This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.

Filmed and created by Buffalo Island Central High School, EAST Students, in conjunction with the Buffalo Island Museum, Arkansas.

Red Palmer talks about the importance of a hay pulley on display in the Buffalo Island Museum in Arkansas. This story is connected to Buffalo Island Central EAST's online story map From Swamp to Farmland and interactive exhibits at the Buffalo Island Museum, which both trace the the history of agriculture in the area. Within the exhibition, the photo was connected to an augmented reality experience that brought the object to life. To see it, search for this story on www.museumonmainstreet.org.

Red Palmer (00:04): Okay, this is a hay pulley. And you hang this from way up at the top of the barn and you have a rope that'll reach the ground, we'll say twice. And you push these down in the hay and pull up on this.

Red Palmer (00:23): And when you pull this up, this tightens up on the hay, and then you take it up, pull it up. Two or three guys will pull that up and take it up here and take it back to the barn. And then when you feed it to the cows or horses or whatever, you got to drag this out of the barn, throw down here to feed it to them again.

Red Palmer (00:45): And so, you put their feed up in the barn for they'll have it all winter long. You do that in the fall or summertime. And so, that's what that's called a hay hook for, that'll take probably two to 300 pound of hay up, up in the barn.

Asset ID: 2018.20.09