Article Title：They Took the Best Farms Remembering Water Supply Development in Rural New York
Abstract：
This arti cle explores col lec tive mem o ries about lost farms in New York City's water shed. It argues that farms taken by emi nent domain for two water sup ply res er voirs came to sym bol ize lost rural and agri cul tural life ways in the twen ti eth cen tury. In the 1950s and 1960s, New York City condemned over two hun dred farms in Del a ware County, New York, flooding two val leys for res er voirs, con trib ut ing to a pat tern of farm clo sure, and dra mat i cally chang ing social and eco nomic life. Nonetheless, farms declined in this region more slowly than across the state and nation, suggesting that it was not the loss of farms but the spe cific way these agri cul tural val leys were flooded that became impor tant for col lec tive mem o ries about this local his tory. Using tran scripts from emi nent domain pro ceed ings and local news pa pers, this arti cle explores the mak ing and mobi li za tion of col lec tive mem o ries that blamed New York City for the loss of the county's `best' farms. Reading his tor i cal doc u ments as cul tural texts, this arti cle brings together the insights of sci ence and tech nol ogy stud ies and mem ory stud ies to show how res i dents in the water shed local ized a more gen eral pol i tics of rural-urban divi sion by linking anx i eties about changes in the region to New York City's water sup ply devel op ment his tory.
Keywords: collective memory; Catskills; eminent domain; urban environmental history; watersheds
DOI: 10.1215/00021482-11058444
Source：AGRICULTURAL HISTORY
Welcome to correct the error, please contact email: humanisticspider@gmail.com
