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"South Deerfield Briefs- School Exhibition at South Deerfield"

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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School exhibitions were held in Deerfield schools for more than a century and there is a discernable change over time. Those from the early 1800s tended toward words, a huge sea of banter, fiction, and didactic lectures. This program from the 1920s, on the other hand, is composed of almost pure entertainment: dances, humorous recitations, and gymnastics. Perhaps one reason for this change came from the large numbers of immigrants newly in the Deerfield school system, whose parents would have appreciated the more visual entertainments. Another reason may have been a change in American society itself, toward lighter, less dense entertainment.

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