Echoes of the Past
This issue of the Pioneer America Society Transactions (PAST) continues the format established in the 2010 edition. There are 4 papers and 1 photo essay from the 2011 conference in Castleton, VT. The first, Disappearing Cheese Factories in America’s Dairyland by John Cross, tracks the dramatic loss of small regional cheese producers in Wisconsin, over 87% in the last 50 years. John also examines and gives examples of the reuse of the old cheese factories.
In Worker Cottages: A Nineteenth-Century Great Lakes Urban House Type Marshall McLennan examines an often overlooked vernacular house type. The appearance of this form of housing in the mid-19th century signaled substantial changes in the both the physical and cultural landscapes.
Keith Sculle’s Curt Teich Card 6A-H959: A Fact Broadcast in a Sea of Imagination delves into how literary fiction can impact an area’s sense of place. His examination of how Maurice Thompson’s (1844-1901) novel Alice of Old Vincennes (1900) influenced the town on Vincennes, Indiana as seen through period postcards clearly shows the plasticity of cultural memory.
Douglas A. Hurt’s photo essay The Changing Landscapes of East Tennessee demonstrates the influences that changes in governmental policy and transport infrastructure can have on the landscape. This is easily seen in Greene and Cocke counties in Tennessee, where the end of federal price supports for tobacco and the widening of U.S. highway 321 to 4 lanes has led to a shift from an agricultural to a commercially based economy.
Manayunk; A Place of Waterpower, Textile Industry, Gentrification, and "Hollywood" by Wayne Brew examines a north Philadelphia neighborhood from its beginnings as a mill town to current situation. Of interest are the impacts that urban pioneers and gentrification have had on the neighborhood, particularly the relationship between the long-time and newly arrived residents.
On a more personal note, as the new editor of PAST I would like to thank Scott Roper for his excellent work on the journal. Scott edited PAST for five years, and during that time the journal maintained a consistently high level of quality and scholarship. I hope to continue this tradition during my tenure as PAST editor, which would not be possible without the help of Deborah Slater, who developed and maintains the PAST webpage.
– Paul Marr, Professor of Geography, Shippensburg University