools near the Palenske's homestead, which left him with an accent. Palenske wrote of the intense hatred of Germans and German-Americans during World War I, and the discrimination that he suffered during those years. Funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission through the Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board.
Creator: Palenske, Louis F., 1858-1943
Date: 1918
Item Number: 441148
Call Number: Wabaunsee County Historical Society
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 441148
Business and Industry - Labor - Unemployment
Business and Industry - Occupations/Professions - Photographers
Collections - Contributing Institutions - Wabaunsee County Historical Society - Louis Palenske Collection
Collections - Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board (KSHRAB) - Kansas Digital Access to Historical Records (KDAHR)
Date - 1910s - 1918
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Reminiscence
People - European Americans - Germans
Places - Cities and towns - Alma
Places - Counties - Wabaunsee
Thematic Time Period - World War I, 1914 - 1919
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Reminiscences and Memoirs
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/441148