For the past 150 years, Vermont has been attempting to keep people from leaving the state, and to keep them on farms. But there was a time when state leaders took the opposite approach, planning ways to encourage—or possibly even force—farmers in places like Underhill to leave their farms. At the end of the 1920s, the Vermont Commission on Country Life, an outgrowth of the Eugenics Survey of Vermont, launched a series of studies of the problems of hill towns. Geographers, foresters, agricultural experts, religious leaders, home economists—and eugenicists—travelled through the hills conducting studies of all aspects of the lives of rural Vermonters. Most influential Vermonters agreed: some farms should be replaced with forests, and farmers should be "encouraged" to leave. But that was before the Great Depression and the rise of the young politician George Aiken.

Former UVM History Professor and Underhill resident, Dona Brown, will address this topic with slides at the Deborah Rawson Memorial Library on Tuesday, November 14th, at 7pm. All are welcome.

Sponsored by the Underhill Historical Society

Event Info

Nov 28, 2024, 12 to 7:30 PM

Nov 30, 2024, 10 AM to 4 PM

Dec 2, 2024, 6:30 PM