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"Gift for the Grangers."

This chromolithograph visually highlights the benefits of membership in the Grange, or Order of Patrons of Husbandry, an organization that was established in 1867 to assert the vital economic and social contributions of farmers. The movement culture of the Grangers gave pride of place to cultivation and cooperation in the fields and in the household. The celebration of agricultural manual labor at the center of the print is surrounded by scenes depicting the “Farmer’s Fireside,” a meeting of the “Grange in Session,” a “Harvest Dance,” and the biblical tale of “Ruth and Boaz” (in which Ruth’s selfless harvest labor won the landowner’s sympathy).

Source: Strobridge Lithography Company, chromolithograph, 1873—Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Who Built America? An Open Educational Resource has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and funding from The Ford Foundation, Digital Scholar, and the City University of New York Central Office of Library Services. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this Open Educational Resource, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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