The Grid Comes Home: Wiring and Lighting the American Farmhouse

Abstract

Established in 1935 under the New Deal, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) brought affordable electricity to underserved agrarian populations throughout the United States. The arrival of electricity transformed everyday patterns of work and leisure on the American farm. No change was more immediately palpable than the clean, steady glow of electrical light. Many times brighter than the dirty kerosene lamps they replaced, electric lights became a sought-after commodity even among farm families unwilling to invest in other electrified conveniences. Between 1935 and the early 1950s, REA, along with other government agricultural agencies and for-profit corporations such as General Electric, published numerous advertisements and guides that promoted best practices in lighting and wiring. Seizing on rural enthusiasm for electric illumination, these publications promoted proper light as the first, critical step toward attaining an all-electric mode of living. These publications are vital in understanding changes to the spatial layout of the farm landscape in the mid-twentieth century. Through text, diagrams, illustrations, and photographs, wiring and lighting materials articulated a new approach to farm planning and rural space that foreshadowed many of the farm’s architectural transformations after World War II.