{"id":16448,"date":"2013-10-07T10:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T15:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=16448"},"modified":"2013-10-07T02:45:18","modified_gmt":"2013-10-07T07:45:18","slug":"apsus-minoa-uffelman-contributes-to-new-book-on-progressive-tennessee-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2013\/10\/07\/apsus-minoa-uffelman-contributes-to-new-book-on-progressive-tennessee-women\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU’s Minoa Uffelman contributes to new book on progressive Tennessee women"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – In a cemetery in Gallatin, Tennessee, Virginia P. Moore\u2019s headstone reads, \u201cOne of the First Five Home Demonstration Agents in the World.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inscription, at first, doesn\u2019t sound too glamorous. In the early 20th century, home demonstration agents traveled to rural communities, teaching farmwomen skills such as how to can and preserve vegetables. Moore did this in Tennessee, visiting impoverished areas to organize tomato and canning clubs in the days before 4-H.<\/p>\n

\"APSU's<\/a>

APSU’s Dr. Minoa Uffelman with her book \u201cTennessee Women in the Progressive Era: Toward the Public Sphere in the New South\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Dr. Minoa Uffelman, Austin Peay State University associate professor of history, said modern society might view Moore\u2019s work as \u201cirrelevant or old-fashioned,\u201d but she sees her more as a revolutionary \u201cwho brought education, economic improvement, and forward-thinking ideas to daughters and farm wives in rural southern homes during an era of Progressive reform in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, Uffelman has studied and discussed Moore\u2019s impact on Tennessee and southern history, and now her research is part of a groundbreaking new book, \u201cTennessee Women in the Progressive Era: Toward the Public Sphere in the New South,\u201d published recently by the University of Tennessee Press.<\/p>\n

The book, a collection of scholarly works examining women\u2019s reform efforts in Tennessee from 1890-1930, features Uffelman\u2019s fascinating essay on Moore, \u201cTomato Clubs as Salvation: Canning Clubs for Girls and the Uplift of Southern Rural Society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo prior compilation on Tennessee women progressives has focused on the work and lives of Tennessee women of the Progressive Era beyond the vote,\u201d Mary A. Evins, the book\u2019s editor, wrote in the Forward. She specifies that the local suffrage movement was an important aspect of the Progressive Era, but this book focuses on the many overlooked contributions of Tennessee women during that time.<\/p>\n

Uffelman\u2019s essay on Moore\u2019s tomato and canning clubs gives new insight into the vital role home demonstration agents played in trying to transform the south.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanning was a new, cutting-edge technology at that time,\u201d Uffelman said. \u201cThese agricultural reformers wanted to teach rural women how to can, and that would be good for food preservation and improve nutrition. Rural women could sell their canned vegetables or they could barter. Reformers really thought they could lift southerners out of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

[320left]Moore was an active reformer, going from county to county to organize local groups. She taught women and young girls how to grow tomatoes, can them and sell and market them. Photos, published with Uffelman\u2019s essay, show club meetings throughout Tennessee and a large demonstration rally in Chattanooga.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were really idealistic,\u201d Uffelman said. \u201cThe clubs did not do as much as they hoped, but families were helped. It did improve their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uffelman\u2019s essay on Moore and canning clubs is the result of years of work, dating back to her time as a doctoral student at the University of Mississippi. While conducting research for her dissertation, she discovered a collection of Moore\u2019s papers. Those papers have allowed her to expand her research over the years, and in 2007, she participated in a symposium, \u201cIntersecting Missions: The Work of Women in Progressive Women\u2019s Organizations in Tennessee, 1870-1930.\u201d That conference led to the publication on this new book.<\/p>\n

In Uffelman\u2019s essay, Moore is presented as a dynamic character committed to her goal, which Uffelman writes was \u201cnothing short of lifting the rural South out of poverty and creating an educated female population.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book, a valuable addition to the scholarly work regarding Tennessee History, is available at www.amazon.com<\/a> and APSU\u2019s Ann Ross Book Store.<\/p>\n

For more information on the book or Moore, contact Uffelman at Uffelmanm@apsu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clarksville, TN – In a cemetery in Gallatin, Tennessee, Virginia P. Moore\u2019s headstone reads, \u201cOne of the First Five Home Demonstration Agents in the World.\u201d The inscription, at first, doesn\u2019t sound too glamorous. In the early 20th century, home demonstration agents traveled to rural communities, teaching farmwomen skills such as how to can and preserve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,15115,20940,262,7780,512,825,10523,20939,4472,1758,3633,20938,20937],"class_list":["post-16448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","tag-apsu","tag-apsu-bookstore","tag-apsus-ann-ross-book-store","tag-austin-peay-state-university","tag-chattanooga-tn","tag-clarksville","tag-clarksville-tn","tag-gallatin-tn","tag-mary-a-evins","tag-minoa-uffelman","tag-tennessee","tag-university-of-tennessee","tag-university-of-tennessee-press","tag-virginia-p-moore"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-4hi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16448"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16449,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16448\/revisions\/16449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}