FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  April 9, 2008
CONTACT:  Jeff Mammenga, (605) 773-6000, Jeff.Mammenga@state.sd.us

Kilian to sign new book at Cultural Heritage Center

PIERRE, S.D. – Noted historian Tom Kilian of Sioux Falls will be at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center on Sunday, April 13, to discuss and sign his new book Old Days on the Prairie.

            The free program begins at 2 p.m. in the center’s education room.

            Kilian is a former president of the South Dakota State Historical Society board of trustees, and a founder and former chairman of the society’s fund-raising partner, the South Dakota Heritage Fund. A former secretary of the state Department of Education and Cultural Affairs, Kilian is a leader in a wide range of historical and preservation organizations, and a writer and speaker on the history of early South Dakota.

            Old Days on the Prairie is a general portrait of what life was like in Miner County in eastern South Dakota and particularly the town of Vilas from about 1920 to 1940, or the period of time between the first and second World Wars.

            “Life was very different then – so much so that anyone born after the Second World War can hardly imagine it or understand it,” Kilian wrote in the book’s foreword. “In my view, the period between the wars was a major divide for America. The two decades before World War II were literally a different world:  people seemed more simple and trusting, more open and courteous, less driven and intense. Life moved at a much slower pace.”

            In the book, Kilian notes how new technology changed how farming was done, caused thousands of people to leave the farm for city life, and resulted in the sharp decline of the small prairie town.

Old Days on the Prairie may be purchased at the Heritage Store in the Cultural Heritage Center. For more information call (605) 773-6000.