Center for Research on Vermont
Fall 2012 Seminar Series
Directions to Seminar locationsSeptember 27-“Major Valentine's Swedes” John Dewey Lounge, Old Mill, UVM 7:30 pm
Paul Searls, Professor of History and Music, Lyndon State College
In 1890, Vermont's Commissioner of Agricultural and Manufacturing Interests, Alonzo B.
Valentine, launched a program to repopulate Vermont's 'abandoned' farms
with farmers recruited from Scandinavia. The program brought a handful
of Swedes to three towns in the state, was immediately discontinued, and
generally has been dismissed, both by contemporaries and by historians,
as a preposterous fiasco. But, in fact, the program had a remarkable
legacy, both in terms of its impact on the promotion of summer tourism,
and as measured by the subsequent lives of the Swedes and their
descendants, many of whom remain in Vermont to this day. In this talk,
Paul Searls will explore the bizarre and ironic story of Vermont's
Swedish colonists, what the program has to teach us about that
transitional era in Vermont's history, whether the program brilliantly
accomplished what Valentine hoped for it all along, and what we can
learn about twentieth-century Vermont as the Swedes became Vermontesr!
This program is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Samuel B. Hand.
co-sponsored by the Center of the Research on Vermont and UVM's History DepartmentOctober 9- “Of Wheelmen, The New Woman, and Good Roads: Historical Perspectives
on Bicycling in Burlington, 1880-1920” Billings North
Lounge, UVM 7:30 pm
Luis Vivanco, Associate Professor of Anthropology, and Director, Global and Regional Studies, UVM
Dr Vivanco will present his research on bicycle travel in Vermont from 1880-1920.
co-sponsored by the Center of the Research on Vermont and UVM's Transportation Research Center
November 13-“Election 2012: The Impacts of the Results on Vermont and Vermonters” Billings North Lounge, UVM 7:30 pm
Professor Eric Davis,
Middlebury College, will moderate a panel of journalists to discuss the
probably impact of the 2012 voting result onour lives here in Vermont.
Outstanding news and political reporters from Vermont media will
participate in a roundtable discussion. Come hear Hamilton Davis, journalist and author and former managing editor of the Burlington Free Press; Kristin Carlson, WCAX TV; Andy Bromage, Seven Days; Bob Kinzel, Vermont Public Radio; and Sam Hemingway, Burlington Free Press.