In her recently published book, "Hill Farms: Surviving Modern Times in Early Twentieth-Century Vermont," historian Dona Brown focuses on the small mountain town of Jamaica in southern Vermont. In this talk, she will describe what she learned from close analysis of field notes gathered during a 1930 study of Jamaica conducted by the Vermont Eugenics Society.

Dona Brown retired from teaching history in 2023 after nearly 30 years at UVM. She taught courses in everything from book history to American regionalism, but Vermont has always been a focal point for both her teaching and her research. Her earlier books include Inventing "New England" (1994) and "Back to the Land" (2011). Since her retirement, she completed "Hill Farms."