Thanks to Vermont

Thanks to Vermont was a film produced in 1955 by the Vermont Department of Agriculture and the Vermont Development Commission to promote Vermont farm products.

The scene is set on Thanksgiving Day in a typical Vermont home, the mother preparing the turkey and father trying to sneak a taste. After he is shooed out of the kitchen, he sits down in his easy chair, lights his pipe, and commences to think about all the good agricultural products Vermont has to offer to consumers both inside and outside the state.

This 31-minute video is a fascinating look at the state of agricultural technology 65 years ago. In the dairy industry, that was just prior to the introduction of bulk tanks. The dairy industry still used 10-gallon milk cans. Tractors had completely replaced horses in the fields, but not yet in the woods. Maple sap was still collected in buckets and horse-drawn gathering tubs. Today's pipelines came decades later. Other farm products featured in the video include eggs, turkeys, apples, potatoes, sweet corn, and strawberries. The film also shows haying (both baled and loose), cheesemaking, and agricultural fairs.

Thanks to Guy Page for bringing this video to my attention. And thanks to the Vermont Historical Society and the Vermont State Archives & Records Administration for digitizing the original film and preserving it at the Internet Archive. Here is the link again: Thanks to Vermont. Note that audio does not begin until 48 seconds into the video.

Happy Thanksgiving!