Mules: Missouri’s long eared miners
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"We are inclined to ignore history during its passing and lament our lack of documentation long after the action is over. That was the condition of Missouri mule history until 1982. That year, with an end in sight of the last generation of Missourians who helped make this remarkable animal famous, a group of mule enthusiasts formed the Missouri Mule Skinners’ Society to finance and coordinate a Missouri Mule History Project.The Society, now numbering about 350 members, mostly old timers harboring nostalgia for the heyday of the Missouri mule, enlisted the aid of two professors on leave from the University of Missouri to tape interviews with men who knew the intelligent beasts well. The two professors, Melvin Bradley, Extension animal science project leader, and Duane Dailey, communications specialist, photographed mules and owners and recorded interviews with approximately 130 old timers about their experiences with mules.The state’s press became interested and as a result of publicity given the project, friends of mules surfaced in all parts of the state and some far beyond Missouri’s borders with stories, names of mulemen, pictures, and mementoes from the mule era to become part of the Mule History Project. Bradley and Dailey are using this material, along with a review of past writings on mules, for a series of publications, of which this one is a part. Slide-tapes and a traveling display have also been prepared from the material. The recorded interviews will become a part of the Archives of the University and will be available to historians and scholars of future generations.--Foreward."