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REA director John Carmody (on the right) demonstrating the advantages of electrical appliances during a farm equipment tour, circa 1938.
Credit: Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association
In the 1930s, Rural Electrification Administration director John Carmody, a native of Bradford County, PA, took his "Farm Equipment Tour" -better known as the "REA Circus" - on the road, to demonstrate the use of electrical appliances and farm equipment rural Pennsylvanians.