Vermont Historical Society Lending Library
Era 5: Growth of industry & tourism 1890-1927
Oscar Cooley, When Grandpa Was A Boy: Growing Up On A Vermont Farm (Montpelier, VT: Vermont Historical Society, 1985). The author describes his experiences on his family farm in the early twentieth century. He describes the different chores that had to be done during the four seasons of the year, how to harness a horse, butcher a hog, and the ways to hay, hoe, and thresh the fields. A straightforward description of all of the tasks a farm boy would have been required to learn. This will be an appealing book for elementary and middle school students, and also makes a wonderful teaching resource.
Reading level: fourth - eighth grade
Number of copies available: 7
Scott E. Hastings, Jr., Goodbye Highland Yankee Growing Up in the 1930s- a Memoir (Chelsea, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1988). Hastings has given us a beautifully written memoir of his life growing up in the highlands of eastern Vermont and western New Hampshire in the 1920s and 1930s. These wonderful stories remind us of the rural culture of a bygone era.
Reading level: middle school - adult
Number of copies available: 2
Scott Hastings and Geraldine Ames, The Vermont Farm Year in 1890 (Woodstock, VT: Billings Farm & Museum, 1983). The author explains the hows and whys of farming in 1890. The ingenuity of the farmer during this time is apparent throughout the book, as it explains how certain items evolved and the improvements that were made to them.
Reading level: high school - adult
Number of copies available: 30
Zachary Kent, Calvin Coolidge (Chicago: Children's Press, 1988). A very stoic, shy, and quiet Vermonter, Calvin Coolidge became president of the United States. This alone should spark great interest. The book includes descriptions of how Coolidge grew up, the challenges of losing family members, and his climb up the political ladder.
Reading level: fifth - eighth grade
Number of copies available: 30
Maudean Neill, Fiery Crosses in the Green Mountains: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan in Vermont (Randolph Center,VT: Greenhill Books, 1989). This book discusses how the Klan got started in Vermont and what caused its downfall. The vulnerability and naïve attitudes of some Vermonters with respect to the Klan stand out in this book. It is startlingly pointed out that so many actually believed the KKK to be a group of people with high moral standards who promoted their patriotic duties to the fullest and had no ulterior motives.
Reading level: high school - adult
Number of copies available: 30
Sarah Rooker and Kim King Zea, Eds., A Little Girl's Diary: Life on a Farm in Rural Vermont (Strafford Historical Society, 1998). In 1911, seven year-old Alice Bushnell began keeping a diary of her life as a young girl on a family farm in Strafford, Vermont. This book is a reproduction of her diary with transcribed text and is part of a kit which includes a teacher's guide that recommends how to access information in the diary, and a video that provides historical context of the area in which Alice lived.
Reading level: elementary - middle school
Number of copies available: 1 kit — includes 11 diaries, 1 teacher's guide, 1 video
Gene Sessions, ed., Celebrating a Century of Granite Art (Barre, VT: Aldrich Public Library). These articles contain fascinating information about the evolution of stone scupting and the granite industry. It includes the compelling stories of artist immigrants and their families.
Reading level: high school - adult
Number of copies available: 1
Michael Sherman and Jennie Versteeg, eds., We Vermonters: Perspectives on the Past (Montpelier, VT: Vermont Historical Society, 1992). The articles in this book discuss Vermont's contributions to the nation from the first marble quarry in America, established in Dorset in 1785, to the agricultural industry. Written in college textbook fashion, these articles provide valuable information about different eras in Vermont history.
Reading level: adult
Number of copies available: 1
