Commodifying the Conifer: The Rise of the Christmas Tree Industry in the United States
Christmas trees are culturally significant symbol of Christmas and embedded within American culture. This dissertation uses the Christmas tree as an object to make historical connections to cultural, environmental, and economic changes. By connecting the meanings endowed to the Christmas tree, I argue that a new agricultural enterprise formed and transformed Christmas tree farms into a thriving twentieth-century industry. As Americans created a modern Christmas celebration, the Christmas tree became a central feature, and transformed a natural object to a valued cash crop and prompted a new industry. This dissertation tells the untold history of Christmas tree labor and provides deeper meaning of how Christmas trees became embedded in American culture and economy.
Christmas, Christmas tree, culture, evergreens, holiday, labor, History, United States History
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