A Year on the Field
A Year on the Field
Contributors
Our project also includes numerous individuals with interest and expertise in aspects of our topic.
Our contributors include scientists, museum collection staff, bakers and others.
They are featured here in alphabetical order.
The Archives of Rural History (CH)
The Archives of Rural History (ARH) were established 2002 by historians and archivists in order to identify, secure and index sources of actors and institutions from the food and agricultural sectors in the 19th and 20th centuries and to make them available to researchers and a broader public. The archival holdings of associations, institutions, private firms and individual actors which we are cataloguing are usually deposited in state archives or kept by the creators of the records themselves. Beside these activities we are also engaged in historical research.
​
The publication of sources (films, photographs) takes place via our thematically oriented online portals (www.histoirerurale.ch).
The Benson Ford Research Center
at The Henry Ford (US)
The Henry Ford began in 1929, founded by industrialist Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, as a showplace for his expansive collection of Americana. Henry Ford's father, William Ford, raised small grains, including wheat; by 1874, he used a Triumph Reaper, manufactured by D. S. Morgan & Company, to bring in the harvest. Henry Ford's experiences as the son of an ambitious farmer informed his collections plan.
Today the Benson Ford Research Center contains 5 miles (8 km) in linear feet of archival material and The Henry Ford houses thousands of 3-D artifacts that document the influences of agriculture and industry on American life.
​
Barbara Corson (US)
I am a retired veterinary pathologist with life-long interests in nature,
history, agriculture, and freedom from fossil fuels.
​
From 2013 to 2017, I was the farmer at an 18th historic farm in Pennsylvania.
I currently have horses, cattle, and other animals, and I especially interested
in encouraging young people to learn about animals and farming.
Ed Schultz (US)
Ed Schultz has been a Historic Farmer for the last twenty years at Colonial Williamsburg in the U.S.A. He has developed historic agriculture programs at five different sites in the last 30 years. His focus is primarily historic skills, but also the big picture concepts that contribute to a successful agricultural program. A longtime member of the Association of Living History, Farms and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM), Ed served as the FARM Professional Interest Group co-chair for ten years developing the profile and importance of historic agricultural practices in ALHFAM. In 2019, he was awarded ALHFAM’s highest award called the Schlebecker Award. He has presented at numerous conference including the 2013 Living Animals in Museums meeting in Poland. He has a small farm at home raising cattle and sheep and garden produce for home consumption.
FeedSax (UK)
The ‘cerealisation’ of medieval England has been debated for over a century, with arguments focusing on the development of communally-cultivated open fields, widely regarded as one of the transformative changes of the Middle Ages. Yet theories about when and how this unprecedented type of agriculture emerged and spread are based on limited, indirect evidence.
The “Feeding Anglo-Saxon England” (FeedSax) project, funded by the European Research Council and led by Professor Helena Hamerow at the Universities of Oxford and Leicester, breaks new ground by integrating scientific methods such as stable isotope and pollen analysis, radiocarbon dating, archaeobotany and archaeozoology with structural remains to resolve this debate.
Gabriel Francisco (US)
Gabriel Francisco grew up in rural southwestern Michigan on a small 25 acre (17 hectares) sheep farm where his parents owned and operated a wool mill processing and selling wool and other animal fibers across the United States. At a young age Gabriel already excelled at farming becoming well known for his animal husbandry and handling skills. Gabriel studied Sustainable Agriculture and attend the Wendell Berry Farming Program where he met his Draft Animal Mentor, Rick Thomas.
After graduating from the inaugural class of the Wendell Berry Farming Program Gabriel has since been hired as the Draft Animal Coordinator at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Kentucky U.S.A, where he gets to work on their 100% organic “Seed to Table” Farm alongside 3 teams of draft horses and 2 teams of oxen doing everything from guest carriage rides, farm work, and logging on Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill’s 3000-acre (1214 hectares) historical site.
Cozette Griffin-Kremer (FR)
I took my doctorate in Celtic Studies at the Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique in Brest and an Advanced Research Degree (DEA) in the history of technology in a joint program of the EHESS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) and the CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers) in Paris, so I attempt to marry the two fields, especially concentrating on the calendar system and flower festivals, the relations between ritual and work, food history, human-bovine relations and museum work for intangible heritage with an emphasis on using working animals.
I am an Associate Researcher at the Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique, UBO, Brest FR, past Secretary General of the AIMA (2014-2017), and now Newsletter editor and Executive Committee member.
Claus Kropp (GER)
Project Coordinator / Lauresham
After graduating from Heidelberg University (GER), I worked at the Department for History for three years, most recently as an assistant at the chair for medieval history. In 2013 my professional path led me to the Lauresham Laboratory for Experimental Archaeology, which I am still managing today. It is both an archaeological open-air museum focusing on the Early Middle Ages as well as a research facility.
One of my main research interests is the study of medieval agriculture and its relation to the present. Both professionally and personally I am a passionate ox driver and run a very small scale farm with my family as a sideline.
​
I have the great pleasure to be in charge of the "A Year on the Field" project.
Lauren Muney (US)
"Silhouettes by Hand"
I am a professional artist working both in live demonstration and online. I earned a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland USA; yet for over 20 years, I have been working in special events, production, and interactive presentation to the public. My specialty is the traditional trade of silhouette portraits. I created the logo for Year on the Field and assist in media.
I am a member of the the International Agricultural Museums (AIMA) and in the Association for Living History, Farms and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM), the latter where I served a 3-year term on the Board of Directors, including chairing the Skills Training and Preservation committee. I helped create means and methods to pass skills of the past --and of presenting the past-- to new generations. I am especially interested in traditional trades and farming.
​
(Photo at left: I'm dressed in 1770s clothing at George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate and Museum, one of the Year On the Field Growers
Bob Powell (UK)
A member of both ALHFAM and AIMA, I am a working horse and farming historian and retired open-air / living history museum curator.
Born in Ireland, I live in Scotland but have also worked in England.
I have been involved with growing wheat including in an historical context for producing thatching straw. I envisage my contributions being from an historical archive perspective.
​Malyaj Shrivastava (IN)
Malyaj Shrivastava works as the Young Professional for Policy Deliberation at the Revitalizing Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRA), India.
He is a graduate in Agricultural Engineering from Satna University, Madhya Pradesh.
His theme includes Ease of doing Agriculture with Animal Power and small scale farm mechanization for Rainfed Areas.
ATZ Welzow (GER)
The Archäotechnisches Zentrum Welzow (ATZ) is a museum and an educational centre based in Welzow, Brandenburg, Germany. Besides the organisation of
cultural activities for adults and school groups, the ATZ carries out
archaeotechnological and experimental research projects.
Our aim is to bring an archaeological contribution and point of view into the project
„A Year On The Field“. Our main focus will be on the Early Iron Age processed cereal food remains from the burial site of Niederkaina (Germany). Basing on archaeological evidence and the archaeobotanical analysis, we will try to understand the procedures and the technologies involved in the baking and cooking process,trying to
getting closer to the food culture of prehistorical Lusatia.
Lena Zoll (GER)
I'm an Archaeologist (M.A.) and focused on Experimental Archaeology and Pre- and Protohistory of Europe. I am currently affialiated to the Experimental Archaeological Open-Air Laboratory Lauresham. I'm interested in sustainability and environmentalism and glad to be able to learn more about agriculture by joining the project!
I created and manage the project homepage and assist Claus Kropp in running the project.
Additionally, I am taking care of the project's Social Media.
