Appalachian Collection

Land Ownership Changes in the Southern Appalachians and their Effect on Small Farming Communities


 

Scope

Since the time of the first settlers, control over land in the Appalachian region has been in constant flux. Exactly who owns the land is usually the deciding factor in how the land is to be used. The past century has seen a sharp decline in the amount of land being owned and operated by farmers, both large and small. This pathfinder gives an introduction to resources that explain how and when those changes took place and to what extent those changes affected the farming communities involved.

 

A good Introduction can be found in:

Appalachian Landownership Task Force. Who Owns Appalachia?: Landownership and its Impa ct. Lexington , Ky: University Press of Kentucky , 1983. APP COLL STACKS: HD210.A66 W48.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

•  Land Use, Rural-Appalachian Region

•  Land Tenure-Appalachian Region

•  Land Tenure-Economic Aspects-Appalachian Region

•  Land Tenure -- Moral and ethical aspects -- Appalachian Region, Southern

•  Land Use, Rural-Moral and Ethical Aspects-Appalachian Region- Congresses

•  Land Value Taxation-Appalachian Region

•  Appalachian Region-Southern-Economic Conditions

•  Appalachian Region-Southern-Social Conditions

•  Appalachian Region-Economic Conditions

•  Appalachian Region-Social Conditions

•  Land Use, Rural-United States

 

Relevant Clippings File Subject Headings (can be found in ASU Appalachian Collection)

  • Agriculture
  • Land Use

 

Some Relevant Library of Congress Call Numbers

  • F216
  • F217 .A65 J68
  • GN2 .S9243
  • HA218.L68
  • HC107 .A127
  • HD205 - HD211
  • HD255 - HD256
  • HD1476.U3 F5
  • HN79
  • Z 1251 .A7
  • Z 5075.U6 A6

 

Frequently Mentioned Texts

Appalachian Land Ownership Task Force. Land Ownership Patterns and their Impacts on Appalachian Communities : A Survey of 80 Counties. Washington , D.C.: Appalachian Regional Commission, 1981. ASU APP COLL STACKS: HD207 .L34 v.1-7.

Fisher, Stephen. A Landless People in a Rural Region: A Reader on Land Ownership and Property Taxation in Appalachia . New Market, Tenn.: Highlander Center, 1979. ASU APP COLL STACKS: HD207. F58.

Fisher, Steve and Mary Harnish. Losing a Bit of Ourselves: the Decline of the Small Farmer. Emory, VA : Emory and Henry College, 1980. ASU APP COLL HD1476.U3 F5. Note: prepared for delivery at Appalachian Studies Conference: Johnson City, TN, 1980.

Gaventa, John. "Land Ownership, Power, and Powerlessness in the Appalachian Highlands." In Cultural Adaptation to Mountain Environments. Patricia D. Beaver and Burton L. Purrington, eds. Series: Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings, No. 17. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. ASU APP COLL STACKS: GN2 .S9243 no.17: pages 142-155.

The land and economy of Appalachia: Proceedings from the 1986 Conference on Appalachia, October 30-31, 1986, University of Kentucky. Lexington , KY: The Center, 1987. ASU APP COLL STACKS: HC107. A127 C66.

 

Guides, Encyclopedias, and Dictionaries

Encyclopedia of Rural America: The Land and People. Santa Barbara , Calif.: ABC-CLIO, c1997. ASU REFERENCE: E169.12 .E5 .

Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, c1989. ASU APP COLL OVSZ and ASU REFERENCE: F209 .E53 .

Hipple, F. Steb, Paul E. Lovingood Jr., and Robert E. Reiman. Emerging Patterns in the Southern Highlands: A Reference Atlas. Vol. 4: Business Patterns. Boone: The Appalachian Consortium, 1985. HA218.L68 1985 v.1-4.

Schapsmeier, Edward L. Encyclopedia of American Agricultural History. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1975. ASU MAIN STACKS and ASU REFERENCE: S441 .S36.

The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Nashville, Tenn.: Tennessee Historical Society: Rutledge Hill Press, c1998. ASU APP COLL STACK: F436 .T525 .

 

Bibliographies

Appalachian Bibliography. 1980. Morganton , WV: West Virginia University Library. ASU APP COLL STACKS: Z 1251 .A7 A6 1980. Most relevant information for agriculture: pp.12-24; land and land use: 564-577.

Bibliography of Southern Appalachia. Charlotte T. Ross, ed. Boone , NC: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1976. ASU APP COLL OVERSIZE: Z1251 .A7 B5x. most relevant information on agriculture: pp. 1-6; development: pp, 76-77; land ownership and use: pp158-159.

Graves , Glenna Horne. 1998. A Selected Bibliography on Agriculture and Modernization Relating to the Appalachian South. Lexington , KY : the compiler. 6 leaves. ASU APP COLL STACKS: Z 5075.U6 A6 1988b.

 

Abstracts and Indices

Academic Search Elite. ASU Library Catalog.

Agricola. ASU Library Catalog.

America : History and Life. ASU Library Catalog.

Anthropological Literature. ASU Library Catalog.

Sociological Abstracts. ASU Library Catalog.

 

Journals

Appalachian Journal. Boone, NC: Appalachian State University. v. 1, 1972 to present. [Indexes: vols. 7, 18, & 23]. ASU APP COLL STACKS: F216.2 .A66

Journal of Appalachian Studies. Morgantown, WV: Published by the Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University for the Appalachian Studies Association, c1995-. ASU APP COLL STACK: F106 .J74

Journal of the Appalachian Studies Association. Johnson City, TN: Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. Lib has vols. 1-4, 7. ASU APP COLL STACKS: F217 .A65 J68.

Journal of Farm Economics (formerly American Journal of Agricultural Economics ). Menasha , Wis.: American Farm Economic Association, 1919-1967.

Mountain Life and Work. Berea , Ky: Berea College . Lib has Bound: v.6-7, 11-13, 15; v.33, 1957-v.64, 1988. ASU APP COLL STACKS: GR103 .M5; Lib has Microfilm: v.1, 1925-v.52, 1976. ASU APP COLL MICROFORMS.

Rural Sociology. Baton Rouge , La.: Rural Sociology Section, American Sociological Society, [1936- . Bound: v.5, 1940-v.18, 1953; v.25, 1960; v.31- 1966- . Microfilm: v.1, 1936-v.5, 1940; v.13, 1948-v.31, 1966.

 

Reviews

Smith, Russell J. Farming Appalachia. Reprint from American monthly review of reviews, v.53. 307p. ASU APP COLL STACKS: S451 .A137 S56.

 

Web Sources

Appalachian Regional Commission. www.arc.gov . Includes relevant statistics county by county.

Appalachian Studies Association. www.appalachianstudies.org .

 

Compiler: Sara Oakley, December 2005