Showing 11 - 20 of 35 Records
Civil War Broadsides and Epemera
- Date Created: 1861-1865
- Description: The Civil War Broadsides and Ephemera Collection contains items from the UVM Silver Special Collections Library that were printed and circulated from 1861 to 1865. Most of the items are related to the war, while a small number are related to Vermont’s efforts to organize and train the state militia after the war. The collection features proclamations, orders and announcements about the state’s military operations, including recruitment, enrollment, supplies, and equipment; relief efforts; the end of the war; and President Lincoln’s death. One of the most unusual items is a broadside alerting the public to the theft of U.S. Treasury notes and bonds stolen from a St. Albans, Vermont bank by Confederate raiders in October 1864.
George Perkins Marsh Online Research Center
- Description: The George Perkins Marsh Research Center provides access to transcriptions and images of selected letters in Marsh's correspondence. With a generous grant from the Woodstock Foundation we have transcribed over 650 letters from the University manuscript collection and from Marsh's letters located at other institutions.
Fletcher Family
- Date Created: 1826-1903
- Description: The Fletcher Family collection includes family correspondence from the period 1826-1903 and photographs from circa 1860-1890. The material comes from the Fletcher Family subseries of the Consuelo Northrop Bailey Papers, which contains family papers collected by Consuelo's mother, Katherine Fletcher Northrop. The correspondence included in this collection was collected by Ruth Allen Colton Fletcher, Henrietta Smith Fletcher, and Katherine Fletcher. Ruth was born in 1810 or 1811 to Lydia and Lemuel Colton of Sharon, VT. She married Andrew Fletcher in 1839, and lived in Waterville, Belvidere, and then Johnson, VT until her death, circa 1903. Her oldest surviving child was Andrew Craig Fletcher, who married Henrietta Smith in 1869. Henrietta was born in 1845 to Catherine and George Smith of Burke, NY. Katherine Fletcher was born in 1870 to Henrietta and Andrew Craig Fletcher of Jeffersonville, VT. She attended Johnson State Normal School from 1885-1887, graduating in January 1888. The correspondence describes the experiences of several family members who moved west to New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and California. The correspondents recount in great detail the work of creating and managing their farms in these new states or territories, and many letters give meticulous lists of the prices of land, grains, stock, and groceries. The families in this correspondence endure a great deal of sickness and deaths and these as well as some accounts of their medical treatments are described in the letters. There are a few letters from Enos Fletcher and Charles Hogan that are from the Civil War, and several letters refer to the War and its effects on their communities. There is an account of the "St. Albans Raid" by Ruth's son Andrew Craig Fletcher, who was working in St. Albans at the time. Katherine Fletcher's correspondence with her family and classmates document her life and studies at Vermont's teacher training institution twenty years into its history as such.
Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Matthew Buckham
- Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898
- Date Created: 1872-1898
- Description: Justin Morrill (1810-1898) served as a US Representative (1855-1867) and Senator (1867-1898) from Vermont, following a successful business career. His signature legislative accomplishments were the Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890, which used the proceeds from the sale of federal lands expropriated from tribal nations, to create land-grant colleges. The purpose of these land-grant colleges was to teach agriculture, military instruction, and mechanical arts such as engineering in addition to the traditional science and classical education that was generally taught in colleges at that time. The second Land Grant Act, passed in 1890, funded colleges in the former Confederate states and required each state to offer race blind admissions or set up a separate land-grant college for persons of color, which led to the creation of several of the historically Black colleges and universities. An additional act passed by Congress in 1887 funded agricultural experiment stations under the direction of the land grant colleges. In 1865, the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College was incorporated, after a great deal of debate about whether a land-grant college in Vermont should be a separate institution, or attached to the University of Vermont, Norwich University, Middlebury College or even possibly a merger of those three institutions. Despite the 1865 incorporation, these debates would continue in Vermont for many years to come. With the establishment of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Morrill became a trustee of the University, a position he continued to hold until his death in 1898. Matthew Buckham (1832-1910) became President of the University in 1871 and continued in this role until his death in 1910. He had previously graduated from the University in 1851 and served as a faculty member from 1856-1871. His time as president saw the admission of women to the University, the addition of several notable buildings to campus such as Williams Hall and the Billings Library, and the development of the State Agricultural College which had admitted no students to the agricultural course in the six years before he became President. Morrill and Buckham were frequent correspondents and eighty-two of Morrill’s letters to Buckham, along with three to George Benedict and one to Albert Cummins, are preserved in Buckham’s papers at the University of Vermont and are digitized and transcribed in this collection. The letters included here discuss a wide variety of topics, mostly related to the agricultural college and include: federal support for the University, possible donors, military instruction, Morrill’s views on the development of agricultural colleges around the country, competition with Middlebury and Norwich, Vermont legislation such as the 1890 “divorce bill” which would have separated the State Agricultural College from the University, the experimental farm, the academic progress of Morrill’s son James at the University, and the construction of Billings Library along with the potential acquisition of the library of George Perkins Marsh.
Hay Harvesting in the 1940's
- Creator: Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station, Carter, Robert McCrillis, 1902-
- Date Created: 1940's
- Description: In the 1940’s, Robert M. Carter, of the University of Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station, conducted a study of hay harvesting techniques and costs in Vermont. This collection documents that work which resulted in several published studies and three films showing different hay harvesting techniques. The films capture hay harvesting at a time when there was an increasing use of power machinery, and they show a range of techniques including older methods of hand harvesting, as well as newer tractor driven methods. In Carter’s study he writes, “While nearly half of all farmers contacted relied upon horses for handling some field equipment, combinations of horse- and motor-operated equipment were frequent. Forty-one percent of the farmers owned tractors, and 21 percent had trucks.” These films capture hay harvesting right in the middle of the transition from horse to machine driven equipment. Vermont was still a predominantly agricultural state in the 1940’s and dairy was the largest agricultural sector, so hay harvesting was a subject of significant interest in the state. It was also a subject of importance outside of Vermont. Between 1946 and 1948, at least 28 studies on hay harvesting methods and costs were published (Vermont, Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, United States Department of Agriculture, New York, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, California, New Zealand, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Connecticut). The large number of studies demonstrates clearly that the point in time that these films capture was critical in terms of the development of hay harvesting. It captures an agricultural sector in a period of intense study and change. In Vermont, the cost of dairy farming was increasing which resulted in fewer and larger farms. The increased size of dairy herds led to greater requirements for feeding them. In a history of the State of Vermont, the authors note, “Wheat, buckwheat, and oats all but disappeared as cash crops for regional or national markets while farmers focused on raising hay, field corn, and other silage crops.” The authors also note that the greater focus on feed forced farmers to examine productivity and to adopt more mechanized and machine driven techniques. Again, the films document this transitional phase while simultaneously serving as evidence of the increased attention paid to issues of labor and cost-saving techniques. Robert Carter was a rural sociologist interested in labor saving techniques and systems. He studied the different ways that farmers harvested hay because “harvesting the hay crop is hard, tedious, expensive work.” His study investigated the efficiency of various hay harvesting methods. He looked at the following hay harvesting tasks: cutting grass, raking hay, bunching hay, loading hay, necessary travel carrying hay between field and barn, unloading hay, and mowing-away hay. He looked at the time spent on each task, the cost of the equipment used, crew size, idle time, time spent making repairs to equipment, the interrelationships between jobs, and the production yield. His study is thorough and provided benchmarks for farmers to measure their performance against as well as strategies for improving efficiency.
Letters Home From Congress
- Creator: Austin, Warren Robinson, 1877-1962, Collamer, Jacob, 1791-1865, Crafts, Samuel Chandler, 1768-1853
- Date Created: 1818-1941
- Description: This collection features letters home from Warren R. Austin (Senator, 1931-1946), Jacob Collamer (Representative, 1843-1848; Senator, 1855-1865), and Samuel C. Crafts (Representative, 1817-1824; Senator, 1842-1843). The letters document travel to and from Washington by horse, boat, train, and airplane; lodging in boarding houses, hotels, and homes; social life in Washington; significant local and national events; and legislative issues under consideration in Congress. Austin's letters detail his frustrations serving as a Senator in the minority party during the era of Roosevelt and the New Deal; his activities on the Judiciary Committee; and foreign affairs topics such as the Neutrality Act. The letters of Crafts and Collamer both extensively cover the question of slavery, discussing Missouri statehood, John Brown, the annexation of Texas, and the Civil War. All three Congressmen frequently discuss questions regarding appropriations and the Federal budget. Biographical information is available from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, at: https://bioguide.congress.gov/
Photographs of Vergennes (Vt.)
- Description: This collection contains 794 images comprising 122 years of history in Vergennes, Vermont’s oldest city. Featuring a wide range of topics, which date from the 1866 Civil War parade to the 1988 Bicentennial, the collection provides a comprehensive and unusual look at small town life in northern Vermont. These photographs document the full visual spectrum of history in Vergennes, from businesses, industries, and transportation to natural scenery, paintings, and portraits of people who once walked the city’s streets. These images were scanned from 35mm slides located in the Bixby Memorial Free Library archives in Vergennes. The slides were made around 1987 from color photographs taken of the original images. The originals, mainly of the Vergennes area but including several from Ferrisburgh and Lake Champlain, had accumulated over the years in the library’s historical materials repository. Many of these photographs, along with the slides and accompanying inventory notebook, can be viewed with permission at the library. The authors of these photographs remain undocumented and anonymous, except for a selection of photographs by local artist Harvey Custer Ingham (1863-1931), a personal friend of local businessman and library founder William Gove Bixby (1829-1907). Mr. Bixby left funds from his estate for the founding of a public library in the city of Vergennes, including the construction of the imposing Greek revival library building on Main Street. The library opened on November 4, 1912, and in 2012 celebrates a century of continued service to Vergennes and the surrounding towns of Addison, Panton, Waltham, and Ferrisburgh.
Porter C. Thayer Photographs
- Description: This archive contains 1300 photographs made by Porter C. Thayer,scanned from silver gelatin prints, held in the collection of the Brooks Memorial Library. The prints were made in 1980 from the 5x7 glass plates negatives created by Porter Thayer. These images are also available on microfilm at the Brattleboro library. Porter Thayer was born Porter Charlie Thayer on January 6, 1882 on Main Street in Williamsville, Vermont. He grew up in the red house called the Tillotson Place in the Parish section of Newfane, Vermont. He photographed Windham County, Vermont, beginning in 1906 through around 1920. Like most Vermont men of his generation he was a farmer, specifically an apple orchardist, managing his 50 acre apple orchard on Baker Brook Farm in Newfane. He turned to his apple business after ending his photographic career. The postcard craze that most likely reached Vermont by about 1905, was perhaps the impetus for Porter Thayer starting up a photographic business. His diaries tell that he sold 1,197 postal cards during a six-month period at the height of his career. The cards were for sale as souvenirs to summer tourists at small general stores, local inns, boarding houses and hotels. Local folks purchased his photographs as well, especially around the Christmas season, to send to distant relatives. A Brattleboro, Vermont directory of 1909 lists Porter as advertising that he would come to anyone’s home and make images for a reasonable fee. Around 1911 he recorded that he had 720 customers. Eventually he photographed in all the towns within a 25 mile radius of his home in Newfane. Porter Thayer perfectly fits the archetype of the town photographer. He traveled the narrow dirt roads in his buggy, behind his faithful mare Lady, who accompanied him daily. He could apparently take extended naps while Lady brought him safely home, as she always knew the way. He used two cameras: a 5 x 7 and a 6.5 x 8.5 view camera and made glass dry-plate negatives. He traveled with stacks of postcards to be delivered at stores along the way to his days work. Working continually through seasons and years, Porter Thayer left an archive that is a cultural treasure for southeastern Vermont. The quality of his work shows that he was able to combine business needs with aesthetic ones. During the time period Porter worked, Vermont was extremely poor and rural, yet held a close-knit population that shared the labors of life. Farmers helped one another to survive in a subsistence and barter economy. For women, men, and children, life meant constant work. Thayer’s images describe the work and the tools involved. His landscape images reveal this working landscape, which today is mostly hidden by trees. The fruits of his labor as a photographer have grown in importance, as both the landscape and culture of Vermont has shifted into modern spheres of living. Written by Jessica Weitz and Forrest Holzapfel, 2010.
Prospect Archive of Children's Work
- Creator: Prospect School and Center for Education and Research
- Description: The Prospect Center for Education and Research, located in North Bennington, VT, started in 1965 as a school for elementary, and later, middle school children. The School closed in 1991 and the Center in 2010. Featured here are substantial, digitized selections of the work of nine students of the several hundred who attended the School. The School’s daily schedule included large blocks of time for its students to work with a broad range of materials individually and together, in self-directed ways. Visual and written work left behind was gathered and saved and eventually became the Prospect Archive of Children's Work, which now also contains teacher records and some subsequently donated work. The Archive is a unique resource, offering a longitudinal perspective on children’s thinking and growth. It has been used for many years by teachers and other educators—employing methods for collaborative study developed at the Prospect Center—to further understanding of individual children, of children in school, of what in the educational setting supports their learning, and ultimately, of larger questions about human work, thought, and capacity. It is Prospect’s hope that the children’s work and supporting material on this site and in the Special Collections Library at UVM will be used by educators to continue their study in service to the idea that each child offers something new to the world, a fresh perspective, a renewed meaning, and that it is the work of education to enable that emergence. This collection includes the work of nine individual children and The Introduction to the Reference Edition of the Prospect Archive (1985), which offers background and descriptions of the Prospect School, the Archive of Children’s Work, and the Reference Edition itself, from which all the children’s work and related material on this site have been drawn. The Reference Edition of the Prospect Archive is a slide, microfiche and manuscript compilation of the complete works of thirty-six children. Note: The convention of parentheses around the children’s names indicates a pseudonym. The Prospect Center for Education and Research, located in North Bennington, VT, started in 1965 as a school for elementary, and later, middle school children. Out of its own efforts to learn more about children and how best to provide for and encourage their learning, the Prospect School grew to encompass a variety of teacher education programs, research projects, and an archive of children’s work and transformed itself into the Prospect Center in 1979. The School closed in 1991. The Center continued some of its adult education and research activities, and undertook an ambitious publication program, until its closing in 2010.
Congressional Speeches
- Date Created: 1812-1988
- Description: This collection features speeches made on the floor of the United States House of Representatives and Senate by Vermont Congressmen. Topics covered include the environment, education, agriculture, World War II and selective service, the Mexican War, the tariff and international trade, slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction. The speeches date from 1812 to the present and a wide variety of Congressmen are represented.