Special Collections and Archives at Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library has acquired a collection of documents from Wayne Cryts. In addition, Cryts gave a lecture at on Oct. 1 in Sadie's Place at the library. Cryts is well known for leading farmers from around Missouri and Arkansas to reclaim 32,000 bushels of soybeans from the Ristine Grain Elevator near New Madrid, Missouri.

"Wayne is a local guy who cares about people in the region," Roxanne Dunn, librarian of Special Collections and Archives, said. "It is good to document struggles such as this one. It even made national headlines."

Cryts' raid on the elevator was on Feb. 16, 1981, in response to Ristine filing for bankruptcy. Under federal law, the company had to sell the grain that had been stockpiled in order to settle the company's debts. Cryts, who had paid Ristine to store his soybeans, said the company was selling private property, so he rallied farmers to help reclaim what was his.

On the day of the raid, Cryts and his fellow farmers were met with a line of federal marshals and FBI agents armed with a court order to make them stand down. The marshals and agents eventually stepped aside, allowing Cryts to reclaim his soybeans.

"I'm glad they moved," Cryts said. "Otherwise we would have still been there today."

Cryts' raid got the attention of the national media, leading to him appearing in "People" magazine, on "The David Susskind Show" and in other publications. He also met with Bill Clinton, who was then governor of Arkansas. With Clinton's help, the incident was brought before the U.S. Congress and led to federal bankruptcy laws being changed.

Following this, Cryts and his wife Sandy were frequently contacted by students all over the United States for history projects. As a result, a lot of people visited their home in order to see the many documents and historical pieces they had.

"I have been asked by four to five groups a year to talk about what happened," Cryts said. "There was one group from Advance, Missouri, whose project was displayed in the Smithsonian Institution."

In Spring 2013 Anne Holloway, Cryts' granddaughter and former student at Southeast, told Lisa Speer, the previous librarian at Special Collections and Archives, about the documents. Upon recognizing the scholarly value, Speer contacted Cryts and his wife, Sandy, to ask about donating the collection. The collection was officially donated on June 30 and was received by Dunn. The items on display were chosen by graduate assistant Staci Cox, who had spent several weeks reading the biography "One Man of Courage: The Wayne Cryts Story" to decide the most important parts of the story.

"There were about 30 boxes of items that were donated," Dunn said. "We wanted to display items that best highlighted Wayne's story so people who were walking by would understand. Anyone who is interested in learning more can view the rest of the collection in special collections and archives."

Among the items were pictures of the raid on the grain elevator, the tailgate of the truck Cryts used to pull a panel off of the elevator, grain receipts Cryts had to prove he had soybeans at the elevator and even a poem written about the event. During the lecture additional items were shown, such as some jars of soybeans claimed from the elevator, a shovel given to Cryts by a farmer in Arkansas to use during the raid and the "Ristine Key." The latter is a piece of metal used to pry a panel off of the elevator.

On Oct. 1, Wayne Cryts gave a lecture regarding the raid. In addition, he talked about his participation in the American Agriculture Movement. One thing he did was attempt to help fellow farmer Jolee Davidson keep his farm from being foreclosed. Cryts talked it over with the sheriff, who was to conduct the sale of the farm.

"I told him I would walk up to them, take the sale papers, tear them up and tar and feather them." Cryts said. "Of course, I was going to use molasses instead, then just throw some feathers."

Cryts and Davidson were unable to stop the foreclosure and were arrested. However, Davidson was hired by the new owners and was paid enough to cover his debts.

Cryts also talked about his congressional campaigns in 1982 and 1984. Both years, he ran against Bill Emerson. In 1982, Rahm Emanuel visited the campaign office for an inspection. However, after Emanuel shouted some explicitives, Cryts threw him out of the office.

"I told him, 'That may be how you speak in Washington, but you may not speak that way here,'" Cryts said.