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Rural Electrification

by: Rural Electrification Administration, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

Publication date: 1940

Usage: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Topics: Pare Lorentz, rural electrification, farms, electricity, horsepower, water

RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN OHIO features three films commissioned by Rural Electrification Administration for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and created by legendary filmmakers Pare Lorentz and Joris Ivens. The landmark 1940 documentary Power and the Land tells the story of the Parkinson family, farmers in rural Ohio who electrified their farm with the help of a REA loan. Before electrification, work was done in old-fashioned, manual-labor intensive ways—water was carried by hand from the outdoor pump, and carts and plows were driven by horses. The documentary helped raise significant awareness about the lack of electricity in rural America. This program also features two related 1941 shorts films about the Parkinsons: Bip Goes To Town and Worst of Farm Disasters.

Addeddate: 2015-05-28 22:29:34

Closed captioning: no

Identifier: RuralElectrification

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Reviewer: JayKay49 - - March 8, 2022
Subject: I Got Tuckered Out Just Watching This

It's 1940 and this farm in SW Ohio has no 'letrizzity. No running water, can't cool the milk, wood burning stove (which btw, my grandmother living in the city still had one until 1959), and kerosene lamps. Then came government rural electrification. This was one of the last places to get it, I guess. Happy people. But it takes until the last couple minutes for that to happen. Sheesh.

Unless you had a dozen kids I just don't see how you could farm, letrizzity or not.

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