Kendra Smith-Howard - Pure and Modern Milk: An Environmental History since 1900

Pure and Modern Milk

An Environmental History since 1900

KENDRA SMITH-HOWARD

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith-Howard, Kendra.
Pure and modern milk : an environmental history since 1900 /
Kendra Smith-Howard.
pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9780199899128 (alk. paper)
1. Dairy products industryUnited StatesHistory.
2. MilkQualityUnited StatesHistory20th century.
3. Dairy productsUnited States. 4. Dairy productsUnited States
Marketing. I. Title.
QP144.M54S65 2013
636.2142dc23 2013019901

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

It gives me great pleasure to be able to thank all of those who have inspired and supported this project in various stages. Some asked interesting questions, others lent a listening ear. Still others slogged through messy drafts or offered consolation on dreary writing days. Whatever their contribution, I could not have completed this book without them. I only hope that I can be as gracious and generous with my time as they have with theirs.

This project began as a dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I arrived at the university feeling very lucky to be able to study with Bill Cronon. The longer I have known Bill, the more deeply I have come to admire his scholarship and his commitment to his students. He is a first-rate mentor. I am so grateful for the many ways he has helped me find my path in the field. Nan Enstad, Jess Gilbert, Judith Walzer Leavitt, and Gregg Mitman made suggestions in my dissertation defense that helped greatly as I revised the manuscript. I appreciate all they taught me about researching and writing history. In coursework and other settings, I benefited greatly from the tough questions and models of scholarship of the entire History Department faculty at the University of Wisconsin. I especially thank Colleen Dunlavy, Steve Kantrowitz, and Al McCoy for engaging and pushing me as a graduate student.

Of all my teachers, my undergraduate advisor, Jim Farrell, is most directly responsible for this book. Without him, I would never have even imagined going to graduate school or becoming a historian. Nor would I have had any confidence to be playful with ideas. Who but Jim would ask an earnest undergraduate, as her first research assignment, to find out how, precisely, shit happens? Blending historical rigor with a wry wit, Jim planted the seeds for this quirky project. He is a treasure to all his students, and deeply missed. Other teachers lit my curiosity and held me to high standards in high school and college; I especially thank William Hohulin, Frieda Knobloch, Judy Kutulas, and Dolores Peters.

Historians owe a great debt to the librarians and archivists who provide access to and insight about the documents and records in their charge. In this, I am no exception. My thanks to Roger Horowitz at the Hagley Museum and Library; Susan Strange, John Flecknor, Kay Peterson, and Fath Davis Ruffins at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History; Janice Goldblum at the Archives of the National Academies; Nelson Lankford at the Virginia Historical Society; John Skarstad at the University of California-Davis; Tara Vose at the Strawbery Banke Museum; and the staffs of the California State Parks Office, Western Historical Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, Montana Historical Society, New York State Library and Archives, Vermont Historical Society, and the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland. Special thanks to the following librarians at the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Historical Society: Michaela Sullivan-Fowler, at Ebling Library, who offered an endless supply of interesting tidbits; Rick Pifer and Harry Miller, at the historical societys archives reading room, who delivered good cheer with the documents; and the entire staff at Steenbock Library, who retrieved document after document on my behalf without complaint. The Interlibrary Loan Department at the University at Albany made my life infinitely easier by tracking down obscure agricultural bulletins.

I am grateful for the generous support the project received. Early on, a short-term grant-in-aid from the Hagley Museum and Library gave me a sense of the wealth of possibilities available and buffeted my confidence. A semester-long predoctoral fellowship from the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History allowed me to devote myself to this project full time in a city rich with archives. More important, museum curators Pete Daniel and Jeffrey Stine introduced me to a network of people and sources that made this project stronger. The University of Wisconsin-Madison history department provided support through a semester-long writing grant at a critical time. Grants from the Virginia Historical Society and the University at Albanys Faculty Research Award Program allowed the project to take on a national scope. Finally, a research leave sponsored by the New York State United University Professions Joint Labor-Management Committee allowed me time to integrate new findings and rewrite the manuscript. I am grateful to the United University Professions and to history department chair Richard Hamm and Dean Elga Wulfert of the College of Arts and Sciences for sponsoring my application.

It took scores of drafts and the feedback of many readers to help me make sense of the muddled mess of milky evidence uncovered in the research stage. Their constructive criticism helped a great deal; any remaining errors or omissions are my own. I presented parts of this research at meetings of the Agricultural History Society, Business History Society, and American Society for Environmental History. I thank commentators Kathleen Brosnan, Pete Daniel, Thomas Pegram, and Amy Slaton for comments at these meetings. I also had the pleasure of participating in stimulating workshops at the University of Western Ontario, Montana State University, University of Georgia, and the University of Guelph. I thank the organizers of these meetings, as well as Shane Hamilton, Alan MacEachern, Sara Pritchard, Paul Sutter, and William Turkel for their advice on these occasions.