Vermont Historical Society Lending Library
Era 3: Agricultural Expansion 1791-1840
Erik Barnouw, House with a Past (Montpelier, VT: Vermont Historical Society, 1992). This is a detailed narrative about an owner's search during the 1950s into the history of an old stone house in Benson, Vermont, and how he made the connection between this stone house and the establishment in the 1830s of the first Mormon congregation in New England. The reader will learn about the town, the times, and the social and religious history of the geographic area.
Reading level: middle school – adult
Number of copies available: 30
Jennifer DePrizio, producer, In an Era of Great Change: A Teaching Packet Exploring Vermont, 1820-1850 (Montpelier, VT: Vermont Historical Society, 2000). This teaching guide, created through funding provided by the A.D. Henderson Foundation, explores the choices that a generation of Vermonters made as they encountered change -- changes in transportation, trade, religion, and politics -- and how those choices influenced their families, work, and communities. Includes a slide packet of images from the era, reproductions of letters written from a young girl to her family, and laminated reproductions of advertisements and broadsides from the time period. A wonderful selection of teaching and writing activities is included.
Reading level: fifth - twelfth grade
Number of copies available: 7
Phil Ewert, "All Around Robinson's Barn," Vermont History News, Vol. 36, #5, (Nov. - Dec. 1985): 125-139. This article gives an overview of the history of the Vermont farm from the first family-operated farms of the 1760s, through the wheat boom and the sheep boom, to the rise of dairy farming in the mid-nineteenth century. Elwert's background essay also features some of the historical woodcuts, engravings, drawings, and advertisements that were part of the Vermont Historical Society's "All Around Robinson's Barn" museum exhibit.
Reading level: middle school – adult
Number of copies available: 27
Nancy Price Graff, ed., Celebrating Vermont: Myths and Realities (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1991). The essays compiled in this book examine the historical basis for the many and often conflicting myths about our state and provide fascinating background on daily life and social and political movements during different periods of Vermont history. They are abundantly illustrated with pieces from the bicentennial exhibit at Middlebury College's museum, from pre-European petroglyphs to a Ben & Jerry's ice cream carton.
Reading level: high school – adult
Number of copies available: 1
Vermont Historical Society, producers, Generation of Change: Vermont 1820-1850 (1999). This video was created to complement the Vermont Historical Society's Generation of Change museum exhibition from 1999-2001. It explores the choices that a generation of Vermonters made as they encountered change -- changes in transportation, trade, religion, and politics -- and how those choices influenced their families, work, and communities.
Reading level: middle school - adult
Number of copies available: 1 video
