Background on Connecticut Valley Breeders Association
Established in Northampton, Mass., in May 1908, the Connecticut Valley Breeders Association was part of the burgeoning Progressive-era movement to apply scientific principles to improve agriculture. In its charter, the Association announced the ambitious goal of promoting "the live stock development of the Connecticut Valley and as far as possible the entire New England states in every way as affecting its educational, economic, legislative, health or other influences."
Led by Oren C. Burt of Easthampton, and George E. Taylor of Shelburne (its first President), the Association sponsored lectures and other informational sessions that attracted as many as 500 attendees at its peak of popularity, sometimes coordinating with the work at Massachusetts Agricultural College. Although the organization appears to have waned during and just after the First World War, it was revived in 1925, and four years later, the new Hampshire Herd Improvement Association assumed many of its functions.
