David Kruger, Special Collections Librarian
Biography:
David is the Special Collections Librarian at the University of Wyoming Libraries.
In this role, he oversees the operations of Emmett Chisum Special Collections, including
Herbard, General Special, and donor collections on closed compact shelving, as well
as the publicly accessible Chisum Reading Room on level 3 of Coe Library. David additionally
serves as library liaison to the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences, & Natural
Resources as well as liaison military veteran students. David's research interests
involve the history of agriculture and rural America, and notably the history of the
J.C. Penney department store chain.
Outside of work, David enjoys various mechanical projects, college football, fat biking,
writing, the music of Brian Wilson and George Strait, and living on a small farm with
two cows west of Laramie.
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:
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.
