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September 28, 2021

Preservation Thursday: Frances Perkins – A Powerful Influence

DEADWOOD – Deadwood History, Inc. and the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission will host a presentation by South Dakota Humanities Council Speakers’ Bureau Scholar Phyllis Schrag at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 7, 2021, at the Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC), 150 Sherman Street, Deadwood. Free to members and $5 for non-members. The event is wheelchair accessible. Please feel free to bring your lunch.

Social security, child labor laws, unemployment insurance, and WPA projects are all ideas put forth by Frances Perkins, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor, and the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. She was the principal architect of the New Deal, formulating policies to restore the national economy which helped to create the modern middle class. Perkins was in every way a self-made woman who rose from humble New England origins to become America’s leading advocate for industrial safety and worker’s rights. Phyllis Schrag will tell the Perkins story in a first-person encounter.

Phyllis A. Schrag is an accomplished actor and living history performer formerly from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, now residing in Ames, Iowa. She holds a M.S.S. degree from the University of South Dakota in speech, drama, and gifted education. Schrag has taught public and private school, as well as at the University of Sioux Falls. She was the first recipient of the South Dakota Education Association Teacher of Excellence Award in 2001.

Preservation Thursday is made possible by the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission, Deadwood History, Adams-Mastrovich Family Foundation, Deadwood Chamber & Visitors Bureau, Deadwood Mountain Grand, Saloon No. 10, and the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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We inspire the global community by preserving and celebrating the cultural heritage of Deadwood and the Black Hills in the context of the American West through exceptional exhibits, innovative educational programs, and access to extensive collections in unique settings.

Adams Museum, Days of '76 Museum, Historic Adams House, Homestake Adams Research and Cultural Center (HARCC), and The Brothel Deadwood.

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