The Persistence of Agriculturally Based Home Economies in Appalachia with Special Attention to Mitchell County, NC
Scope:
Many households in Appalachia subsidize their wage-based income by growing a kitchen garden and reciprocating favors with their family and neighbors. Yes, there is a move toward a more capital based home economy in Appalachia , but there are pockets within the region where people persist in more traditional economic systems that sustain the home and community. These strategies are essential in rural areas where the job market is unstable. As with any cultural transition, there are various theories that seek to examine and explain the evolution from one stage of economic development to another. This Pathfinder provides an introductory checklist of various types of sources within the literature on Appalachia related to agriculturally based home economies through the twentieth century in the Appalachian region with special attention to Mitchell County North Carolina. Understanding the regional transformation from subsistence to capitalism, the resistance to these changes, and the persistence of family farms and home gardens serves the body of Appalachian Studies well.
A good encyclopedic introduction to understanding the significance of farming in the Appalachian household can be found in:
Stokely, Jim. "Agriculture". In An Encyclopedia of East Tennessee . Jim Stokely and Jeff Johnson. Oak Ridge , TN : Children's Museum of Oak Ridge . 1981. Pgs. 3-7. App. Coll. F442.1.E53
Important Books that also provide an introduction to household economics of Appalachia are:
Berry, Wendell. Home Economics: Fourteen Essays. San Francisco , CA : North Point Press. 1987. App. Coll. PS3552.E75 H55 1987
Dunaway, Wilma. The First American Frontier: Transition to Capitalism in Southern Appalachia , 1700-1860 . Chapel Hill , NC : The University of North Carolina Press. 1996. App. Coll. HC107 .A127D86 1996
Halperin, Rhoda H. The Livelihood of Kin: Making Ends Meet "The Kentucky Way " . Ausin , TX : The University of Texas Press. 1990. App. Coll. GN560.U6 H35 1990
Inscoe, John C. Mountain Masters: Slavery and Sectional Crisis in Western North Carolina . Knoxville , TN : University of Tennessee Press. 1989. Pgs. 1-58. App. Coll. E445.N8 I57 1989 c.3
Salstrom, Paul. Appalachia 's Path to Dependency: Rethinking a Region's Economic History 1730-1940. Lexington , KY : University of Kentucky Press. 1994. App. Coll. HC107.A127 S24 1994
Important articles that contribute to an introduction to livelihood strategies in Appalachia include:
Billings , Dwight B. and Kathleen M. Blee. "Family Strategies in a Subsistence Economy: Beech Cree , Kentucky, 1850-1942". In Sociological Perspectives . Vol. 33, No. 1, Critical Theory. Spring 1990. Pgs. 63-88. This article can be found on the Sociological Abstracts database and the full text can be retrieved through JSTOR.
Hatch, Elvin. "Delivering the Goods: Cash, Subsistence Farms, and Identity in a Blue Ridge County in the 1930s". In Journal of Appalachian Studies . Vol. 9 No. 1. Spring 2003. Pgs. 6-48. App. Coll. Periodicals
Mariola, Matthew J. "Losing Ground: Farmland Preservation, Economic Utilitarianism, and Erosion of the Agrarian Ideal." Agriculture and Human Values 22. Summer 2005. Pgs. 209-223. Available through Ingenta.
Pudup, Mary Beth. "The Limits of Subsistence: Agriculture and Industry in Central Appalachia". Agricultural History . Vol. 64 Winter 1990. pg. 61-89. University of California Press. ASU Periodicals.
LC Subject Headings that offer a good return of sources are listed here. This listing begins with subject headings that return the most sources and narrow down to those that return fewer sources:
Appalachian Region - Economic conditions
Appalachian Region - Social Conditions
Farms
North Carolina - History
North Carolina - Rural Conditions
Agriculture and State - United States
Agriculture - United States
Agriculture - Economic Aspects
Agriculture - North Carolina - Periodicals
Agriculture - North Carolina - History
Agricultural Geography - Social Aspects
Land Tenure - Appalachian Region
Land Tenure - Economic Aspects - Appalachian Region
Land Use, Rural - Appalachian Region
Agrarians Group of Writers
Mitchell County N C History
Mitchell County N C Biography
Mitchell County N C Social Life and Customs
Clippings File Subject Headings that would be helpful are listed here from general to more specific:
Economics - Western North Carolina
Economics - Appalachia
Appalachia - Regional Development
Appalachia - Economic Development
Agriculture
Country Life
Land Use
Mitchell County, NC
LC Call Numbers:
F262
HC107
HD207-210
S440-S510
Frequently Mentioned Texts:
Campbell, John C. The Southern Highlander and his Homeland. The original was printed by the Russell Sage Foundation. 1921. Spartanburg, SC: The Reprint Company. App. Coll. F210.C2 1973
Caudill, Henry. Night Comes to the Cumberlands, A Biography of a Depressed Area. Boston , Mass: An Atlantic Monthly Press Book. 1963. App. Coll. HC107.K4 C3
Eller, Ronald D. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930 . Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. 1982. Originally printed in 1948. HC107.A127E4 1982
Guides, Encyclopedias, and Dictionaries:
Byrd, Thomas M. ed. North Carolina Agriculture: From the Mountains to the Sea. Raleigh , NC : North Carolina Association of County Agriculture Agents. 1988. Pg. 61. Ref S451.N8 N59 1988
Clark, Thomas D. "Agriculture". Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Wilson, Charles Reagan and William Ferris eds. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. 1989. Pgs. 5-50. App. Coll. Ovs. F209.E53 1989
Bibliographies that contain relevant sources include:
A Selected Bibliography on (Agri)culture and Modernization Relating to the Appalachian South. Glenda Horne Graves. 1988. App. Coll. Z5075.U6 A6 1988b
Marie Tedesco's Selected Bibliography. Archives of Appalachia. East Tennessee State University. Link on right side of screen to "Agriculture and Land Use" section. This bibliography can be found online at: http://www.appalachianstudies.org/resources/bibliographies/index.php#Agriculture
Appalachian Studies Bibliography 1994-2003. Agriculture and Land Use Pgs. 2-7. This bibliography can be found online at: http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/appalachian/bibliography2003.pdf
WorldCat, a database accessible through Appalachian State University's "Articles and Databases" link, is also a great bibliography that will prove helpful.
The below mentioned indices and sources for abstracts are online databases that can be found by going to the Appalachian State University Library home page, clicking on the "articles and databases" link, clicking on the first letter of the database, then clicking on the database title. For this search the keywords " Appalachia " and "Agriculture" were used. Alternatively, abovementioned titles can be inserted. Multiple databases can be searched at one time by pulling up your first database, going to the "databases" tab at the top of the page and clicking up to two other databases. This is helpful as different databases pull up repeated sources.
America: History and Life. United States and Canadian history and culture from prehistoric times to the present. Provides citations with abstracts to over 1,800 journals and citations to book/media reviews and dissertations. There are Links to the full text journals from JSTOR and Project Muse. 1964 to present. ABC-CLIO
Sociological abstracts. Covers all aspects of sociology, including community development, culture and social structure, and more. Provides citations (and abstracts since 1974) for articles in more than 2,500 international journals, serials, conference papers, books, and dissertations. 1963 to present. Abstracts since 1974. CSA. OCLC/FirstSearch.
Modern Language Association (MLA). Covers folklore, languages, linguistics, and literature. Provides indexing from over 6,000 sources, including journals and series published worldwide, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. 1963 to present.
The library has in print MLA Bibliography from 1921-1962. ASU REFERENCE PB1 .M64. Modern Language Association of America . OCLC/FirstSearch.
Geobase. Covers geography, geology, ecology, and related disciplines. GEOBASE contains citations, with abstracts from more than 2,000 international journals, books, theses, conference proceedings and reports. 1980 - present. The library has in print Geographicas Abstracts (1971-1988). This title split into Geographical Abstracts: Human Geography (1989-present). Geographical Abstracts: Physical Geography (1989-present). ASU Reference G1 .G45. Elsevier Science Publishing Company. OCLC/FirstSearch
Journals:
Agricultural History. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Quarterly. Microfilm: v.1, 1927-v.38, 1964. 1965 to present bound copies can be found in the ASU main stacks.
Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review. Boone, NC: Appalachian State Universit . Quarterly. 1972 to present. Indexes: vols. 7, 18, and 23. App. Coll. F216.2.A66. More recent issues are found in the unbound periodical section of the App. Coll.
Journal of Appalachian Studies. Morganton, WV: West Virginia University for the Appalachian Studies Association. Quarterly. 1995 - present. Bound issues can be found on the stacks at: App. Coll. F106.J74. More recent issues are found in the unbound periodical section of the App. Coll.
Journal of Agrarian Change. London, UK: University of London. Quarterly. January 2001 - present. This journal can be accessed through the Blackwell Synergy database.
Mountain Life and Work. Berea, KY: Berea College. Quarterly. 1925 - 1988. Microfilm: v.1, 1925-v.52, 1976. Bound: v.1-17; v.20-42; v.44-64, 1988. Bound issues can be found on the stacks at: App. Coll. GR103.M5.
JSTOR and Blackwell-synergy are full-text journal databases that are accessible through Appalachian State University's "Articles and Databases" link. Search these databases using the keywords " Appalachia " and "agriculture".
Adams, Shelby-Director. Lee Banks: Mountain Farmer. Appalshop. Appalachian Film Workshop. Whitesburg, KY. 1921 on film. 1973 on VHS. App. Coll. VC 144
Johnson, Anne Lewis, Andrew Garrison, and Buck Maggard. Grassroots Small Farm . Appalshop. Whitesburg, KY. 1988. App. Coll. FILM VC 33.
Online Resources:
Geospatial and Statistical Data Center through the University of Virginia in Charlottesville Virginia has a searchable website where agricultural census statistics dating back to 1944 can be retrieved. Begin at the below link and direct links to desired dates, North Carolina , then Mitchell County: http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/ccdb/
Compiler: Tamara McNaughton, December 2005
