Name/Title
Vermont Farm Machine CompanyEntry/Object ID
2009.2.1Description
This artwork is a linocut print depicting a rural interior scene. In the center of the image in front of an open, multi slatted, wooden door revealing leafy hedges, a woman in a long white apron can be seen pouring milk from a deep bucket into a square, vertical tray of a cream separator bearing a small shield design, while the man standing in profile with dark pants, collared shirt, rolled up sleeves, and a cap is resting his hand on the crank of the separator. The machine is separating into a large (probably tin) milk jug nearer to us and another smaller pot to the right bearing a flora-type design and perching on a square-topped stool. To the right of the couple, there is a swing churn resting along the wall of the room. Positioned above the churn, partially visible on the wall, is a piece of art displaying the text: "VT FARM/ ( ...)HINE CO / [an illustration of a building] / DAIRY / 1878." Along the right hand side of the image there is a four-paned window in the back with a leafy bush, the edge of a textured table and the edge of a rounded, vertical appliance with a rounded-top lid. In the bottom right, slanting towards us is another machine-like object with a central multi-armed horizontal bar attaching to a bent handle of another crank protruding from a rectangular box. Below the image, is the label, "Vermont Farm Machine Company (in large, simplistic lettering) Innovations for the Creamery" (in stylized handwritten-looking irregular lettering). On the left accompanying the tile is a box-like object with a vertically extending handle and two loops protruding on either side with petal-like tops and another horizontal, frontal, handle coming out the front and foreshortened. At the front of the box part of the object is inscription stating, "EUREKA" in stick, white lettering against the black object. The front face showing three white marks on either side like pins. On the left side of the print, there are pencil notations indicating "16/25" and "M. Simpson." The print itself is mounted on light beige paper.Artwork Details
Subject
Vermont Farm Machine CompanySubject Place
Village
Bellows FallsTown
RockinghamCounty
Windham CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaContext
Originally named the Hartford Sorghum Machine Company of Hartford, Connecticut when it started in 1861, the firm manufactured equipment for boiling sap into syrup. In Vermont, that famously means maple syrup. In 1868 they opened a factory in Bellows Falls, Vermont. The Vermont operation was bought out in 1871 and renamed the Vermont Farm Machine Company. They quickly diversified their offerings to dairy processing machinery. Their cream separators and butter churns could be found on farms large and small throughout the country. At one point, it was the largest manufacturer of farm machinery in the world and employed hundreds of workers at its Bellows Falls plant. When raw materials and skilled labor became scarce during WWI, the company fell on hard times and ultimately shuttered its operations in 1921.
Currently residing in Lyndonville, Mary Gorham Simpson was born in northern Vermont and raised on a working dairy farm in Burke. After graduating from Lyndon State College, she and her husband, Wilder Simpson, taught school in the area for several years, then moved west. They lived for seven years in Wyoming and 14 years in Alaska, returning to Vermont in 1992.
While raising her three children, Simpson took art classes and worked on her own in various media - drawing, calligraphy, and painting. In Alaska, she worked as a graphic artist for the Imaginarium Science Center in Anchorage and as a scenic artist for the Alaska Festival Theater and Anchorage Civic Opera. She did scrimshaw for two shops and exhibit calligraphy for three years for the Anchorage Museum of History and Art.
Now back in Vermont, she mostly works as a printmaker with subjects reflecting memories of Vermont agriculture.Acquisition
Accession
2009.2Source or Donor
Paige, H. BrookeAcquisition Method
GiftMade/Created
Artist
Simpson, Mary Gorham (b.1945)Date made
2008Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
PrintNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsDimensions
Dimension Description
FramedHeight
16 inWidth
13 inDepth
3/4 inDimension Description
UnframedHeight
12-3/4 inWidth
9-3/4 inRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Vermont Farm Machinery Company (1871-1921)Related Places
Place
Village
Bellows FallsTown
RockinghamCounty
Windham CountyState/Province
VermontCountry
United States of AmericaContinent
North AmericaRelated Events
Event
Vermont History Expo