Agriculture - Overview
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.
"Agriculture - Overview" showing 14 items.
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Southern Agriculture Oral History Project Records, 1985-1992
- Notes
- Project developed by NMAH curator Pete Daniel and Lu Ann Jones, to document the effect of vast social and technological changes on Southern farm people since 1950
- Summary
- Collection consists of the project records, photographs and oral history materials comprising the Southern Agriculture Oral History Project. The project was developed by NMAH employees Lu Ann Jones and Pete Daniel with support from SI photographers and other personnel. For several years beginning in 1986, Jones traveled the Southern U.S. conducting oral history interviews with farm workers. The interviewees include people who worked on or owned farms of varying sizes, from very small to corporate sized. They were farmers of rice, tobacco, cotton and livestock. The interviewees were ethnically diverse. A series of interviews was conducted with Mexican workers. Over 150 interviews were conducted, and some of the interviews are transcribed or have distillations or edited versions of the interview. Other items Jones collected include life history forms, correspondence, articles, interviewer's notes, business cards, photographs. Photograph files contain photographs taken by a Smithsonian photographer or copies of photographs supplied by the subject. Interviewees are listed below and are arranged alphabeticallly by state and thereunder, alphabetically by subject
- Cite as
- Southern Agriculture Oral History Project Records, 1985-1992, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1986
- 1986-1991
- 1985-1992
- 20th Century
- 1950-2000
- project director
- Daniel, Pete
- interviewee
- Accardo, Paul
- Aguirre, Gloria Olmos
- Allen, David
- Anderson, Adra
- Anderson, Walter
- Andrews, John William
- Ardoin, Leslie
- Bailey, Charles
- Bailey, Howard Taft
- Baird, George E., Jr
- Baronet, Joe
- Bell, Walter M
- Bennett, Novella
- Bennett, W.J
- Benson, Dick
- Benton, Aubrey
- Benton, Ina Belle
- Blackstock, Tom
- Blackstock, Velva
- Blanchard, J.F
- Booth, N.J
- Booth, Mrs. N.J
- Bossleman, Norman
- Bosselman, Willie
- Bowman, Wilbert A
- Bradford, Nara N
- Bradford, Norwood)
- Brantley, L.D
- Breaux, Jessie Al., Sr
- Brinkley, Johnnie
- Brinkley, Lucile
- Broussard, Sam
- Brown, Gordon
- Brown, Mamie
- Bunting, Benny
- Bunting, Joe
- Burkett, Ben
- Burkett, Bennie F
- Bush, Miller
- Byers, Ruby
- Byers, Sanford
- Carline, Herman C
- Caesar, Clarence
- Carnahan, Cotton
- Carter, Ethel H
- Castleberry, Guy W
- Caughron, Kermit
- Caughron, Rex
- Caughron, Roy
- Cazer, Garland
- Ceras, Delfino
- Claffery, Clegg, Sr
- Clapp, Clyde
- Clark, Fletcher Talmadge
- Clayton, WIlliam P
- Cockerham, Lester
- Cockerham, Marie
- Cole, Buster
- Coleman, Harold
- Coleman, Mrs. Harold
- Colvin, R.C
- Comeaux, Lewis
- Connell, Alton
- Cromertie, John L
- Crosby, Ruth
- Crosby, Victor
- Cummins, W.R
- Cummins, Mary Lee
- Cunningham, Tom
- Daniel, Florentine
- Davis, Fredda
- Davis, Otto
- Davis, Pauline
- Davies, W. J. K
- Delasbour, Anna
- Derbigney, Durrell
- Dillard, John T
- Dorminy, Henry Clayton
- Dove, Dorothy
- Ducrest, Jesse
- Dulaney, T.W
- Elam, Edward
- Feilke, Mabel
- Felknor, Jessie F
- Finchum, Amos
- Finchum, Eva
- Fleming, Arthur B
- Fletcher, Mrs. Merle Ford
- Flores, Roque Olmos
- Foster, Jim
- Foster, Vergie
- Friesen, Viola Liechty
- Gardner, C.E
- Garrich, Carl
- Gay, Andrew
- George, Leler
- Gosney, Jessie
- Gosney, Kenneth
- Gray, Leonard
- Gray, Wardell
- Green, Alone
- Green, Clarence
- Griffin, A.C
- Griffin, Grace
- Hahn, E.L
- Hall, Joe
- Haransky, Charlotte
- Harrington, A.M
- Harris, Edna
- Harris, John, Rev
- Harris, Robert B
- Harper, Woodrow, Sr
- Hawkins, Charlie
- Hemphill, Elvin
- Hemphill, Mattie
- Hill, Frank
- Jefcoat, Laz
- Jensen, Olga B
- Johnson, Herbert
- interviewer
- Jones, Lu Ann
- interviewee
- Kilby, T.H
- Knight, Martin
- Koen, Eulah
- Lamson, Alfred Ellis
- Landry, Steve
- Lane, Clyde D
- Laney, John B
- Langley, Nellie
- Latoilas, Donald
- Lawrimore, Rufus B
- Leary, Mrs. Stillman
- Leary, Stillman
- Legnon, Hilton
- Legnon, Lena Porrier
- Lenius, Jane
- Lewis, Bobby
- Lewis, Dorothy
- Lewis, Ralph
- Proffitt, Harry, Jr
- Littlejohn, Andrew
- Loewer, Arthur
- Long, Welchel
- Lowder, Clayton
- Lowder, Kathy R
- Mangum, O.L
- Martin, Lillian
- McBrayer, Loomis
- McCarty, Ben
- McGee, Dean
- Mercer, Midi
- Minchew, Edna
- Mire, John
- Mohamed, Ethel Wright
- Moody, Edgar
- Morris, Edward
- Murphree, Leo
- Murray, Lurline S
- Nacquin, Leo
- Nix, Joe
- Nix, Agnes
- Parker, Jonah
- Patout, William A
- Patterson, Vanona
- Pender, Bessie
- Petticrew, Donald
- Player, C.B., Jr
- Porter, Virginia
- Purvis, Clyde
- Redmond, Virgie
- Reed, Bunice
- Reed, Howard
- Rice, Frank
- Richardson, Rosetta
- Rivers, Marion
- Roberts, Gerti
- Roberts, James
- Rodriguez, Ignacio
- Rountree, G. Emory
- Rucker, William
- Salas, Maria
- Sarten, Della
- Sims, Lavana
- Scoggins, Lillie
- Scroggins, Alma M
- Seidenschwarz, Rosie
- Seidenstricker, Laverne
- Seidenstricker, L.F
- Serrano, Adolofo
- Serrano, Edith
- Serrano, Lidia
- Shannon, Jack
- Shepherd, Grady
- Sizemore, Martiel
- Skinner, Annie
- Skinner, Jarvis
- Smith, Ethel
- Smith, George
- Soileau, Rouseb
- Spivey, Wayland
- Steen, Albert
- Spicer, J.M
- Starke, Granville
- Stowers, J.W
- Strange, Fred
- Strohl, Carl
- Strohl, Mary
- Sumner, Ruby C
- Temple, Effie
- Thomas, Lottie
- Thompson, Mioma
- Thresto, Chuck
- Tomlinson, Clifton
- Turner, Mrs. O.C
- Van Houten, Rudy
- Van Houten, Rosetta
- Vickers, Lloyd
- Vidrine, Levie A
- Walton, W.W
- Watson, Mary
- White, Wallace
- Wigley, Mabry
- Willey, Gretchen
- Willey, John F
- Young, Walter
- Welborn, S.L
- Wells, Homer, Dr
- Wells, Arnalee
- Winskie, Dent
- Woodard, Henry
- Yohe, Alma M
- Yohe, Perry
- Local number
- 2001.3053 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Robert L. Shurr Script and Scrapbook for the Motion Picture "George Washington Carver", 1939
- Notes
- The film, "George Washington Carver", was an independent production of Bryant Productions, directed by Ben Parker and written by Robert L. Shurr. Dr. Carver appeared in the film. It was filmed with archaic equipment on a shoestring budget and was released by RKO in 1940. It was greeted with apathy. Copies of it seem to have disappeared
- Summary
- Original screenplay on the early life of George Washington Carver written in 1939 by Robert L. Shurr and Ben Parker, "Devil Cotton, or Dr. George Washington Carver." The rest of the collection is a scrapbook containing press releases, press items, and stills from the film
- Cite as
- Robert L. Shurr Script and Scrapbook for the Motion Picture "George Washington Carver", 1939, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1939
- 1939-1968
- 1930-1940
- 1900-1950
- 1930-1950
- author
- Shurr, Robert L (scriptwriter)
- Parker, Ben (scriptwriter)
- Subject
- Carver, George Washington 1864?-1943
- RKO Pictures
- Tuskegee Institute
- Local number
- 1997.3076 (NMAH Acc. )
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
William C. Kost Farm Records, 1939-1989
- Notes
- From 1946 until his death, Kost lived on a farm near Vermont, Ill. He previously had farmed on shares and worked at the Peoria State Hospital, Bartonville, at the Caterpillar Co., and as a bookkeeper. He kept elaborate records of his farm's transactions
- Kost farmed corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay. In the mid-1950s he entered a partnership with the Welch farm, a beef cow/calf, feeder calf, hog operation. In the mid-1960s the Welch farm was sold and Kost bought out his share of the cows/calf operation and transferred it to his own farm. He also rented another farm on the east side of Vermont, Illinois
- Summary
- Financial records of a family farm in Vermont, Illinois. They are thorough, and document crucial years in the transformation of U.S. agriculture. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture encouraged larger farmers to expand their acreage, buy machinery, and modernize. Kost took this advice and rented additional land and expanded his operation into livestock. These records offer the historian or economist the opportunity to examine a farm operation in detail
- Cite as
- William C. Kost Farm Records, 1939-1989, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1939
- 1939-1989
- 1940-1990
- 20th century
- author
- Kost, William Cassell (farmer) 1917-1989
- donor
- Kost, William Elvidge
- collector
- Agriculture and Natural Resources, Division of (NMAH, SI)
- Local number
- 1993.3072 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980 (bulk 1919-1965)
- Notes
- Bickley was one of the more active inventors of twentieth century. While his main and most portable invention was an automatic bean sorter, his other inventions were numerous and wide in scope. Examples are: a photographic exposure meter; fly killing device; dance charts; nut-cracking device; and outdoor electric sign
- Summary
- Correspondence, patents, drawings, manuals, trade literature, and photographs, particularly rich in information on Bickley's sorting devices. World War II innovations, and other inventions such as an exposure meter, dance charts, fly-killing device, and an outdoor electric sign known as the Motograph
- Spans much of the twenthieth century and is of value to researchers interested in product development, the patent application process, product marketing and promotion, World War II innovation, and the daily operation of a small, privately owned industry. General correspondence, patents and patent correspondence, drawings, manuals, trade literature, and photographs; also, several artifacts designed by Bickley, including a photographic exposure meter (Fotimer), a prototype slide mount (Color Tight Slide Mount), dance chart, and even a clipboard (Deskette)
- Cite as
- The Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1919
- 1919-1980
- bulk 1919-1965
- 20th century
- 1930-1950
- creator
- Bickley, Everett H. 1888- 1972
- donor
- Beyer, Audrey Bickley
- Subject
- Bickley Manufacturing Company
- H. J. Heinz Company
- Local number
- 1999.3022 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Robinson and Via Family Papers, 1845-2001
- Notes
- The Robinson family acquired land and began raising tobacco in Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1843. The property consisted of over 170 acres by the end of the 19th century and included a dwelling, a tenant house and various outbuildings. While the principal crop remained tobacco, other grain crops were grown and sheep were raised. By the 1950s-1960s, the Robinson family was farming over 1,000 acres in Prince George's and Charles Counties, Maryland, through a combination of lease and direct ownership. The Via family acquired land and began raising tobacco and livestock in Prince George's Co., Maryland by 1949. The property consisted of thirty acres of owned property and included a dwelling and small outbuildings
- The Via family were also employed off the farm. By 1956 they had moved to Calvert Co., Maryland and were farming full-time on approximately 150 acres of owned property, raising tobacco, small grains and livestock. The Robinson family continues farming on approximately 300 acres of owned property in Benedict, Charles Co., Maryland. By 1993, the Via farm had been reduced to approximately five acres of owned property, and is no longer farmed
- Summary
- Farm records from the Robinson and Via Families of Southern Maryland, documenting family life, agricultural work, community involvement, and rural culture over a period of 150 years. Primarily correspondence, diaries, photographs, home movies, farm account books, and miscellaneous farming papers. Includes scrapbooks, funeral registers, cookbooks, architectural drawings, phonograph records, and postcard albums. 2009 addendum consists of approximately 1.6 cubic feet of papers including six scrapbooks, a music portfolio, two farm account books, a map, funeral memorabilia, and other miscellaneous papers. The 2011 addendum consists of approximately three fourths of one cubic foot of papers relating to the family and the farm, including correspondence, school papers, and diaries. The 2013 addendum consists of two volumes from a nursing school correspondence course
- Several documents are signed with an X
- 2009 addendum consists of six scrapbooks and one bound music folio, one farm account book, five memoranda books about the farm, a road map, funeral memorabilia, and loose papers relating to the operation of the farm
- Cite as
- Robinson and Via Family Papers, 1845-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Franklin A. Robinson, Jr
- Date
- 1845
- 1845-2001
- 1980-2000
- 20th century
- 20th Century
- 19th century
- 1930-1950
- donor
- Robinson, Franklin A. Jr (actor writer) 1959-
- Subject
- Robinson, Franklin A. Sr. 1932-
- Robinson, Franklin A. 1841-1905
- Robinson, Robert Henry 1851-1937
- Robinson, Robert David 1962-
- Robinson, Adina Theresa 1963-
- Robinson, Thomas Wells 1803-1869
- Robinson, Martha Walls 1807-1897
- Robinson, Frank A. 1883-1970
- Robinson, Amanda Baden 1849-1940
- Townshend, Martha Robinson 1880-1961
- Via, Adina Mae 1937-1966
- Via, Robert Delano 1933-
- Via, Robert Milton 1906-1983
- Via, Virginia Wood 1914-
- Howes, Grace Bourne ?-1976
- Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne 1892-1976
- Capital Transit Company Washington (D.C.)
- Serenity Farm, Inc
- Local number
- 1994.3003 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2009.3080 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2011.3082 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2012.3106 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2013.3024 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Annamae Barlup Myers and Stephen Harriman Diaries, 1883-1894; 1931-1967
- Notes
- Annamae Barlup Myers was born April 7, 1903 in Ohio and spent most of her life on a farm, first, the "home farm" which her parents bought in 1915, then that of her father-in-law, followed by about seven years in a small Ohio town and a return to the home farm. Her diaries are a record of life in rural Ohio for more than thirty years. The diaries reflect a life busy with household chores, laundry, cooking, churning, gardening, canning, and preserving and helping on the farm. For example, Mrs. Myers helped with the threshing, driving the tractor, and cooking for temporary farm helpers during peak periods. In addition to making some of her own and the children's clothes, Mrs. Myers sewed for friends and neighbors and during some years took care of a small child for pay. The many references during the early years to not having enough money to meet their obligations gradually give way to a picture not of affluence but of more comfortable financial circumstances without the constant worry about bills evident in entries during the thirties and early forties. Although the diaries primarily note the events of family life they also mention major political or historic events with a few emotional overtones
- Summary
- The Annamae Myers diaries record the activities of a farm family in Ohio, 1931-1967. There are daily entries about the weather and frequent mention of trips to the hairdresser and trips to the children's music and dancing lessons and to town for shopping, movies, or to pay bills. The diaries include frequent entries of amounts received for the sale of farm produce, and some financial data are entered at the end of each volume, but such entries are neither regular nor complete. They do however provide information on prices for agricultural products in a rural community. Major political and historic events are noted. There is infrequent reference to the emotions generated by family living and by the historic and political events of the twentieth century. Also includes a few diaries kept by Stephen Harriman, Mrs. Myers' maternal grandfather, with very brief daily entries of the weather, trips to town, visits made and visitors to the farm, and the start of farm operations, i.e., plowing, sowing
- Cite as
- Annamae Barlup Myers & Stephen Harriman Diaries, 1883-1894, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1883
- 1883-1967
- 1883-1894 1931-1967
- author
- Myers, Annamae Barlup (farmer)
- Harriman, Stephen (farmer)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Page Tractor Company Papers, 1940-1979
- Notes
- Wisconsin-based tractor company. They also made snowmobiles, snow blowers and snow plows
- Summary
- Papers documenting Page Tractor Company and its parent company, Pioneer Manufacturing. The papers include customer inquiries and the responses to them, drawings and blueprints, invoices, trade literature, parts catalogs and price lists, and instruction manuals
- Cite as
- Page Tractor Company Papers, 1940-1979, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1940
- 1940-1979
- 20th century
- creator
- Page Tractor Company
- collector
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Pioneer Manufacturing Company
- Local number
- 2007.3103 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Kent Family Records, 1879-1933
- Summary
- These records of Mrs. Mary P. Kent, Burke Co., North Carolina, and H.M. Kent, Coldwell and Burke Counties, North Carolina, consist of an account book with survey data, general financial transactions, farming notes, 1879-91, and tax receipts, 1884-1933
- Cite as
- Kent Family Records, 1879-1933, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1879
- 1879-1933
- 1870-1940
- author
- Kent, Mary P (farmer)
- donor
- Watkins, Malcolm Mrs
- author
- Kent, H. M (farmer)
- collector
- Domestic Life, Division of (NMAH, SI)
- Local number
- 279946 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Walker R. Smith Rural Maryland Photoprints, ca. 1936-1991
- Notes
- The photographer has been photographing a small Maryland village area, Doubs (and Adamstown) for over fifty years (ca. 1930s to date of gift). Much of his work is personal, but some is semi-professional work for friends and neighbors
- Summary
- Photographs of the rural Maryland village of Doubs and environs; subjects include trains and railroad subjects, farming activities, grocery stores, people at work and play, etc
- Cite as
- Walker R. Smith Rural Maryland Photoprints, Archives Center, ca. 1936-1991, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1936
- 1936-1991
- ca 1936-1991
- 20th century
- 1930-1990
- photographer
- Smith, Walker R. 1910-
- Local number
- 1992.3190 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Bernis B. Brown Collection, 1878-1960
- Notes
- Brown was a dealer, salesmen and repairman of farm equipment, especially steam powered engines
- Summary
- The collection documents the history of farm machinery in America, especially steam-powered machines. The papers include Brown's correspondence with individuals and institutions regarding his research and his collection, notes and notebooks, reference books and history books on farm machines, clippings and articles, newsletters on farming subjects, catalogs of farming equipment, subject files, photographs, magazines, and a manuscript for a history Brown compiled on early American farm power
- Cite as
- Bernis B. Brown Collection, 1878-1960, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1878
- 1878-1960
- 20th century
- collector
- Brown, Bernis B. 1888-1960
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 2007.3119 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH