Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon
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  • About the Book
    • Pumpkin: The Curious History of an American Icon
    • Reviews
  • About the Author
    • Cindy Ott
    • Publications
    • Acknowledgments
  • Online Exhibition
    • Just Another Squash: 12,000 BCE to 1600
    • From Pumpkin Beer to Pumpkin Pie: 1600 to 1799
    • The Making of a Rural New England Icon: 1800 to 1860
    • The Pumpkin and the Nation: 1861 to 1899
    • Americans Celebrate the Fall Harvest with Pumpkins: 1900 to 1945
    • The Changing Nature of Pumpkins: 1946 to the Present
    • The Changing Nature of American Rural Economies: 1946 to the Present
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The Changing Nature of American Rural Economics

1946 to the Present

People’s ideas of nature are multifaceted and they reshape the world in unexpected ways that defy economic explanations. While Americans’ ideas and uses for pumpkin have reshaped the physical form, their desire for pumpkin is also actually helping to revitalize small family farms and rural towns – ways of life the pumpkin has long symbolized. The nature of the pumpkin, the market, and its meanings together encourage its production by small-scale producers for a local market. The history of the pumpkin counters the common assumptions that romantic agrarian fables and imagery are tangential to actual agriculture practices and that capitalism spells doomsday for family farmers and rural America. Farmers and rural communities have relied on this old crop to become viable economic enterprises in the twenty-first century.

Changing Name and Face of Pumpkins

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Jack-Be-Littles are miniature pumpkins that weigh no more than a pound. They are edible, but they are often marketed as a "charming accent for fall centerpieces," that is, for their image rather than their meat.

Pumpkins Revive Small Towns
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Circleville Pumpkin Show, Circleville, Ohio, October, 1999.  Photo: Cindy Ott. 

Pumpkins Revive Small Farms

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Cox Farms Pumpkin Festival, Centreville, Virginia, October 2000. Photo: Cindy Ott. 

Family Pumpkin Patch

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Renick’s Family Pumpkin Patch, Ashville, Ohio, October 2000. Photo: Cindy Ott.    
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