Pennsylvania Farming: A History in Landscapes [Hardcover]

Since precolonial times, agriculture has been deeply woven into the fabric of Pennsylvania’s history and culture.Pennsylvania Farmingpresents the first history of Pennsylvania agriculture in than more sixty years and offers a completely new perspective. Sally McMurry goes beyond a strictly economic approach and considers the diverse forces that helped shape the farming landscape, from physical factors to cultural repertoires to labor systems. Above all, the people who created and worked on Pennsylvania’s farms are placed at the center of attention. More than 150 photographs inform the interpretation, which offers a sweeping look at the evolution of Pennsylvania’s agricultural landscapes right up to the present day.

“An outstanding contribution to scholarship on Pennsylvania’s historic agriculture. It merges lively writing with a careful analysis of documentary sources and field research on the state’s buildings and landscapes. The book explores one of the nation’s oldest and most complex ecological and cultural regions to arrive at sensible explanations about why rural landscapes in the Keystone State look the way they do and how they got that way.”
—Ritchie Garrison, Director, Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, and Professor of History at the University of Delaware
 
 

“Historical, social, economic, and cultural forces intersected to shape Pennsylvania’s agricultural landscapes.Pennsylvania Farmingshows how common farm buildings and landscape features such as cisterns, contour strips, and tree lines can be ‘read’ to reveal a complex layered history that offers a fresh perspective on modern-day issues such as sustainability, local foods, diversification, and small-scale agricultlÃ"