This post complements the Spring 2026 exhibit in our gallery space, “How To … DIY from Machiavelli to Zines.” With books drawn from the Rare Book and Vermont Research collections, the exhibit showcases the actionable power of print across the centuries. It is on display through June 1 in Billings Library, Room 201.
In 1954, Stephen and Janet Greene of West Dover, Vermont bought a bookstore in Brattleboro. Two years later, they expanded the business to include the Stephen Greene Press (widely known as SGP). During the Greenes’ tenure, the press published some 230 nonfiction titles and nearly 2,500,000 volumes, focusing on Vermontiana, regional Americana, country living and niche topics including railroads and what they called environmental sports. In 1978, the Greenes sold the press to a Vermont-based consortium that continued to publish on similar topics until 1984. SGP catalogues, and SGP books on our shelves, indicate that the list of publications was strong on how-to, do-it-yourself books of all sorts.
The first SGP how-to book was also the first book the firm published. The Venison Book: How to Dress, Cut Up and Cook Your Deer, came out in 1957. SGP promoted The Venison Book, written by Audrey Alley Gorton, a professor of modern languages and European literature at Marlboro College, as “handy, attractive and complete in giving the how and why for every step in handling deermeat from forest to freezer, and it includes a record number of venison recipes.” The Venison Book was reviewed in newspapers around the country, partly because many people were surprised that the author was a woman. In a syndicated article, Gorton explained that her interest in hunting and cooking venison was prompted by “an empty freezer, an empty tummy and an empty purse.”
Books from Stephen Greene Press “that belong in every country household” sold well to people experimenting with the back-to-the-land movement and sustainable living. The books helped people build and maintain buildings and infrastructure, heat their homes efficiently, find water, and deal with the challenges of northern climates. SGP reissued three manuals first published in the nineteenth century–Barns, Sheds and Outbuildings, Farm Equipment & Hand Tools andFences, Gates and Bridges–for twentieth-century homesteaders. The press also published new titles, such as Old Houses, New Homes (“how a family can beat the mortgage crunch, have an energy-efficient, comfortable house and survive to tell about it”) and The Complete Book of Insulating.
Stephen Greene Press published a number of titles about producing and preparing food. Gardening guides include Intensive Gardening Round the Year and Successful Cold Climate Gardening. The Harvest Home series included inexpensive cookbooks that each focused on an ingredient or type of food, such as apples, maple syrup and sugar, cheese, fish, grains and soybeans. Putting Food By, published in 1973 and revised and expanded in 1975, was a bestselling title for SGP. With contributions from three Vermonters–Ruth Hertzberg, Beatrice Vaughan and Janet Green–the book presented safe and effective methods for food preservation as well as recipes old and new. (I can recommend the Rhubarb-Carrot Marmalade recipe, described by the authors “as good and honest as it is out of the way.”)
One SGP promotional flyer urged readers to “put more fun in your life.” Their sports titles helped readers embrace and master outdoor sports, including horseback riding, skiing, kayaking, orienteering, camping, hiking, climbing, snowshoeing and fishing. Vermont skier and author John Caldwell’s books about cross-country skiing were some of the press’s bestselling titles.
The Stephen Greene Press donated many of its publications and company records to Silver Special Collections. Contact us at uvmsc@uvm.edu to learn more about using the books and records.
Submitted by Prudence Doherty, Public Services Librarian