Twilight in Arcadia, Tobacco Farming in Indiana

Twilight in Arcadia, Tobacco Farming in Indiana; By Susan Neville & Tyagan Miller; 2000; Softcover; 108 pp; 10x8; chiefly illustrated; Item IHS036

This book documents tobacco farming in southern Indiana. Included are essays by Susan Neville, and black-and-white photographs by Tyagan Miller and bibliographical references. This book provides information on how the tobacco is both an industry and a culture for many generations of workers.

The book is mainly made up of pictures depicting the stages of the tobacco farming process - and takes a thought-provoking look at the dependence on migrant workers with the industry.

Personal note - I found the book compelling, as I have Southwest Virginia ancestry. One of the interesting cultural things I noticed during my family's trips during the 1970s and 80s to Grayson County, Virginia, was that many of the family and their neighbors had a backyard patch of tobacco that would be sold at a nearby auction. My mother (a non-smoker her entire life) went to one of these auctions while visiting. This book puts her stories in context for me.

The Chapters are as follows:

Twilight in Arcadia - textual

Ford's Tobacco Warehouse Auction, the week of Thanksgiving 1998, morning

The Growing Season

Floating

Farm Wife

Cutting

Housing

Stripping

The Camp

Kentucky Farmer

Ford's Tobacco Warehouse, the week of Thanksgiving 1998, late afternoon

From the point on, until near the end of the book, it is photographic.

Late Winter

Cover Crop

Seed Bed Preparation

Late Spring

Pulling and Setting

Summer

Spraying and Dusting

Cultivating and Weeding

Workers' Camp

Topping and Suckering

Late Summer

Cutting and Spearing

Hauling and Hanging

Autumn

Curing

Bulking Down

Stripping and Sorting

Auction

Photographer's Note - textual

Twilight in Arcadia and the Birth of the Heartland Documentary Photographic Archive - textual