From Dairy to Doorstep: Milk Delivery in New England, 1860-1960
- Poster published by H.P. Hood and Sons, c. 1955
From Dairy to Doorstep is an entertaining panel exhibition that uses lively graphics and illustrations – including photographs and advertisements associated with milk production, delivery, and consumption – to chronicle the origins of home milk delivery and the heyday of the milkman. The story of how milk traveled from the cow to the New England kitchen table is the story of changing technologies, sanitation regulations, migrating populations, urbanization, fashionable tastes, local customs, and collective memories. It is also a tale of gender: men delivered the milk and women prepared the food. The exhibition is supplemented by two videos, one containing interviews with milkmen giving visitors a first-hand look at what it was like to deliver milk by horse-drawn wagons and sleds in all kinds of weather and to all kinds of customers; and the second, Milk Parade, c. 1930, narrated by Lowell Thomas, on dairying and the pasteurization process. A memory book is available for visitors to share their milk or milkman stories. The exhibition is easily augmented by objects found in most history museum collections.
View a selection of photographs of the installation of From Dairy to Doorstep.
Contents
- Nineteen panels with text and images
- Two films
- Interactives available
Fee: $3,500 for a three-month period plus one-way shipping. Please contact us for a full checklist.
