David Kruger

Biography:

David is the Agriculture and Business Librarian at the University of Wyoming Libraries. He works with general undergraduate courses and all courses within the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences, & Natural Resources and the College of Business. David additionally serves as liaison for Communication & Journalism, English, Outdoor Recreation & Tourism, Biology, Botany, Military Science, and Military Veteran students. David’s research interests involve agricultural research, the history of agriculture and rural America, and the history of the J. C. Penney department store chain.

Outside of work, David enjoys living on a small farm with two Black Hereford cows, various mechanical projects, college football, writing, and the music of George Strait.

Education:

• MLIS, Library and Information Science, University of Missouri at Columbia
• MA, English, Kansas State University
• BS, English Education, Minot State University
• BA, Journalism, South Dakota State University

Awards:

• 2018 Agnes Milstead Distinguished Librarianship Award
• 2016 John M. McClelland Award from the Washington State Historical Society
• 2014 Project CERES Award (with Chad Hutchens) for digitzing Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station

Selected Publications:

Kruger, D. D. (2019). “Multiple Retailers.” In The Routledge Companion to the History of Retailing. Edited by John Stobart and Vicki Howard (New York: Routledge, 279-300).

Pfander, J. and D. D. Kruger. (2019). “Society of the Quarter: The Society for Range Management,” Journal of Agricultural & Food Information, 20 (1): 2-11.

Kruger, D. D. (2017). J. C. Penney: the Man, the Store, and American Agriculture (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press).

Kruger, D. D. (2016). 125 Years of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station (Laramie, Wyoming: University of Wyoming).

Kruger, D. D. (2015). “The Main Street Spirit of JCPenney: a Department Store Chain in the Downtowns of Washington,” Columbia: the Magazine of Northwest History, Summer 2015: 8-15.

Kruger, D. D. (2015). “Pulling the Wool Under Your Eyes: Preserving a Century-old Wool Lab and Library at the University of Wyoming,” Journal of Agricultural & Food Information, 16 (3): 271-278.

Kruger, D. D. (2014). “J. C. Penney in the Land of Enchantment: the Evolution of a National Department Store in Twentieth Century New Mexico,” New Mexico Historical Review, 89 (3): 321-358.

Kruger, D. D. (2014). “’The Most Interesting Trip I Have Ever Taken Among the Stores’: James Cash Penney’s Return to Wyoming in the Great Depression,” Annals of Wyoming, 86 (2): 2-16.