Cottonwood Farm was the Birkby homestead. Robert Birkby is on tractor next to barn at rear of photo. Evelyn Birkby was a radio homemaker for KMA. This photo appeared on the cover of Birkby's book Up a Country Lane.
Mayfair Auditorium was the home of KMA Radio. Women pictured are, from left, Bernice Currier, Doris Murphy, Evelyn Birkby, Ann Mason (visiting specialist from New York), Adella Shoemaker, and Edith Hansen.
On May 15, 1950, Evelyn Birkby debuted her radio program, "Up a country lane," (later re-named "Down a country lane") on radio station KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa. Adapted from her weekly local newspaper column with the same title, the program featured...