"Preserve or Perish: The Orange County Food Preservation Battalion"
A homemade propaganda poster by the Orange County Food Preservation Battalion for their conservation train, which ran in July, 1917. From the Orange County Food Preservation Battalion Scrapbook, Museum Village Archives, Monroe, NY.
In 2015 I completed my Master's in Public History from the University at Albany. It was a long journey, and my thesis was the longest part. I actually finished my coursework in 2012 (having started in 2009), but because I worked my way through graduate school and attended part-time, it was hard to find the time and the will to schedule my oral exams (which have since been replaced with mandatory written exams). A thesis was an alternative to the oral exams, and one that I eventually took. I figured, if I was going to have to read 24 books to be tested on as part of the oral exam, why not have something to show for it at the end? And thus, "Preserve or Perish" was born.
A friend at my old workplace - Museum Village in Monroe, NY - had told me long ago of a fascinating scrapbook about World War I. At the time, I cared not one whit about World War I - I was far more interested in the late 19th century into the early Progressive Era. In fact, my research seminar's paper topic was on the Country Life movement (read it here!), which was my first real introduction to the Progressive Era and its formative role in early home economics, cooperative extension, rural sociology, and all those other fascinating topics.
But I needed a thesis subject, and food was a primary interest of mine, so I went down to Museum Village and with the help of a friend, photographed the entire scrapbook. Even just the act of photographing it, I was completely hooked. Gillian Webster Barr Bailey leaped out from the pages of her scrapbook, and the work of the ladies of the Orange County Food Preservation Battalion constantly astonished. Even though they were only in existence for two short years, they seemed to have made an outsized impact on their local communities, and the nation.
I am now turning this thesis into a book (a slow slog, I know). But I wanted to give you a glimpse of where it all started. I've learned a lot since I wrote this thesis, which is why it's a good thing I'm writing the book! But I hope you enjoy it anyway.
A friend at my old workplace - Museum Village in Monroe, NY - had told me long ago of a fascinating scrapbook about World War I. At the time, I cared not one whit about World War I - I was far more interested in the late 19th century into the early Progressive Era. In fact, my research seminar's paper topic was on the Country Life movement (read it here!), which was my first real introduction to the Progressive Era and its formative role in early home economics, cooperative extension, rural sociology, and all those other fascinating topics.
But I needed a thesis subject, and food was a primary interest of mine, so I went down to Museum Village and with the help of a friend, photographed the entire scrapbook. Even just the act of photographing it, I was completely hooked. Gillian Webster Barr Bailey leaped out from the pages of her scrapbook, and the work of the ladies of the Orange County Food Preservation Battalion constantly astonished. Even though they were only in existence for two short years, they seemed to have made an outsized impact on their local communities, and the nation.
I am now turning this thesis into a book (a slow slog, I know). But I wanted to give you a glimpse of where it all started. I've learned a lot since I wrote this thesis, which is why it's a good thing I'm writing the book! But I hope you enjoy it anyway.