Browse Items (1402 total)

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…

Clearing forested lands to create open agricultural land was an arduous process, which is why this device may have been of interest to farmers: "This machine is not only used for pulling stumps, but it is applicable to moving buildings, rocks, &c. It…

The 19th-century land rush was heavily subsidized by railroad companies, who had been granted large tracts of appropriated indigenous land and had a financial stake in the settlement of territories. This advertisement lists out eighteen inducements…

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…

A small sample drawn from 500 photographs taken during a day-long workshop sponsored by the Creative Artists Migrant Program Services (CAMPS). Held at Sodus Central School, the activities included drawing, photography, papier-mâché, collage, and…

In low light, perhaps after a day of work, five women gather to talk. They are likely migrant farmworkers, sitting on wooden pallets that are used in the harvest of fruit or vegetables. The time of year may be fall, because one of the pallets has…

Woman stares intently while stitching decorative elements to a piece of work; rawhide laces suggest it may be a moccasin. For many years, a community from the Algonquins of Barriere Lake traveled to Western New York, where their skill in processing…

Undated photo shows a young woman holding a child in her arms as both look into the distance; their easy familiarity suggests a maternal relationship. In the background are rows of either greenhouses or poultry houses.

Migrant farmworkers usually were housed in temporary structures, often constructed of cinder blocks, with varying degrees of privacy. Here, we see a mother cooking a meal for two young men who are likely her sons. During the era this photograph was…

Undated photograph shows a young woman standing in the threshold of a door way with two boys holding bags. Although details aren't available, the context suggests this is migrant housing, and the three may be part of a family.