America's Appetite (for Energy)
odd: label: Introduction
content: This presentation, developed by folklorists and historians of technology in conjunction with the Energy Research and Development Administration, focused on energy use. In the first year of what became a four-year sequence (1977-1980), traditional food production was examined in historical perspective from early Native American methods through colonial and emerging 19th-century mechanization to contemporary practices - with a glance into future possibilities.

A folklorist and aerospace engineer sought out the Pennsylvania Amish farmer depicted on the program book cover, who used his old-style, horse-drawn reaper to harvest the three acres of wheat purchased for processing at this Festival. Most farmers now use a combine that simultaneously reaps, threshes, separates, and bales the stripped stalks as straw. At the Festival, the very wheat pictured on the program book was threshed, flailed, ground, and finally used in the hand-shaped loaves that were baked in a brick oven - and tasted by Festival visitors.

Demonstrations included steam powered threshing, grain milling, brick-oven bread baking, cider pressing, sausage stuffing, Native American salmon roasting and clam bake, preserve making, apple butter boiling and ice cream making.

The program was co-organized by the U.S. Department of Energy with Smithsonian Department of Science and Technology and Folklife Program. At the Department of Energy, John Bradburne was Chief, Exhibits Branch and Chester Gray was Chief, Exhibits Operations.
label: Participants
content: Countess Stella Andrassy, 1902-1998, solar and microwave cooking, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey

Edna Bard, 1912-2001, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Winifred Brendel, 1917-1985, baking, Denver, Pennsylvania

Chuck Davis, apple butter boiling, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania

Grayson Davis, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Mary Ann Davis, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Archie Decker, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Pat Decker, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Dr. C.W. England, ice cream maker, Silver Spring, Maryland

Janice Ferry, apple butter boiling, Bethesda, Maryland

Mildred Fix, apple butter bailing, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Pam Glenn, apple butter boiling, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania

Rev. S. Douglas Greer, threshing, Washington, D.C.

Leander Hall, threshing, Landover, Maryland

Lucius Hann, cider pressing, Fort Littleton, Pennsylvania

Viola Hess, apple butter boiling, McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania

Izora Hollenshead, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Grace Howell, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Cora Jackson, 1923-1990, preserve making, Fairfax Station, Virginia

Edward Jacobs, sausage stuffing, Appleton, Wisconsin

Margaret Johnson, corn milling, Harmon, West Virginia

Samuel Johnson, corn milling, Harmon, West Virginia

Lorella Keyser, 1910-1993, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Ted Keyser, 1901-1982, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Raymond Leppo, 1911-1993, threshing, Manchester, Maryland

Lester Lind, corn milling, Harmon, West Virginia

Mary Beth Lind, corn milling, Harmon West Virginia

Randy Luckinbill, baking, Denver, Pennsylvania

Sam Mellott, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Virginia Mellott, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Susie Moore, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Tom Morningstar, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Ella Norris, 1892-1982, salmon roasting, Crescent City, California

Paula Peters, 1959-, clam baking, Mashpee, Massachusetts

Russell Peters, 1957-, clam baking, Mashpee, Massachusetts

Aggie Pilgrim, salmon roasting, Crescent City, California

Dianne Poffenberger, 1950-1996, apple butter boiling, Needmore, Pennsylvania

Doug Poffenberger, apple butter boiling, Needmore, Pennsylvania

Denyse Reid, solar and microwave cooking, Princeton, New Jersey

Elsie Schooley, apple butter boiling, McConnellsberg, Pennsylvania

Nancy Shearer, apple butter boiling, McConnellsberg, Pennsylvania

Marie Shimer, apple butter boiling, McConnellsberg, Pennsylvania

Lena Sipes, 1902-2000, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Merrill Snyder, 1917-1995, cider pressing, Burnt Cabins, Pennsylvania

Nadine Stinemetz, baking, Denver, Pennsylvania

Joycelene Strait, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Woody Strait, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Louise Swope, 1920-1986, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Henry Thomas, threshing, Washington, D.C.

Dennis Trout, ice cream maker, Bowie, Maryland

Junior Wagner, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Peggy Wagner, apple butter boiling, Harrisonville, Pennsylvania

Scotty Wairehime, threshing, Manchester, Maryland
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1977 Festival of American Folklife
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.1977, Series 3
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials