Sally McMurry

Sally McMurry

SallyMcMurry is professor emerita of history at Pennsylvania State Universityand former president of the Agricultural History Society. She is the author ofseveral books on landscape and architectural history, including most recently From Sugar Camps to Star Barns: Rural Lifeand Landscape in a Western Pennsylvania Community.

Pennsylvania Farming

A History in Landscapes

Since precolonial times, agriculture has been deeply woven into the fabric of Pennsylvania’s history and culture. Pennsylvania Farming presents the first history of Pennsylvania agriculture in more than sixty years, and offers a completely new perspective. Sally McMurry goes beyond a strictly economic approach and considers the diverse forces that helped shape the farming landscape, from physical factors to cultural repertoires to labor systems. Above all, the people who created and worked on Pennsylvania’s farms are placed at the center of attention. More than 150 photographs inform the interpretation, which offers a sweeping look at the evolution of Pennsylvania’s agricultural landscapes right up to the present day.