Picking, Packing, & Shucking: The Migrant Experience ofBaltimore's Polish Community. Thomas L. Hollowak, 412 pages,illustrated, paper. $30.00 [ISBN 978-1-887124-32-4]

Picking, Packing, & Shucking tells the story of Baltimore's Poles, who, during the spring andsummer, worked on farms in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania,picking strawberries, string beans, and tomatoes. When the seasonended, they returned to Baltimore, where they worked in thenumerous packinghouses. Beginning in 1890, many traveled South,shucking oysters in the canneries often established by Baltimorepackinghouse owners.

While newspaper articles, government recordsand reports off some insights into the lives of those who toiled onfarms, in packinghouse, and canneries, they are often contradictory,fragmented, and disparaging. This book, however, aims to rectify thisby bringing together the various components of the migrant existence and allowing their voices to beheard. Thus taking these various strands to weave a tapestry of Baltimore's Polish immigrants andtheir families migratory experience.

The work is supplemented by photographs at work and relaxingwhen their days work ceased. Provided by family members and Progressive photographer Lewis W.Hine in his efforts to document child labor. These provide an added dimension to their story.

Historyk Press
7 Dendron Court
Baltimore, MD 21234

For more information, or to order, see:
HP 120. Picking, Packing, & Shucking: The Migrant Experience of Baltimore's Polish Community.(http://historykpress.com/migrant.htm)