Category: books

Recommended Reads: Excellent Sources on the Culture and History of Maple Syrup

People occasionally ask me what are the best books to learn about the culture and history of maple syrup and I usually respond with the same three books. It is true that there are a wide variety of other books, articles, and reports that cover various aspects of maple history. But these are usually focused on a particular topic or geographic area, some of which are featured elsewhere in this blog.  In contrast, these three books have a much greater breadth, are well-researched and well-written and, and give the average reader a bit more to chew on. The three books are – The Maple Sugar Book by Helen and Scott Nearing, published in 1950,  Maple Sugarin’ In Vermont: A Short History by Betty Ann Lockhart, published in 2008, and Sweet Maple: Life lore & recipes from the sugarbush published in 1993 by James M. Lawrence and Rux Martin.

The Maple Sugar Book

Written by Helen and Scott Nearing, although it was primarily researched and written by Helen, tells the story of how one couple in the 1940s left the city for the Vermont woods, took up a simple homesteader’s life and learned the ways of living with the seasons, including maple sugaring in the springtime and sustainable organic farming all year round. Along the journey Helen became fascinated with the history and lore of maple sugaring, and finding no satisfactory book written on the topic, decided to write one herself. As a result, this book could be described as the first detailed and well-referenced study published on the history of maple sugar. The first third of the book begins  by situating maple sugar in the broader context of sweeteners in our historical and modern culture. The book then moves to a survey of early historical accounts of Native American sugaring before launching into a chapter titled “The Early Settlers Make Syrup and Sugar”. This nicely referenced chapter traces the evolution of non-Indian sugaring from its most primitive forms in the 1600 and 1700s up through the early 1900s.

The middle portion of the book describes in great detail the process of running a sugarbush and the making and marketing maple syrup and maple sugar in the 1940s and 1950s in Vermont. By maple industry standards at the time, the Nearing’s maple operation was relatively state of the art, including the use of a metal pipeline system connecting dumping points in the sugarbush to sap collection tanks at a lower elevation.

Helen Nearing working the evaporator. Taken from the cover of the 50th Anniversary edition of “The Maple Sugar Book” published in 2000 by the Good Life Center.in the sugarbush to sap collection tanks at a lower elevation.

The final portion of the book contains the Nearing’s thoughts and philosophy on work, sustainability, and living within one’s means and how and where maple sugaring fit into that equation for them.

It is interesting to consider that, while written in the 1940s and published in 1950, this book itself, in addition to the history it presents, is now something of an artifact and of historical interest.

To really understand the Nearing’s back to the land approach and the ins and outs of the operational side of their maple sugaring endeavor, one also needs to pick up their book Living the Good Life: How To Live Sanely and Simply in a Troubled World which was first published in 1954. This book explains the role and economic importance of the making and sale of maple syrup and maple sugar in their idealized, but not quite real, attempt at living a frugal and sustainable lifestyle.

Margaret O. Killinger’s 2007 biography of Helen Nearing titled The Good Life of Helen K. Nearing is also an important companion piece to understanding and explaining some of the otherwise unstated motivations and realities of the Nearing’s decision to get into maple sugaring and how they made it a success. Similarly, the 50th anniversary edition of The Maple Sugar Book, published in 2000 includes an epilogue by Greg Joly that provides additional context and back story on how The Maple Sugar Book came to be written in the first place and what became of the Nearing’s maple operation after they left Vermont for Maine in 1952.

Copies of this book are pretty easy to come by with many printings both in hardcover and paperback over the years, although, as mentioned above, the 50th anniversary edition has interesting additional information and commentary.

 

Maple Sugarin’ In Vermont

The most recent and the most thorough treatment of maple sugaring history is the book Maple Sugarin’ In Vermont: A Sweet History by Betty Ann Lockhart. Published by The History Press, his book is written from the perspective of Lockhart’s home state of Vermont as a central unifying theme, but let’s face it, when talking about maple history, Vermont was the center of the maple universe. Lockhart has been deeply involved in researching, writing about, and promoting maple syrup history since the early 1980s. In addition to this book, she along with her husband have written and produced a variety of articles, films and videos, and teaching materials, including a quality control manual for maple producers. She’s a very active member and contributor to the Vermont Maple Festival held each April in St. Albans. Suffice it to say, she knows the ins and out of the history of maple syrup making.

Presented in a more or less chronological fashion, the chapters cover a wide range of topics and major themes in the history of maple, including Native American sugaring, the evolution of sugaring technology, the beginnings of maple research and science, trade organizations and the promotion of maple products, and the effects of government regulations just to name a few.  Close to my heart, since I wrote a book about the man and his legacy, is a chapter on the corporate giant George C. Cary.

One of the things I like most about the book, in addition to the great illustrations and accessible writing style, is that Lockhart provides footnotes with references for her narrative. All too often popular history books are written without sufficient or sometimes any reference to supporting documentation, and we are just supposed to accept their “story” at face value. This book, thankfully does not fall into that trap. This book is a must read for anyone even remotely interested in the history of maple syrup and maple sugar and is still in press and available online through The History Press and at other outlets.

 

Sweet Maple

While this book is not exactly heavy on the history side, it has a special place in my heart as one of the first books to introduce me to the broader culture and history of maple syrup and sugar.  With its 8.5 x 11 inch size and excellent color photos and drawings, Sweet Maple: Life, lore & recipes from the sugarbush initially comes off as more of a coffee table style book. But don’t let that fool you.  Vermont authors James M. Lawrence and Rux Martin bring a strong knowledge of the maple world to their work and were careful in their writing and research. Overall the book presents a broad cross section of the variety of people and topics of interest connected to maple. The chapter on the origins and history of sugarmaking is tightly presented, yet still wide-ranging.

Like with the Nearing’s book and the Lockhart book, Sweet Maple does the reader a service by providing a bibliography, historical timeline, helpful glossary of maple sugaring terms, and a now partially out-dated list of sources for maple museums, equipment dealers, syrup and candy sales, and publication sources. Of course, as is true of nearly every popular publications related to maple syrup, including the Nearing’s and Lockhart books, there is a collection of maple themed recipes, no doubt developed and tested by recipe experts.  Published in 1993, Sweet Maple has been out of print for many years but can still be found in used bookstores and online at sources like www.abe.com and www.amazon.com.

 

In a future post I will share some of my favorite books on maple syrup history written from a local and regional focus.

More on the Maple Syrup History of Bellechasse, Quebec

Following up on his massive publication from 2016, Quebec historian, author, and sugarmaker Réjean Bilodeau has put out a equally sizable second companion volume titled L’histoire de l’acériculture et des sucriers de Bellechasse: Notre Affirmation Régionale, which translates in English to The history of the maple industry and maple producers of Bellechasse: Our Regional Affirmation. As with the earlier volume, this book is entirely in French, but with the wonders of google translate website or phone app, one can navigate their way through a text that is chock full of maple syrup history centered on the producers and equipment manufacturers of the Bellechasse region.

Like in volume one, Bilodeau presents additional up close and personal histories of many more sugarbushes, sugarhouses, and maple syrup producing families in the Bellechasse and includes over 600 black and white images and 56 pages of color photographs. With so many families and companies featured between volume 1 and volume 2, it is hard to imagine that there is a maple producer in Bellechasse that Réjean has yet to acknowledge and present!

Volume two continues to pay homage to Bilodeau’s central theme that the Bellechasse region of Quebec has been the birthplace of most of the important technological innovations in the modern maple syrup industry. The Bellechasse region has so thoroughly embraced this notion that they have officially taken to referring to to the region as “Berceau Mondial de la technologie acéricole” or the World Cradle of the technology of Maple Syrup.

Of course, this is entirely debatable and trends towards the exceptionalism approach to writing history, where the focus is on defending claims to being the first, or the largest or the greatest or the oldest something or other. Bellechasse certainly was an important place for technological development, but it wasn’t the only place, it wasn’t the first place for most things, and what it did produce was not done so in a vacuum. What came out of Bellechasse did so in connection to and as a result of earlier innovation from elsewhere in the maple syrup world.

Of special note to me is a section of the book that recounts research into the early application of vacuum technology to plastic tubing for gathering maple sap and the IPL company’s invention of the Sysvac vacuum system that adapted vacuum technology for milking cows to the movement of maple sap for use with plastic tubing in the early 1970s. Bilodeau describes the arrival of the Sysvac system a game-changing moment in the history of maple syrup.

Bilodeau pays special attention and detail to telling the story of the origins and development of the IPL and CDL, Inc., the maple equipment companies headquartered in Saint-Lazare-de-Bellechasse including its growth and expansion into markets in the United States. Other chapters recount Réjean’s battle with cancer, sharing of the recognition and praise he has received for the first book, as well as a chapter telling the story of the early settlement of Bellechasse and how it relates to the early development of maple sugaring in Quebec.

For the maple historians among us, the book also outlines Réjean’s role in the leadership, development, and presentation of an exhibit of historic artifacts related to evolution of maple syrup making in Bellechasse. For those unable to view the exhibit in person, Réjean kindly included color photographs of every one of the exhibition cabinets. The exhibit only ran through November of 2017 but it is reported that Réjean Bilodeau is leading a plan to develop a permanent exhibit or even museum dedicated to an expanded telling the Bellechasse maple history story.

Yours truly even got a special mention in this volume when Réjean recounted his delight to discover that I had featured his first book on this blog.  Réjean was kind enough to refer to me as, in his opinion, “the most important maple historian on the south side of our border” (translated from French).  That is certainly hyperbole and the sort of exceptionalism I referred to earlier that I tend to reject, nevertheless I will try to live up to such high praise every day.

In spite of an ongoing battle with cancer, Réjean is wasting no time on researching and writing volume three of this series. With so much material in volume one and two of this series, it remains to be seen what volume three will include. Rest assured, Réjean Bilodeau has more things to say and will continue to spread the word of the importance of Bellechasse in the history of maple syrup.

Only 1,000 copies of the book have been printed, and it is not clear of a second printing would be planned. So, when they are sold out they are gone. As with volume 1 of this series, I purchased my copy of volume 2 through the Canadian maple equipment dealer CDL for $60 US plus $33.80 for shipping.  Try contacting CDL in Quebec to place an order by email or phone at 418-883-5158 ext. 337.

Maple Sugaring History and Native American Treaty Rights Research

Over the years as my research into Native American maple sugaring progressed I never ceased to be impressed by one particular scholarly publication. A variety of careful treatments of various topics that touch on the role and place of sugaring in the lives, economy, and culture of Native North America have been written and published and still more are coming out every year. Likewise, important articles and papers presenting research on the maple sugar origins debate and archaeological investigations into Native American maple sugaring have and will continue to be featured in this blog. But in the last thirty years, for me one piece stands out as a unique, well-researched, well-referenced, and thought-provoking article written from a broader ethnohistorical perspective.

The article, available at the links here, is Robert “Bob” H. Keller’s America’s Native Sweet: Chippewa Treaties and the Right to Harvest Maple Sugar.  It was published in 1989 in the journal American Indian Quarterly (vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 117-135) and makes a well-argued case for the protection and exercising of the right of Anishinabe people (also known as Chippewa or Ojibwe) to harvest maple sap and make maple sugar and syrup on off-reservation lands in the ceded territories of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

The context of the timing of the article was that in the 1980s Native Americans from Anishinabe Bands (sometimes called tribes) across the Lake Superior region were fighting the states in court to defend their rights to hunt, gather, and fish on lands outside the boundaries of their reservations, rights that were reserved in exchange for ceding ownership of these lands to the federal government via a number of treaties agreed to in the 1800s. To make a long story short, the Anishinabe were successful in court and their reserved rights were recognized.  The regulation of fishing and the sharing of the annual take of fish by sportsman, commercial fishing, and treaty-protected fishing was the overwhelming focus of debate both before and after the conclusion of the cases in court. While the issue of off-reservation maple sugaring as a treaty-right was barely acknowledged.

Nevertheless, Bob Keller dove into the topic and in doing so presented a wonderful overview of the history and cultural significance of maple sugaring for western Great Lakes tribes in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. For anyone interested in a short but accurate introduction to intersection of some of the social and political issues and questions related to the evolution of Native American maple sugaring into the 21st century, that is grounded in historical research, Keller’s article is the place to start.

For those interested in who Bob Keller was, Bob Keller was a professor of history in the Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. He wrote about a wide range of environmental and historical topics, including Native American history. He retired in the 1990s before passing away in 2017.

Another notable and related work to Keller’s look at maple sugaring as a treaty-right and digs a little deeper into documenting the historic use and importance of maple sugaring to one Anishinabe community in Minnesota is the massive 572 page tome Fish in in the Lakes, Wild Rice, and Game in Abundance: Testimony on Behalf of Mille Lacs Ojibwe Hunting and Fishing Rights by James M. McClurken with contributions by Charles E. Cleland, Thomas Lund, John D. Nichols, Helen Tanner and Bruce White.

Published in 2000 following the Mille Lacs Band’s success in arguing their treaty-reserved rights to off-reservation hunting and fishing were not extinguished in the past by various federal actions, the book presents the detailed research and arguments of a team of ethnohistorians that demonstrated, among many things how, where, and when hunting, fishing and gather activities continued to be a part of the daily lives of the Milles Lacs Anishinabe community, including maple sugaring.

 

A Collection of Early References to Maple Sugar and Syrup

Unbeknownst to many maple historians, a unique and valuable bibliographic collection of early references to maple sap, maple sugar and maple syrup appeared in 1935 an 1946 in the obscure publication Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters. 

The result of an extensive and very comprehensive examination of publications in the collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin covering travel reports, natural history, and first hand narrative accounts in journals, diaries, and correspondence.

To the uninitiated, the collections of the library and archives of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin are an amazing and extensive treasure trove of information. I would even go so far as to call it the single greatest public library dedicated to history in the United States.

The first iteration, titled Maple Sugar: A Bibliography of Early Records was written by H.A. Schuette and Sybil C. Schuette and appeared in 1935 in volume 29 of the Transactions.

The second iteration, titled Maple Sugar: A Bibliography of Early Records. II written by H.A. Schuette and A.J. Ihde appeared in 1946 in volume 38.

Volume I of the bibliographies contains 72 entries in chronological order spanning a period from 1634 to 1895. Volume II contains 147 entries spanning a period beginning in 1534 and ending in 1933. Each volume of the bibliographies contains an index at the end.  The individual entries include a full bibliographic reference and a verbatim quote or excerpt of the notable and relevant text that addresses something related to the presence of maple trees or the use of maple products in the past.  The vast majority of entries are focused on accounts of the early use of maple sap or manufacture of maple sugar and maple syrup by Native Americans, fur traders, and early settlers in Canada and New England. In addition, some entries have very brief notes or annotations to help explain some of the context or broader content of the specific publication in reference.

There is nothing especially unique about any of the entries in and of themselves since one will see most of these references repeated in other contexts and publications and one can discover these references through an exhaustive search of one’s own. However, what is handy and useful is having them published and indexed in a precise chronological form for easy use and reference.

Henry A. Schuette in 1940 when President of the American Oil Chemist’s Society.

The primary author of these bibliographies was Henry A. Schuette, a food chemist and professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to his laboratory work, Schuette had a special interest in the history of foods and spent a great deal of his spare time in the historical society library on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. Schuette also encouraged his students to investigate and better understand the history of food as a context for their food chemistry research.

One such doctoral chemistry student who took Professor Schuette’s encouragement to heart was Aaron J. Ihde who later went onto to himself become a notable chemist and food historian and professor at the University of Wisconsin. Ihde collaborated with Schuette on the second volume of the bibliography. The secondary author to the first volume of the bibliography was Sybil C. Schuette, who was a librarian in Wisconsin and presumably a relative of Henry A. Schuette.

For those hoping to learn more about the early accounts and descriptions of maple sugaring by our Euro-American and Native American ancestors, these bibliographies are a great introduction to the literature. And as noted above, for those already interested in the early records and accounts of the use and production of maple sugar and maple syrup, these bibliographies are a useful collection to have in one’s reference library.

 

 

 

Books on Antique Maple Collectibles

One the most popular and enjoyable ways to learn and think about the history of maple syrup and maple sugar is through studying and collecting sugaring’s material remains. In other words, the artifacts, antiques, or collectables of maple sugaring, especially the portable and easily handled tools and equipment used by past maple producers. There is a small handful of books out there that can be helpful aids in the understanding and identification of the wide range and variety of maple sugaring antiques. In a previous post I highlighted a few more recent publications by Hale Mattoon and Jean-Roch Morin that emphasize the study and collection of spouts and spiles, as well as other maple artifacts.

Prior to the publishing of these excellent books, the best-known and most comprehensive guide to maple sugaring artifacts and antiques was the classic book Sugar-Bush Antiques by Virginia Vidler.  This book is long out of print but can be found for sale used on Amazon and at www.abebooks.com.

Virginia Vidler’s book is well illustrated with photos and descriptions of all the different sorts of collectable maple sugaring items related to maple sugaring in years past. Everything from sap collection containers, gathering pails and tanks, to evaporator pans and wood and tin molds, to packing tins, bottles, and jugs, to skimmers and paddles and syrup pitchers to paintings, photos, engravings, postcards, written reports and historic documents. Of course the very popular spouts and spiles are covered as well as.

Tools and equipment are divided into chapters focused on wooden-ware, tinware, and glassware, and with most every imaginable sort of sugaring item described and illustrated. This book is not a catalog of all known sugaring artifacts. There will always be unique and obscure examples of different types and varieties of sugaring items that catch the eye and interest of the collector. While the book is a bit dated with a 1979 publication date, it is a great addition to the shelf of anyone interesting in the material culture and collecting of maple-related antiques.

For the collector with a more narrow focused on the study of maple sugaring molds, there is a great little book by R.L. Séguin, itself now an antique, published in 1963 by the National Museum of Canada titled les moules du Québec.  Although the book is written entirely in French, it is very well illustrated with a great many examples of the kinds and types of molds one might find and collect from the past when making maple sugar was as much a part of the maple operation as making syrup.

Moules is the French word for molds, and the contents of the book includes all forms of maple sugar molds from the large multi-compartment trays to make small rectangular blocks, to tin and iron molds to make small cakes, to the artistic and block molds featuring animals and shapes, and other notable designs. Most interesting to me are the three-dimensional wooden molds that fit together like a locking puzzle to form solid blocks of sugar in the form of houses, books, bibles, fish, and birds.  While a little more difficult to find than the Vidler book, this too is a great addition to the reference materials for maple antique collectors. Plus it is just neat to study the artistry and craft that went into handwork of making these molds where nearly everyone was individual and unique.

There is also an interesting, well-illustrated section on sugar molds in Michel Lessard’s 1994 book, also written in French, titled Objets Anciens du Quebec: La vie domestique, which translates to Ancient Objects of Quebec: Domestic Life.

Lastly, it is worth noting that one can find information, including ballpark prices and values for many maple sugaring related artifacts in the mainstream antiques collectors guides, such as Linda Campbell Franklin’s 300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles.  Such guides are periodically updated for both content and price information, so it is best to find a more recent copy if using as a price guide. earlier guides are still great reference tools for recognizing and learning about various maple sugaring related artifacts.

Collectors will find that many artifacts and antique, especially specific to a brand or company are not represented in these guides. It is true that there is room for many more such guides and catalogs. Thankfully collectors like Hale Mattoon and Jean-Roch Morin have taken the initiative to assemble their collections and the collections of others into handy, useful, and informative books.  Hopefully we will see more publications like theirs in the years to come.

Maple King – My New Book is Ready!

I’m very excited to announce that a book I have been researching and writing for many years is finally finished and available for purchase from Amazon.com. The book is titled Maple King: The Making of a Maple Syrup Empire and traces the history of George C. Cary and his Cary Maple Sugar Company from its humble beginnings, through an amazing period of growth and industry domination, and on to its eventual collapse. The story also retells how the Cary Company absorbed the smaller Maple Grove Candies Company in the 1920s only to evolve and later split back into two companies in the 1950s. The Cary Company experienced a difficult future, while the Maple Grove  Company continued to evolve into today’s Maple Grove Farms, proving to be a strong and lasting company and brand.

The book follows the the story of George Cary and the Cary Company across 186 pages in seven chapters with over 70 photo, postcard, and map illustrations. The extensive research that went into telling the Cary story is documented in hundreds of endnote references to help future historians and satisfy the curiosity of those looking for more information. One-part company history, one-part biography, one-part maple syrup history, and one -part Vermont and St. Johnsbury history, the story has a little bit of everything for a wide range of readers.

Here is the description of the book from the back cover:

Like many North American industries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the business of making maple sugar and syrup went through a period of maturation and modernization. Much of this change and new business model was influenced and controlled by one man and the company he created in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. George C. Cary and the Cary Maple Sugar Company grew in size and influence such that it controlled as much as 80 percent of the bulk maple sugar market, bestowing on Cary the title of Maple King and St. Johnsbury as the Maple Capital of the World. This book recounts the rise of the Cary Company and takes a closer look at who Cary was and the maple sugar and maple syrup empire that he created. As encompassing as the Cary Empire was, it overreached its limits and came tumbling to the ground with the stunning bankruptcy and death of its leader in 1931. However, Cary’s legacy did not die with him, and as told here, St. Johnsbury continued to have a significant place and role in the ever-evolving maple sugar and syrup industry.

This book is available for purchase from Amazon.com for $19.95. Get your copy today!

New Book – Meanings of Maple: An Ethnography of Sugaring

In August 2017 an important and interesting new book by the title Meanings of Maple: An Ethnography of Sugaring was released for purchase by the University of Arkansas Press. Written by Professor Michael A. Lange of Burlington, Vermont’s Champlain College, this book takes a sweeping look at the many ways maple is made meaningful in people’s lives. When using the term maple, the author is referring to the broader world of maple sugaring or all things that go into and come out of the making of maple syrup in a modern context.

As an anthropologist, Lange’s ethnographic approach is based on many years of speaking with, observing, and interacting with a broad cross section of the maple producing world.  His research and analysis is written from the perspective of Vermont as the center of the maple universe, some might say for obvious reasons, and the book is as much an exploration of how maple has meaning or is made meaningful to Vermont and Vermonters as it is about the meanings of maple in general.

This is an incredibly thoughtful book, in the truest sense of the word. This book is full of thought and ideas and shows that Lange has taken the time to really think about how and what makes maple meaningful to people both in and out of the maple producing environment. It is a book that will force any reader to think a little deeper and a little differently about some aspect of maple than they probably had in the past. It is one of those gems that forces one to admit that they hadn’t really thought about something that way before and to be glad that you were brought to see the maple world a little differently.

It is not a details book that is heavy with facts and figures or case studies and, at times, is somewhat lacking in a broader geographic and historical context especially regarding the modern role of Quebec in consideration of some of the categories of meaning. But that really doesn’t matter and frankly it would be great to see someone tackle a similar project from the point of view and grounding of the Quebecois traditions and meanings. This is not to say that the book is lacking in accuracy, far from it, rather it is to emphasize and applaud that its focus is more philosophical and its strength is in its narrative.

I strongly encourage anyone with an interest in the maple world, regardless of the connection to Vermont, but especially if they are connected to Vermont to pick up this book. It is not a book that you will necessarily “learn” something new from but it is a book that will even strengthen maple’s meaning that much more and help you better appreciate and understand what you think you already knew.

The book can be purchased from the University of Arkansas Press in paperback for $27.95 or hardbound for $69.95.

New Book on Role of Quebec’s Bellechasse Region in the History of the Modern Maple Industry

An outstanding new publication recognizes the Bellechasse region of Quebec as home to a strong community of maple producers and for its important contributions to the technological developments of the modern maple industry. This book was released in 2016 and is written entirely in french with the title L’histoire de l’acériculture et des sucriers de Bellechasse: Berceau Technologique Mondial Acéricole, 1716-2016. This title translates in english to The history of the maple industry and maple producers of Bellechasse: The Technological Cradle of the Maple World, 1716-2016.

Réjean Bilodeau, the author and sugarmaker from Saint-Damien, Quebec, undertook the book as a project to occupy his time in his retirement years. However, with one book down Réjean is only getting started. The cover of this book indicates it is Tome 1, or volume 1. Réjean has told me he is working on volume 2 at the moment which, at another whopping 600 pages, he expects to have finished and for sale in 2018.

The book is divided into six chapters and covers over 300 years of maple history in the Bellechasse region with a special focus on the people who made this history come alive, be they producers or inventors or equipment manufacturers. More recent history focuses on the contributions of IPL and CDL and the Métiver and Chabot families, the role of Cyrille Vaillancourt and the creation of La Coop Citadelle among many other topics and dozens of producers and sugarbushes.

At 740 pages with 400 illustrations and weighing in at over six pounds this book is no light read. In fact, it is incredibly dense with detailed research, interviews and first-hand accounts and memories from sugarmakers in the Bellechasse region. One thousand copies of this self-published book were produced and many have already sold.

Réjean Bilodeau proudly displays a copy of his fantastic new book.

As noted above, the book is completely written in French, although with the wonders of today’s modern technology such as Google Translate and other similar apps for smart phones it is now possible to use the camera on a mobile phone to take a snapshot/scan of a page and translate the text on the page in mere seconds. The quality and accuracy of such translations is sufficient to understand the text, but it is true that at times the translations lose the nuanced meanings of certain phrases, idioms, and clichés.

I purchased my copy of the book through the Canadian maple equipment dealer CDL for $50 US plus $29.91 for shipping. Try contacting CDL in Quebec to place an order by email or phone at 418-883-5158 ext. 337.

Those interested in contacting Mr. Bilodeau directly who speak or write in French can reach him by email or by telephone at 418-789-3664.

Archives and the Preservation of Maple History

Preserving and telling the maple history story as complete and accurately as possible relies on a wide range of sources of information, artifacts, and contributors. Sugarmakers have always had a strong affinity for collecting and preserving the material objects and antiques that help tell the history of maple syrup and sugar. There are a number of great museums specifically dedicated to housing and presenting myriad tools, devices, and equipment, as well as honoring those that have made significant contributions to the industry. What we have seen less of is the sharing and organized preservation of the documentary history; the photos, written and paper records, and past publications. I would argue there is a growing need for greater consideration and attention to creating, maintaining, and contributing to an archive or archives focused on the maple syrup industry.

It is easy to say or think that one’s old records or files or photos or even objects are not really important or of no interest to anyone in the near or distant future. But you’d be surprised what folks miss after its gone. Such items, be they from a small mulitple-generation maple producer or a large corporate packer or equipment manufacturer, become the bedrock of the industry’s history. While it may seem like people understand and know their history and someone will always remember the past, memories fade and change, and people come and go, figuratively and literally. You can’t and don’t necessarily want to preserve everything, the challenge of course is knowing and deciding what is valuable and might be worth preserving.

Archival materials related to maple history most certainly do exist and can be found in varying amounts in the archives of most state historical society libraries in the maple producing regions. Although I am less familiar with the archives in adjacent Canadian provinces, having never heard of an archive dedicated to the maple industry, I assume that the situation is somewhat similar to in the U.S. In some cases local county or community historical societies have provided space and resources for the storage and access to maple related archives and select collections.  As an example, the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium and later the St. Johnsbury History and Heritage Center have provided preservation services and access to the  George C. Cary Papers in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, keeping this important collection in the same town where George C. Cary’s maple sugaring empire flourished.

In the mid 1980s, the Vermont Maple Industry Council worked with a collection of people mostly affiliated with maple research at the University of Vermont (UVM) to form a Maple History Committee and tasked them with compiling “historical information on the folklore, production methods, and economics of the Vermont maple industry and make it available . . . for use in  teaching children and others”. A great deal of material was collected and put on file in the Special Collections and Archives at the UVM Bailey/Howe library with a particular focus on the research contributions of individuals associated with the University of Vermont. This committee was a great idea and a great start but it was too short lived. Unfortunately, the individuals that formed the backbone of the committee at UVM moved on to retirement and in many cases passed away and in time the committee was no longer active.

More recently, the University of Vermont libraries Center for Digital Initiatives in conjunction with the UVM Proctor Maple Research Center has taken a more modern approach to preserving a part of their history and some of the materials of the Maple History Committee by scanning and putting online a Maple Research Collections. This includes digital copies of the many articles, reports, and photographs that stemmed from the years of research at the Proctor field station as well as digital copies of maple related reports that appeared in early editions of the University of Vermont Agricultural Extension Bulletins. This is a great example of using digital means to preserve and share a portion of the archives from UVM’s important maple research legacy.

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with folks at the Leader Evaporator Company in Swanton to discuss maple history and learned of their own long term project to review their many historic business records, catalogs and reports and document their corporate history. It was fantastic to see that they were tackling such an important project since the Leader Company’s history is in many ways an overview of the history of maple equipment manufacturing and dealers in the United States. In discussing their work, I asked what they thought they might do with all the historic, largely paper material they had assembled about the company, to which they said, “that’s a good question and we haven’t really thought about that yet”. This really hit home that not only is there a need to provide resources and space for the safe and organized preservation and study of the documentary record of the maple industry, there is also a need to recognize its equal value and importance alongside the preservation of the maple industry’s historic places, artifacts and objects, and stories.

Museums dedicated to maple history do a relatively good job preserving, displaying, and interpreting the material remains and objects of sugaring. For the most part their focus has not been in the area of preserving the paper, photos, and other ephemera found in most archives. Preserving such materials takes the right kind of space, as well as financial resources and human resources, not to mention a way of making these materials available to researchers and interested people. After all, that is the point, preserve these materials so we can study and know and tell the maple history story. However, maintaining an archives may not fit within the means or the varied missions of these museums.

Is this a call for a dedicated maple history archives? Not necessarily, although the idea has merit. Perhaps there is simply a need to improve the understanding and integration and access to what already exists in established archives and to push for more concerted effort to curate, preserve, and share those records that remain and continue to be discovered out there amongts the maple syrup community. This is the history and legacy of individuals, families, companies, institutions, and an entire industry. As with a lot of things, one has to ask oneself what is it worth to preserve the history of an industry and who should be the ones doing it?

New Books on Antique Spouts and Other Maple Related Objects

In the last few years a handful of interesting books have come out showcasing maple sugaring collectables and antiques, most notably spouts, taps and spiles from the 1800s through about the 1960s. These books include abundant photos and descriptions of the many spouts commercially produced over the years as well as images of their original designs patents. The first of these books to appear was Hale Mattoon’s Maple Spouts Spiles & Taps published in 2013 and available directly through Hale Mattoon by mail at 274 East Randolph Road, Chelsea, Vermont 05038.

This book is focused specifically on spouts and is organized by the state or province of the inventor, patentee, or manufacturer. For collectors of maple spouts, this volume is an indispensible reference.  True to the eye of a seasoned collector, the book goes into the finer details and differences between and among what otherwise appear to be virtually identical spouts. Early plastic spouts both for pails and tubing that appeared in the late 1950s and into the 1960s are also included with limited information, with the bulk of the book focused on formed sheet metal and cast metal spouts.

The next book in this grouping is an interesting book from Jean-RochMorin titled Spouts, Patents and Sugar-Making Objects from Yesteryear, published in 2015 by La Plume d’Oie in Quebec. I purchased my copy of the book through the catalog listing with Lapierre Equipment in Swanton, Vermont.

Jean-Roch’s book has many similarities to Hale’s 2013 book with a focus on antique collectable spouts, a heavy presentation of patent images, and an organization by state and province. Where Jean-Roch is the most different is in the fact that the text of the book is wonderfully presented in both French and English. The book also includes a strong representation of Canadian patent images as well as American patent images. Other nice additions are the inclusion of relevant vintage graphics and advertisements for sugaring equipment. The book also looks at more than just antique spouts and also displays images, patents, and advertisements for early pails and buckets, bucket covers, sugar molds, sugaring tools, paddles, and pans and evaporators. The beginning of the book starts with a short history of maple sugar and ends with detailed description of maple sugaring in 1876.

Lastly, Hale Mattoon has followed up his first book with an expanded and updated version titled Maple Spouts Spiles Taps & Tools, published in 2017 also available directly from Hale by email or snail mail.

Taking advantage of access to a number of friends and colleagues in the community of collectors of maple sugaring objects Hale’s “new and improved” maple spouts book goes beyond the scope of the first book by adding photographs and patent images for a wide range of additional maple sugaring objects, such as pails, tapping tools, gathering pails, and sap regulators. Like the Morin book, the 2017 book from Mattoon also includes an abundance of well dated vintage advertising and catalog images and select text providing relevant and useful historical background and context. There are also examples of spouts not found in Hale’s 2013 volume. One particularly unique artifact featured in the book are the many images of the cast iron front pieces to a wide variety of boiling arches most of which display their manufacturer’s name in bold lettering and design.

All three books are very well illustrated with excellent black and white photographs and should be of interest and value to any collectors of maple sugaring antiques or ephemera as well as to those interested in the history and technology of the maple industry.

On a side note, an additional, not so recent book that would interest similar audiences is the 1979 book Sugar-bush Antiques by Virginia Vidler, available through used book sellers like AbeBooks.com and Amazon. I will feature the Vidler book in an upcoming post about earlier books related to maple industry collectables and artifacts.