It gives me great pleasure to be able to thank all of those who have inspired and supported this project in various stages. Some asked interesting questions, others lent a listening ear. Still others slogged through messy drafts or offered consolation on dreary writing days. Whatever their contribution, I could not have completed this book without them. I only hope that I can be as gracious and generous with my time as they have with theirs.
This project began as a dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I arrived at the university feeling very lucky to be able to study with Bill Cronon. The longer I have known Bill, the more deeply I have come to admire his scholarship and his commitment to his students. He is a first-rate mentor. I am so grateful for the many ways he has helped me find my path in the field. Nan Enstad, Jess Gilbert, Judith Walzer Leavitt, and Gregg Mitman made suggestions in my dissertation defense that helped greatly as I revised the manuscript. I appreciate all they taught me about researching and writing history. In coursework and other settings, I benefited greatly from the tough questions and models of scholarship of the entire History Department faculty at the University of Wisconsin. I especially thank Colleen Dunlavy, Steve Kantrowitz, and Al McCoy for engaging and pushing me as a graduate student.
Of all my teachers, my undergraduate advisor, Jim Farrell, is most directly responsible for this book. Without him, I would never have even imagined going to graduate school or becoming a historian. Nor would I have had any confidence to be playful with ideas. Who but Jim would ask an earnest undergraduate, as her first research assignment, to find out how, precisely, shit happens? Blending historical rigor with a wry wit, Jim planted the seeds for this quirky project. He is a treasure to all his students, and deeply missed. Other teachers lit my curiosity and held me to high standards in high school and college; I especially thank William Hohulin, Frieda Knobloch, Judy Kutulas, and Dolores Peters.
Historians owe a great debt to the librarians and archivists who provide access to and insight about the documents and records in their charge. In this, I am no exception. My thanks to Roger Horowitz at the Hagley Museum and Library; Susan Strange, John Flecknor, Kay Peterson, and Fath Davis Ruffins at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History; Janice Goldblum at the Archives of the National Academies; Nelson Lankford at the Virginia Historical Society; John Skarstad at the University of California-Davis; Tara Vose at the Strawbery Banke Museum; and the staffs of the California State Parks Office, Western Historical Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, Montana Historical Society, New York State Library and Archives, Vermont Historical Society, and the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland. Special thanks to the following librarians at the University of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Historical Society: Michaela Sullivan-Fowler, at Ebling Library, who offered an endless supply of interesting tidbits; Rick Pifer and Harry Miller, at the historical society’s archives reading room, who delivered good cheer with the documents; and the entire staff at Steenbock Library, who retrieved document after document on my behalf without complaint. The Interlibrary Loan Department at the University at Albany made my life infinitely easier by tracking down obscure agricultural bulletins.
I am grateful for the generous support the project received. Early on, a short-term grant-in-aid from the Hagley Museum and Library gave me a sense of the wealth of possibilities available and buffeted my confidence. A semester-long predoctoral fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History allowed me to devote myself to this project full time in a city rich with archives. More important, museum curators Pete Daniel and Jeffrey Stine introduced me to a network of people and sources that made this project stronger. The University of Wisconsin-Madison history department provided support through a semester-long writing grant at a critical time. Grants from the Virginia Historical Society and the University at Albany’s Faculty Research Award Program allowed the project to take on a national scope. Finally, a research leave sponsored by the New York State United University Professions’ Joint Labor-Management Committee allowed me time to integrate new findings and rewrite the manuscript. I am grateful to the United University Professions and to history department chair Richard Hamm and Dean Elga Wulfert of the College of Arts and Sciences for sponsoring my application.
It took scores of drafts and the feedback of many readers to help me make sense of the muddled mess of milky evidence uncovered in the research stage. Their constructive criticism helped a great deal; any remaining errors or omissions are my own. I presented parts of this research at meetings of the Agricultural History Society, Business History Society, and American Society for Environmental History. I thank commentators Kathleen Brosnan, Pete Daniel, Thomas Pegram, and Amy Slaton for comments at these meetings. I also had the pleasure of participating in stimulating workshops at the University of Western Ontario, Montana State University, University of Georgia, and the University of Guelph. I thank the organizers of these meetings, as well as Shane Hamilton, Alan MacEachern, Sara Pritchard, Paul Sutter, and William Turkel for their advice on these occasions.
On a day-to-day basis, I’ve been blessed with generous and supportive colleagues. When I began this project, Will Barnett, Jim Feldman, Mike Rawson, and Tom Robertson kindly invited me to join their dissertation writing group and blazed a trail of success ahead of me. I’ve appreciated their sage advice. Despite reading the crudest versions of these chapters, my dissertation group, and Dawn Biehler, Todd Dresser, Holly Grout, Michel Hogue, Jen Martin, Chris Wells, and Keith Woodhouse never lost faith. Thanks for standing by and waiting patiently for things to take shape. Davis Brown, at the University of Wisconsin Writing Center, was an especially skillful tutor. Countless others offered their friendship in graduate school. Thanks to Ikuko Asaka, Winton Boyd, Scott Burkhardt, Andrew Case, Yosef Djakababa, Sam Graber, Kori Graves, Brian and Diana Hutchinson, Jessica Martin, Story Matkin-Rawn, Neela Nandyal, Abby Neely, Stacey Pelika, and Amrys Williams for making my life so rich.
At the University at Albany, State University of New York, a new cast of characters helped clarify and correct my thinking. Elise Andaya, Elizabeth Berman, Jennifer Dodge, Kristin Hessler, Abby Kinchy, and Barbara Sutton kept the writing momentum going. Jackie Mirandola Mullen offered research support at a critical moment. I am grateful to all my colleagues in the history department for their goodwill and professionalism, but especially to Mitch Aso, Iris Berger, Sheila Curran Bernard, Carl Bon Tempo, Rick Fogarty, Susan Gauss, Dave Hochfelder, Amy Murrell Taylor, and Laura Wittern-Keller for commenting on parts of the manuscript, offering support, and answering questions about the publication process. Richard Hamm earns hearty thanks for his leadership and counsel as department chair. Irene Andrea and Marlene Bauman’s efficiency and unfailingly good spirits are heartening.
Susan Ferber, my editor at Oxford University Press, has proven a careful critic and a thoughtful person. Her greatest gift was finding anonymous reviewers who offered perceptive, extensive, and detailed comments on the manuscript. I give my deepest thanks to them. I also appreciate the grace with which she, and the entire staff of Oxford University Press, has guided an at-times-rattled first-time author. I also thank anonymous reviewers from Agricultural History, and its editor, Claire Strom, for commenting on a section of chapter 5, which appeared in that journal in a different version in 2010.
Most of all, I am grateful for my family’s unwavering support. Although none of my grandparents will read this history, their stories are at its heart. It was summers spent on the Smith family farm and endless conversations at family dinners about weather and corn prices through which I was introduced to rural history. When I began this project, my grandfather L. Dale Beall, a retired dairy farmer, entertained questions about his experiences. I wish he could have read this book. I am grateful, however, for the opportunities we had to talk about cream separators and milking parlors. My grandmother Veleanor Beall’s account of her contributions to the farm income convinced me to stay at the computer writing and working longer than I might have otherwise. My mother-in-law, Lucille Howard, has been curious about this project since we met; I am happy to finally deliver something of mine for her reading list. My parents, Kenneth and Lorna Smith, have loved me and supported this work unfailingly. Even when my academic route befuddles them, they come to my aid with understanding and compassion. I am lucky to be their daughter, and I dedicate this book to them.
My biggest debt is to Ken Howard. No one has lived with this project longer or more intimately. He has laughed at endless puns about milk, listened attentively to mind-numbing details about its manufacture, and endured his partner’s distraction. He has cheered me in the lowest moments, celebrated small accomplishments, and been a constant source of comfort. Thank you. My little boys, Sebastian and Alden, powered this project to its completion and made me think about milk in new ways. I look forward to new adventures and ice cream cones with them by my side.