WOMEN IN PEAR INDUSTRY TO BE FOCUS OF
SUSAN REID TALK AT HANNON LIBRARY



Directions to the Hannon Library

DATE & TIME: Thursday, November 5, 2009, at 4 pm

PLACE: Meese Room (#315) of Hannon Library

An illustrated talk by Susan Reid about the historic role of women in the local pear industry. She will also feature poetry and a photo display of women packing pears from the 1980’s and earlier. The lecture reflects her interest in the traditional roles of women in work and celebrates the importance of women’s work in the regional agricultural economy. This talk will be the first of the 2009-10 lectures sponsored by the Friends of Hannon Library. Light refreshments will be served. The lecture is free and open to the public. Parking will be available. For more information, call 552-6835.

Ms. Reid wrote a Master’s thesis entitled “Pear Packing: a Season of Women’s Work “as part of combined sociology and English graduate study at SOU in the late 1980’s. Original photos and poetry were also incorporated into the work for her degree. Her thesis is now available digitally through the History Collection of Hannon Library’s Southern Oregon Digital Archives, which may be accessed at http://soda.sou.edu/history.html.

Active in public service and volunteer work, Susan Reid was elected to the Ashland City Council on the Nuclear Free Zone (NFZ) platform and served over 1982-2002. She was instrumental in making Ashland the first city in the nation to be voted a Nuclear Free Zone by its citizens. She was subsequently invited to be part of a peace tour of England in 1985. Susan and Karen Sue Smith, also an Ashland City Council member, traveled across England and Wales with the Hibakusha—survivors of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Susan also served on the Board of Directors for the League of Oregon Cities, and chaired their Energy Advisory Committee for 15 years.