Searching for Beer Ghosts in in Archives, Cemeteries, Fields, and Forests

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• October 29, 3:00 PM
• American Geographical Society Library
• Free & open to the public

Water, malt, yeast, and hops: these are essential ingredients of beer. Hops, specifically, play an outsized role in determining its flavor and aroma.

In her new book, Beer Ghosts: In Search of Lost Hops and the Women Who Grew Them, Jennifer Jordan takes us back to a brief but pivotal moment in the 19th century when Wisconsin produced much of the hops grown in the U.S.

Those hops are not the only ghosts in Jordan’s story; haunting her book’s pages are the young women whose harvest work was key to the American beer industry’s rise. Jordan excavates archival materials and physical landscapes to investigate histories that may not always be immediately visible.

This event is organized by UWM Archives and Special Collections. It is co-promoted by the Center for 21st Century Studies as part of C21’s UWM Authors in Conversation initiative.

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 Jennifer A. Jordan is professor of sociology, urban studies, and history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is the author of Structures of Memory: Understanding Urban Change in Berlin and Beyond and Edible Memory: The Lure of Heirloom Tomatoes and other Forgotten Foods, the latter also published by the University of Chicago Press. She lives in Milwaukee, where she and her husband grow hops in their backyard.