Hop Pickers
| Hop harvesters, mostly female, stand with hops, probably on the farm of Knudt Heimdal. Many of the harvesters have hop wreaths on their heads. Two men with hats lie in front of the group. The brim of the man on the left is decorated with hops. Note the shadow of Andreas Larsen Dahl in the foreground. |
| Image ID: | 1955 |
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| Creation Date: | 1879 |
| Creator Name: | Dahl, Andreas Larsen, 1844-1923 |
| City: | Deerfield |
| County: | Dane |
| State: | Wisconsin |
| Collection Name: | Andreas Larsen Dahl photographs, 1870-1880, 1910-1915 |
| Genre: | Photograph |
| Original Format Type: | negative, original |
| Original Format Number: | (D3)17 |
| Original Dimensions: | unknown |
| In the late 1860s, a "hops craze" swept through Dane County, Wisconsin. The popularity of this cash crop corresponded with the growth of the brewing industry in Wisconsin. The hop harvest was a festive occasion. During the last week of August, wagonloads of young girls and boys came to pick in hops fields, earning 50 cents per box. By 1879, Knudt Heimdal was the only farmer in Deerfield still growing hops. According to local lore, he lost money on every crop, except the first, in 1874. Original negative 277. This image is part of a larger collection of images created by Andreas Larsen Dahl, a Norwegian immigrant photographer who worked in Dane County, Wisconsin throughout the 1870s and early 1880s. Dahl was, by his own words, an "artist." His early photographs are similar to that of other landscape photographers who traveled the countryside in horse-drawn darkroom vans. Dahl lined up families in front of rural and urban houses. He induced his subjects to haul their parlor possessions out onto the front lawn, creating a family leisure scene in front of their house. Through the course of his career, he chronicled both rural and urban life of Norwegian immigrant families in Dane and surrounding counties. In 1883, he left photography to join the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Seminary. He was ordained as a minister. The image appeared in the "Celebrations" section of the 1976 Wisconsin Historical Calendar. |
| Outdoor photography |
| Portraits, Group |
| Field crops |
| Harvesting |
| Hops |
| Dresses |
| Hats |
| Children |
| Women |
| Men |
| Clothing and dress |
| Agricultural laborers |
| This image is issued by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Collections Division. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please Credit: Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| Location: | Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, 4th Floor, Madison, Wisconsin |
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