under the cover
from the
editor
contributors
from the editor I hope Pat Ackerman’s story on Salina native Carolina Litowich does much to revive local interest in this author. A woman in an industry dominated by men; a Jew in a region without a synagogue; an immigrant’s child; a graduate of a prestigious Ivy League school in an era where daughters often forsook higher education; a mind with an interest in crime in an era when young women were to mind hearth and home— Carolina Litowich was a proverbial outsider. But we can become acquainted with her thanks to the preservation work of Salina Public Library’s former Kansas librarian Judy Lilly, the current staff of the library’s Campbell Room and the Smoky Valley Museum, where many of Carolina’s documents and family photos have been stored. From these documents, her writings and from Pat’s story, I get the impression that the author of what one reviewer described as a “Kansas Babbit” would have been someone who was hard to impress, but easy to disappoint. We hope Carolina Litowich would approve of this issue … but if she didn’t, at least I expect we’d enjoy her witty, biting response. nathan pettengill editor swedish folk at
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Salina area’S premier magazine on people, placeS & Style
Carolina litoWiCh RediscoveRing a Legacy
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Tour Europe in Your Backyard Winter 2013 $3
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The historic Holland General Store is now a privately owned motorcycle club.
Granted, exploring the vast Kansas landscape is a bit easier in the 21st century with a GPS device, wide roads, and rest stops along the way … but being a photographer means you can’t just drive the route. You have to get out, walk around, knock on doors, strike up conversations and sometimes order a plate of chicken noodles just to get the best picture. Photographer Larry Harwood did all of these while working on “European Getaway” in this issue. This story on European-named cities also offered him an excuse to explore areas around Salina that he had never yet seen—and to document life in his hometown of Glasco. One picture that came from the photo shoot in Glasco was taken during the weekly Farmers’ Market at the city’s Corner Store. Here, Larry’s father, Dr. Claude “Doc” Harwood, plays the fiddle (with Clark Huffer on the banjo) at the market concert as Larry’s mother, Marilyn Harwood, claps along to the music. Marilyn Harwood—who had fought a long battle with illness and Alzheimer’s—passed away just a few weeks after this concert. With Larry’s permission, we are including this photograph as a tribute to the woman who was Glasco’s former mayor, a member of the Kansas State Board of Education, a church organist and a loving mother. If you’re tracking down the details of a distinguished Salina writer’s life, who better to have on your team than a distinguished Salina writer? We were fortunate that Patricia Ackerman—a writer and English professor at K-State, Salina—was able to devote considerable time in researching details, dead ends and mysteries relating to the life of 1930s Salina author Carolina Litowich. As part of this research, Ackerman not only spent long hours working with the archives of the Salina Public Library and the Smoky Hill Museum, but she verified information in Gypsum Hill Cemetery and tried to patch together sometimes contradictory clues to Carolina Litowich’s personal life through her published works and accounts from Salina residents who knew the Litowich family. “I thoroughly enjoyed the process of unraveling the unsung details of Carolina Litowich’s life and family. Conducting research in the Kansas Room of the Salina Public Library reminded me of how many stories lie quietly around us, waiting to be told,” writes Ackerman.
Sunflowerliving / winter 2013