Maple Syrup Collectibles – Miniature Evaporators

In the world of maple syrup collectibles and antiques, one of the most unique and sought after item is probably the miniature evaporator. Also known as salemen’s models, these little gems are scale models of full size maple syrup evaporators. From the perspective of maple syrup history, collectibles and collecting are a tangible way to literally hold history in our hands and miniature evaporators offer something to be learned about the history of maple syrup equipment sales.

Miniature evaporator with removable partitioned flat pan.

The use of miniature scale models was especially common with agricultural equipment salesmen, and one can find amazing and beautiful examples of all sorts of agricultural implements from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Miniature evaporator with top partitioned flat pan removed showing interior grates in fire box and faux painted fire brick lining.

Other similar functional scale-models were made as patent models to illustrate in miniature the design and operation of one’s invention and patent idea.  While it is possible that a few of the miniature evaporators out there were made as copies of patent models, it is unlikely that they would have made it into circulation since such models were  extremely rare.  In some cases these scaled-down evaporators are referred to as toy or doll-house models or miniatures.  It is possible that a few were simply made to be miniature examples for aficionados in the miniature collectibles community who enjoy recreating items from the past in smaller scales, somewhat akin to model railroading; however, the vast majority of these evaporators were made for and used as salesmen’s models by the major evaporator manufacturing companies.

Small miniature model of simple evaporator with front and back pans on a squared arch, probably not a salesman’s model.

Salesmen’s models were generally around 12 to 24 inches long although on occasion models were made a bit larger, on the order of three feet in length. Toy or basic miniature models tend to be smaller in scale.

The models were most often made completely of folded, soldered, and riveted sheet metal just like the full size evaporators that they were intended to illustrate. In the past, some maple syrup equipment companies employed travelling salesmen or arranged for local maple producers to work on the side as equipment dealers and product representatives.

Because of the large size and cost of most full-sized evaporators, with some as long as 15 to 18 feet in length, it was impractical for a travelling salesman to move around with a full-size floor model. However, most prospective buyers wanted to see in detail how the different evaporators were configured and constructed.

The salemen’s models were fully articulated with each individual component a separate piece, just like with a full-sized operational evaporator. They  came with an arch for the base with moving doors and grates in the fire box.

Above were back pans and front pans, some flat, some with dropped or raised flues.

In some examples, the original wooden carrying case is still preserved.

Example of a Leader Evaporator Company miniature evaporator set with travelling case including settling tank, sap storage tank, and Monitor style sap gathering tank.

 

For the most part, salesmen’s models are pretty rare and highly sought after collectibles.

I’ve snapped a few photos of different examples over the years and found a few more searching online. In addition to evaporators, one can also find miniature sap gathering tanks and storage tanks.

Sugarmaker, maple antique collector and author Hale Mattoon of Chelsea, Vermont was kind enough to shared with me a few wonderful examples from his private collection.

Hall and Wright evaporator patented in US in 1889 (US patent 415635), 20 1/2 inches long from Hale Mattoon collections.
Leader Special pans with drop flues from Hale Mattoon collection.
Leader round bottom sap storage tank from Hale Mattoon collection.
Monitor style sap gathering tank from Leader Evaporator Company, courtesy of Hale Mattoon collections.

A great part of studying and collecting maple sugaring antiques is also learning the stories of where they came from and how they were acquired. Hale Mattoon shared this story for how he added these Leader Evaporator models to his collection.

As Hale tells it:

I recall going with my father in the mid-1940’s to a business here in Chelsea operated by A.F. Sanborn and Son, who sold Leader Maple Sugaring equipment and supplies.  Archie (A.F.) was an agent for Leader Evaporator Company and a good business man. 

Archie passed away in 1955 leaving the business to his son Forrest Sanborn who was an agent for Leader, but for a short time. Forrest passed away in 1991, and shortly after Forrest’s widow sold the contents of the business and later the real estate. The new owner of the Sanborn house a few years after the purchase discovered a Leader sap bucket partially hidden in the basement of the house, to satisfy his curiosity he looked inside of the bucket and much to his surprise there was the model l evaporator, storage tank , gathering tank and pieces of literature on the storage tank and gathering tank, all Leader items.

The new owner of the house showed the models and literature to a friend of his and said, “What should I do with this?” The reply was, “A local maple sugarmaker should have these items!” Well, I was the lucky one to be contacted and invited to view these precious items, when I saw what I thought I was seeing, my heart rate exceeded all limits. After a nice visit for this purpose, it was time to negotiate a transaction of some sort, so I asked him what he would like for the Leader items. He replied.” I don’t want money as I’m interested in items from Tunbridge, Vermont (a border town south of Chelsea) as my ancestors are from Tunbridge and he asked if I had anything to trade. I could not think of anything I had right at the time, but told him I would check. Well, check I did and discovered I had an old wooden shipping box that had the lettering – RETURN TO E.C. SLEEPER-TUNBRIDGE, VERMONT. So I called the gent and told him I had a shipping box that was Tunbridge, related. He replied, “I would like to see it!” I took the box to show him and show him I did. E.C.SLEEPER was the gent’s great-grandfather. He jumped for joy thus a trade was made and two very happy people, too.

The Leader Evaporator Company headquarters in St. Albans has a few models on display including a larger version than I have seen elsewhere.

Miniature salesman’s model of Leader Evaporator on display at the Leader Evaporator Company plant in At. Albans, Vermont.
Larger sized example of a miniature Kingbrand evaporator on display at the Leader Evaporator Company plant in St. Albans, VT.

 

Digging into Maple Syrup’s Past at Michigan State University

As an archaeologist by training, I am always keeping my eyes and ears open for new reports and research on maple history with a particular archaeological bend to it. One such project that recently popped up and caught my attention is from a group of archaeology graduate students at Michigan State University.  Through their efforts to learn about and protect interesting and important archaeological remains on the Michigan State University campus the Campus Archaeology Program discovered that the archaeological remains of a long since demolished sugar house were hiding in the Sanford Woodlot right on campus.

Like most curious archaeologists, these archaeology students wanted to know more about their discovery and soon learned that for many decades of the 20th century, the Michigan State Forestry Department supported a maple syrup research and demonstration program. Like most maple syrup research programs, this included a working sugarbush and sugar house. Archival research revealed that the first sugar house was built around 1915 and was used for approximately ten years before being lost to a fire. A replacement sugar house was built on the same site and was used through the 1930s to the 1960s at which time the structure was torn down.

Photo of MSU Forestry Department sugar house, taken around 1934. [From MSU CAP blog post] Photo Source
What remains of the sugar house location are now an archaeological site that has caught the interest of the Campus Archaeology Program. Under the direction of archaeology doctoral students Jack Biggs and Jeff Painter, the CAP intends to investigate and map the sugar house remains in greater detail and maybe even do a little archaeological excavation.

I’ve always been interested in the history of the maple syrup program at MSU with a particular attention to the work of Forestry Professor Putnam Robbins. “Put” Robbins came through the MSU Forestry program as a student in the 1940s, where he researched and wrote his 1948 Master’s Thesis on the effects of tapping location on maple sap flow, before becoming an MSU Extension Forester. As an Extension Forester in the Forestry Department he was encouraged to continue his interest and applied research with the maple industry.

MSU Forestry Professor Putnam Robbins demonstrating the insertion of a paraformaldehyde tablet in maple tree tap hole.

My interest in Robbins centers around the history of work he did with Robert Costilow, an MSU campus microbiologist, to develop a tablet to be inserted into the tapholes of maple trees with the idea that the anti-microbial effects of paraformaldehyde, its active ingredient, would increase the volume and prolong the flow of maple sap during the tapping season. Known as the PF tablet, the tablets did that job quite well but it was discovered that this chemical application also were harmful to the long-term health of the maple trees and it was subsequently banned for use in the maple syrup industry in the US and Canada in the 1990s.

Of course, the PF tablet history does not directly play into the sorts of things that the archaeologist might learn from their investigations of the remains of the MSU sugar house, but it goes to show that the MSU forestry department and maple syrup program made significant contributions to the history of the maple industry. Who knows, maybe the detailed look into the history of this program coupled with on the ground archaeological investigations of the Campus Archaeology Program will expand our knowledge and appreciation even further.  I, for one, am glad that they are looking and giving it the attention it deserves and will be following their progress reports on their blog and the Campus Archaeology Program Facebook page.

 

UPDATE –

Research by the Michigan State University Campus Archaeology Program continues to learn more about the history and role of the sugarhouse in the campus’ Sanford Woodlot.  See their November 7, 2018 blog post for an update on their progress.

The Grimm – Horse Shoe Forestry Company Connection

A somewhat unique partnership between two giants in the maple industry occurred at the turn of the last century when the G.H. Grimm Company produced a specially designed sap pail cover for the Horse Shoe Forestry Company. The Horse Shoe Forestry Company was a new endeavour of Brooklyn millionaire Abbot Augustus Low. Low had purchases tens of thousands of acres of forest around Horse Shoe Lake in the Adirondacks with the intent of developing a large-scale modern and efficient maple syrup operation. Low also happened to be an experienced inventor with dozens of patents to his name, who, when faced with a problem or an opportunity, tried to make an improvement or come up with an entirely new design.  In the case of maple sugaring, the lowly sap pail cover did not escape Low’s attention.

Baldwin image of sap pails with both red and yellow covers in use. Photo courtesy of the Adirondack Experience.

As one of the leading equipment manufacturers of the time, G. H. Grimm was the company chosen by A.A. Low and the Horse Shoe Forestry Company for purchase of many new evaporators, sap pails, spouts, and sap storage tanks. Numerous newspaper accounts from the late 1890s and early 1900s describe with awe the sheer size of the equipment orders placed with G.H. Grimm by the Horse Shoe Forestry Company. By the height of their operations, the Horse Shoe Company had built three large sugarhouses, factories really, to enclose as many as 15 of the very largest evaporators the Grimm Company made at the time.

Excerpt from an undated G.H. Grimm & Co. pamphlet promoting the “Horseshoe Cover” alongside the Grimm Spout No. 1. Collections of author.

Low and the Horse Shoe Company were such good customers for G.H. Grimm, the Grimm Company used their name as a selling point in their advertising. Noting in a 1907 ad to sell their sap spouts, that the Horse Shoe Company, touted as the world’s largest sugar maker, had purchased 50,000 of the Grimm spouts. No other sugarbush was even close to that large in scale and that number of spout begs the question were there also that many Horse Shoe-Grimm sap pail covers in use at Horse Shoe as well?

Although produced primarily for the the Horse Shoe Company, the Horse Shoe-Grimm sap pail cover was not for the Horse Shoe Company’s exclusive use. Grimm made the cover available for anyone to purchase and use. An undated G.H. Grimm promotional pamphlet informs readers that for twenty-five cents they will send you a a sample of a hookless No. 1 Grimm sap spout and Horse Shoe sap pail cover.

Baldwin image highlighting red sap pail cover. Photo courtesy of the Adirondack Experience.

A series of photographs taken by George A. Baldwin for the Horse Shoe Forestry Company in 1900 or 1901 includes examples of Low’s Horse Shoe – Grimm sap pail cover in action. One particular set of these images was hand colorized by Baldwin and depicts both the red and yellow sap pail covers in use in the Horse Shoe sugarbush.

 

 

 

Image of A.A. Low’s 1901 patent design for the Horse Shoe Forestry Company – G.H. Grimm sap pail cover.

A.A. Low applied for a patent on his sap cover invention on June 6, 1900, before being awarded patent number 668,313 on February 19, 1901. The cover itself was made

from two sheets of metal molded such that they formed a raised shape surrounded by a flat rim. The core in the center of the two raised sides was supposed to serve as an insulating air-pocket to help keep sap in the pail cool. The raised center also served to position the cover in the pail with the wide rim extending over the sides of the pail to keep debris and moisture from entering. It was necessary to use a hookless spout like the Grimm Spout No. 1 that would fit into the hole on the collection pail.

Detail of the logo embossed into the metal of the cover with the upturned horseshoe for the Horse Shoe Forestry Company along with the name G.H. Grimm & Co., Rutland, VT.

As a strong self-promoter and regular use of advertising and trademarks, the Horse Shoe – Grimm cover did not escape the hand of A.A. Low. Every Horse Shoe cover was embossed on both sides with the Horse Shoe Forestry Company name and logo as well as the G.H. Grimm and Co. name and location of Rutland, VT. Interestingly, the embossing also notes patent applied for, suggesting that the Grimm Company began producing the covers sometime in the second half of the year 1900.

Side view of the two colors and profile shape of the Horse Shoe -Grimm sap pail cover. This particular example is in the collections of the Adirondack Experience.

Ever thinking of improving efficiency in his sugarbush, Low had his sap pail covers painted red on one side and yellow on the other. The idea was that on each sap gathering run, the covers would be turned over after the pail was emptied. The two colors allowed the men gathering sap to see from a distance which pails had been collected and which had not. The G.H. Grimm promotional pamphlet noted that each cover is painted on both sides to prevent rusting, although it does not note the two color scheme.

The photos on the left from the collections of the Adirondack Experience are examples of the bright red and yellow colors used on each side of the Horse Shoe – Grimm sap pail covers. Note the hanging hole near the rim. This was not originally part of the A.A. Low design and was likely added at a later date by another maple syrup maker.

 

For those interested in the history of A.A. Low’s Horse Shoe Forestry Company maple syrup operation, check back in for additional posts on other aspects of the story including new, never before seen site maps and photos from the field. Eventually this research will be compiled and shared in the publication of my second book. For the time being, I am deep in the throes of field and archival research documenting and detailing the exact locations of Low’s maple syrup operations at Horse Shoe and recounting the broader history of use and development of Low’s estate. 

And should anyone know the whereabouts of one of these Grimm-Horse Shoe Forestry Company sap pail covers that might be for sale, I would very much like to hear from you!

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.

 

Sherman Holbert’s New Approach to Maple Syrup Making in Minnesota in the 1940s and 1950s

In the broader world of maple syrup making, Minnesota has always been viewed as something of a backwater, with obvious reasons. There are far fewer maple syrup makers in that state than most of the rest of the maple producing region and the size of operation and volume of syrup made is considerably less.

However, being on the periphery and outside of the core of the maple world can have the advantage of not being as conditioned by or concerned with conventional approaches, thus freeing one up to think and act a little differently.  One example of that from occurred in Minnesota in the 1940s and 1950s, where one man, Sherman Holbert, took a few risks and decided to try a different model for making maple syrup.

I was able to interview Holbert in 2002  at his Mille Lacs Lake home when he was in his late 80s to learn more about his maple operation and how it came to be, and just as quickly disappeared.

The article I wrote telling this story was recently published in the July 2018 edition of Minnesota History magazine. I am happy to share a PDF version of the article at this link here or by clicking on the image of the article above.

Print copies of the article and magazine can be purchased from the Minnesota Historical Society website.

 

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.

 

 

 

The Origins of the Maple Syrup “Nip” Bottle

Maple producers have been packing maple syrup into miniature glass bottles since at least the 1930s with many early bottles being used and marketed as trial-sizes or individual servings sample bottles to get people to try a particular brand. Folks not familiar with the flavor and taste of real maple syrup could buy or be given a sample size bottle to see if they liked it rather than jump in for a larger bottle. More recently small bottles of the 1.5 to 2.0 ounce sizes have been used and sold as more novelty bottles and complimentary favors for weddings, parties, businesses and as conveniently sized stocking stuffers.

Small 2.0 ounce sample size bottle in front of larger 12.0 ounce Highland Maple Syrup bottle.

The Cary Maple Sugar Company’s brand of Highland Syrup was bottling their syrup in 2.0 ounce minis since the late 1930s. At one point the company even devised a plan and set up for refillable bottles. Small sample size bottles would be distributed and sold at restaurants and hotels and then the satisfied customer could return to refill their small bottle at unique syrup dispenser.  Similar in appearance to a water cooler, a large glass jug of Highland Syrup was suspended upside down and the small empty Highland bottle was refilled through a spigot below.

Highland Maple Syrup dispenser for refilling 2.0 ounce sample size bottles.

Miniatures maple syrup bottles are sometimes referred to as nips which is a name that comes from the more common miniature hard alcohol bottles from which one might take a “nip” or small sip. The term “nip” supposedly has its origins in the word “nipperkin” which meant a small measure of spirits or a measure of alcohol less than a half pint. The word may also have come from the Low German and Dutch word of nippen which means to sip or taste. Hard alcohol nips in the form of miniaturized versions of popular and recognizable bottles and labels of spirits like whiskey, gin, vodka, and various liqueurs have been around since the early part of the 20th century.

Holbert’s Mille Lacs Maple Corp. “Northern Comfort” maple syrup 1/10th pint nip bottle from early 1950s.

In the late 1940s or early 1950s one particular maple syrup producer in Minnesota got the idea to create a novelty label for small bottles of syrup that was a play on the nip size and the name of a few popular and better-known whiskeys and bourbons. In a 2002 interview I conducted with the late Sherman Holbert, he shared that he had been bottling syrup for a few years in the late 1940s in whatever glass bottles he could find, since following the war, specialty glass was hard to come by. Holbert’s maple business, Mille Lacs Maple Products, often reused old pint and half pint liquor bottles for packing syrup, thoroughly cleaning and scraping off the labels before putting on his own maple syrup company labels.

Variation on the Mille Lacs Maple Corp. “Northern Comfort” maple syrup nip bottle.

His company was doing a great business selling small gift-size bottles for corporate clients when one day while removing the label from a used whiskey bottle the idea came to him to put the familiar shape and size of those small booze bottles to use and add a novelty name and label. Holbert’s first novelty label was “Old Grand Mom” playing off Old Grand Dad whiskey. He followed that with another label, which became the more popular “Northern Comfort” which was a play on the name of Southern Comfort whiskey.

Holbert’s maple syrup company was relatively short lived, ending in 1952 but the idea of novelty miniatures or nips using take-offs of popular whiskey and bourbon labels has continued to this day and the label of “Northern Comfort” stuck.

“A Nip of Northern Comfort” 1.6 ounce miniature bottle from American Maple Products Corp. out of Newport, Vermont
Maple Grove, Inc. 1.5 ounce “A Nip of Northern Comfort” miniature maple syrup bottle.

 

“A Nip of Northern Comfort” in the 1.7 ounce bottle size from the Smokey Kettle Maple Company of Grimsby, Ontario.

Other companies like Maple Grove, Inc. and American Maple Products in Vermont have used the “A Nip of Northern Comfort” label on novelty, nip-sized bottles in the past, and it is still used today by the Smokey Kettle Maple Company out of Ontario.

The Reynolds Sugar Bush used “Sudden Discomfort” as their own unique take on it. In addition to “Sudden Discomfort”, Reynolds Sugar Bush had a whole line up of novelty labels including Old Croak, Old Polecat, Old Grand Gag, Old Old Hound Dog, and Hawg & Hawg.

Today, most “nip” sized and shaped miniature syrup bottles are used as gifts and favors for guests to special events but their origins are actually in found in the bottom of an empty whiskey bottle.

Reynolds Sugar Bush of Aniwa, Wisconsin’s take on the maple syrup nip bottle with the Sudden Discomfort label.

The Reynolds Sugar Bush used “Southern Discomfort” as their own unique take on it. In addition to “Southern Discomfort”, Reynolds had a whole line up of novelty labels including Old Croak, Old Polecat, Old Grand Gag, Old Hound Dog, and Hawg & Hawg. Interestingly, in his 1998 history of the family and its business Reynolds, Maple, and History: Fit for Kings,” Lynn Reynolds suggests that most of the ideas for novelty packaging, including the bottles “imitating beer, wines, liquors, and other beverages” came from his father Adin Reynolds. Unfortunately, this claim, which may in part be true, is not accompanied by any supporting dates or documentary evidence. Consulting the 1963, 1964 and 1967 equipment and sugar maker supplies catalogs in my collection from Reynolds Sugar Bush one does not find examples of novelty glass containers among the items offered, suggesting Reynolds’ sale and promotion of novelty nip bottles came at a later date.

Today, most “nip” sized and shaped miniature syrup bottles are used as gifts and favors for guests to special events but their origins are actually in found in the bottom of an empty whiskey bottle.

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.