Maine Memory Network

Contributed by Nylander Museum

Description

A Hoover paddle digger was used on this farm to partially mechanize the harvesting process. The one row Hoover Paddle Digger has paddles on the wheels. The turning of the wheels on the digger powers the digging mechanism. After the potato digger has uprooted the potatoes, the pickers follow along with baskets to collect the potatoes. When the basket is full it is dumped into a barrel. Each barrel is marked with a picker's ticket. The farmer collects the tickets and pays each picker according to the number of barrels each worker picked.

In 1922 Olof O. Nylander assembled a display of photographs, maps and charts of the Maine Swedish Colony which he displayed at the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of Gothenburg, Sweden. The series of display cards, or samlats, each featured several photographs of homes, businesses and community members from New Sweden, Woodland, Perham and Caribou.
This photograph is from samlat 12.

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About This Item

• Title: Potato harvest, Woodland, ca. 1922
• Creation Date: circa 1922
• Subject Date: circa 1922
• Location: Woodland, Aroostook County, ME
• Media: Photographic print
• Dimensions: 6 cm x 10 cm
• Collection: Nylander samlat
• Object Type: Image

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Cross Reference Searches

Standardized Subject Headings

• Potatoes--Harvesting--Maine--Woodland
• Swedish Americans--Maine
• Agricultural laborers--Maine--Woodland
• Farms--Maine--Woodland
• Agricultural machinery & equipment

Other Keywords

• harvester
• Hoover paddle digger
• Maine Swedish Colony
• Olof O. Nylander
• potato barrel
• potato basket
• samlat 4

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For more information about this item, contact:

Nylander Museum
657 Main Street, Caribou, ME 04736
(207) 498-5923
Website

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