In Essentials, Unity : An Economic History of the Grange Movement

Authors

Jenny Bourne

Files

Series

New Approaches to Midwestern Studies

Description

The Patrons of Husbandry—or the Grange—is the longest-lived US agricultural society and, since its founding shortly after the Civil War, has had immeasurable influence on social change as enacted by ordinary Americans. The Grange sought to relieve the struggles of small farmers by encouraging collaboration. Pathbreaking for its inclusion of women, the Grange is also well known for its association with Gilded Age laws aimed at curbing the monopoly power of railroads.

In Essentials, Unity takes as its focus Grange founder Oliver Kelley and his home organization in Minnesota. Jenny Bourne draws upon numerous historical records to present a lively picture of a fraternal organization devoted to improving the lot of farmers but whose legacies extend far beyond agriculture. From struggles over minimum wage, birth control, and environmental regulation to the conflicts surrounding the Affordable Care Act, and from lunch-counter sit-ins to Occupy Wall Street, the Grange has shaped the very notion of collective action and how it is deployed even today. As this compact book so effectively illustrates, the history of the Patrons of Husbandry exposes the classic tension between the desires for achieving overall economic success and determining how the spoils are split.

Copyright Statement

In Essentials, Unity © 2017 by Ohio University Press is licensed under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language

eng

ISBN

9780821445815

Publication Date

2-15-2017

Publisher

Ohio University Press

City

Athens

Keywords

Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, Oliver Kelley, agricultural history, farmers’ movements, collective action, social reform, economic justice, Gilded Age, monopoly power, railroads, women’s participation, rural America, progressive era, labor history, grassroots organizing, Minnesota history, Jenny Bourne, American history

Disciplines

Agricultural and Resource Economics | Agricultural Economics | Labor History | Legal History | United States History

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Bourne, Jenny, "In Essentials, Unity : An Economic History of the Grange Movement" (2017). Ohio University Press Open Access Books. 90.
https://ohioopen.library.ohio.edu/oupress/90