Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Andreas Dahl Larson, Hop Pickers, Image 1955. Viewed online at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM1955.
This week, we’re featuring another interview from our trip to the first-ever Beer Culture Summit, held in Chicago in October 2019. This time, we’re heading to the Chicago History Museum to learn about the forgotten women that helped shape America’s beer industry in the 19th century. We speak with Dr. Jennifer Jordan, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, who has spent the last few years researching and writing about the forgotten hop industry and specifically the women who were often at the forefront of hop harvesting in states like Wisconsin and California. We chatted about Dr. Jordan’s research, which has taken her from the archives to the back roads of rural Wisconsin in search of the evidence for this once powerful industry of the area. We also talk about her research into the life of Ella, one of the many hop harvesting Wisconsin women of history.
Written and Produced by Laura Carlson
Digital Director and Photographer: Mike Portt
Special Guest: Dr. Jennifer Jordan
Dr. Jennifer Jordan is Professor of Sociology and Urban Studies, and Chair of the Sociology Department at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Our conversation was based on research for a book she is writing for the University of Chicago Press.
You can find Jennifer on Twitter at @EdibleMemory
More Hop-Harvesting Wisconsin Women From the 19th Century
Slightly elevated view of hop pickers in hop yard, in the vicinity of Mirror Lake.
Image courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Henry Hamilton Bennett, Hop Picking, Image 30473. Viewed online at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM30473.
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 courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Andreas Dahl Larson, Hop Pickers, Image 1955. Viewed online at https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM1955.