Seth Hedquist has a BS in History (2011) and an MA in History (2015), both from Iowa State University. His work focuses on rural Iowa musicians who played at state and county farm bureau events in the 1920s and 30s. He investigates who these musicians were, and what needs they fulfilled for the organization, and for themselves, by participating in those events. His work further examines to what extent the styles they played measured up to farm bureau and Country Life leaders’ expectations for rural music at that time. Broadly, this topic focuses on questions of identity, and the complexities of playing music for organizations during trying times of heightened pressure, like the 1920s and 30s.
Hedquist’s masters thesis The Chronicles of Agrimusic won the Iowa History Center’s “Outstanding Masters Thesis Award” in 2016, and his article “Boost the Farm Bureau: Agricultural Leaders, Progressive Musicians, and Social Orchestration in Iowa, 1921 - 1937” appears in Agricultural History (Vol. 93, No. 2, Spring 2019).
He composed a twelve-song cycle based on his research, and gave a premiere concert with a nine-piece band at Noce in Des Moines on April 4th of 2025, called “Agrimusic: Agricultural Leaders, Musicians, and Social Orchestration in Iowa, 1909 - 1937.”