Agriculture

From butter churns to diesel tractors, the Museum's agricultural artifacts trace the story of Americans who work the land. Agricultural tools and machinery in the collections range from a John Deere plow of the 1830s to 20th-century cultivators and harvesters. The Museum's holdings also include overalls, aprons, and sunbonnets; farm photographs; milk cans and food jars; handmade horse collars; and some 200 oral histories of farm men and women in the South. Prints in the collections show hundreds of scenes of rural life. The politics of agriculture are part of the story, too, told in materials related to farm workers' unions and a group of artifacts donated by the family of the labor leader Cesar Chavez.

John Deere Plow
John Deere Plow, 1830s
This sample of wheat came from the first field test designed to chart the movement of genetically modified microorganisms after their release into the environment.
Description (Brief)
This sample of wheat came from the first field test designed to chart the movement of genetically modified microorganisms after their release into the environment. In November of 1987, genetically modified soil bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas were planted along with winter wheat in a field in Blackville, S.C. The project was a joint effort of Monsanto, which had modified the organisms in the lab, and Clemson University, which carried out the field test.
The microorganisms were modified to contain harmless “marker genes” allowing scientists to distinguish them from naturally occurring Pseudomonas bacteria. After their release, scientists kept track of the movement of the modified bacteria in order to create a model for how genetically modified microbes migrate upon their release. Several months earlier, the release of genetically modified “ice-minus” bacteria (see object number 1987.0770.01) in California was the center of public concern.
Sources:
Accession File
“After Release, Altered Bacteria Stayed Close to Their Roots.” Renseberger, Boyce. The Washington Post. February 22, 1988. p. A3.
“Release of Altered Microbes Is Approved in Tracking Test.” Schneider, Keith. The New York Times. October 21, 1987. p. A19.
“Clemson Scientists Begin Field Testing of Microbe.” The Item. November 3, 1987. p.4B.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1987
ID Number
1995.0055.01
accession number
1995.0055
catalog number
1995.0055.01
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1982
maker
Caffery, Debbie Fleming
ID Number
1986.0650.02
accession number
1986.0650
catalog number
1986.0650.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1982
maker
Caffery, Debbie Fleming
ID Number
1986.0650.04
accession number
1986.0650
catalog number
1986.0650.04
Press print; on verso: "Project personnel operate a pump at Sbeitla in central Tunisia."Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; on verso: "Project personnel operate a pump at Sbeitla in central Tunisia."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1982
maker
United Nations
ID Number
2013.0327.0238
catalog number
2013.0327.0238
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0111
accession number
2017.0306
catalog number
2017.0306.0111
Press print; from verso: "Young people helping to clear an area for cultivation, near Dodoma."Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; from verso: "Young people helping to clear an area for cultivation, near Dodoma."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1980
maker
United Nations
ID Number
2013.0327.0243
catalog number
2013.0327.0243
accession number
2013.0327

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