Browse Items (1291 total)

Photograph of an unidentified painting, probably by Juan Cavazos. A self-taught painter, Cavazos traveled from Mexico for employment as a migrant farmworker in Western New York. With support from the Geneseo Migrant Center and the MollyOlga Art…

The livelihoods of Western New York farmers were tied to commodity prices on the world markets, particularly those in London, and so The Genesee Farmer often devoted space to trends. Factors like global weather, crop failures, and emerging producers…

Full title of image reads, "A new map and profile of the proposed canal from Lake Erie to Hudson River in the State of New York," and several details indicate the project's state of flux. For example, two different routes west of the Genesee River…

This idealized diptych appeared in The Genesee Farmer, an agricultural newspaper, showing its readers the clearing of forests so as to create farmland. By the date of publication, settlement and the "Pioneer" figure already was imbued with mythic…

Removal of trees so as to create farmland, and especially the stumps left behind, was an arduous process for European settlers. Although there were complex (and expensive) "patent machines" available, small farmers trying to remove fairly…

The factory town of Lowell, MA was named after the inventor of a power loom that revolutionized manufacturing and, along with the technology, the structure of work. Owners of the mills employed thousands of people, most of them women called the…