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
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1919
ID Number
AG.58A06
catalog number
58A06
accession number
222860
The Waterloo Boy was the last tractor produced by Deere and Company before adopting the John Deere brand with the Model D. This 1918 Waterloo Boy draws 25 horsepower from its two-cylinder engine.
Description
The Waterloo Boy was the last tractor produced by Deere and Company before adopting the John Deere brand with the Model D. This 1918 Waterloo Boy draws 25 horsepower from its two-cylinder engine. The engine ran on kerosene, a fuel that farmers could acquire more easily and less expensively than gasoline. This tractor has two forward gears and one reverse gear and spent much of its working life around Kloten, North Dakota.
The Waterloo Boy is part of the legacy of John Froelich, of Froelich, Iowa, who built the first gasoline engine tractor in 1892. Deere and Company acquired Froelich's Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company in 1918 and continued to improve on Waterloo Boy tractors until 1923.
Date made
1918
Associated Name
Froelich, John
Deere, John
maker
Deere & Company
Waterloo Gas Engine Company
ID Number
AG.67A02
catalog number
67A02
accession number
270864
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1914
Associated Date
1914-02-19
ID Number
2018.0166.0076
accession number
2018.0166
catalog number
2018.0166.0076
This 40-saw cotton gin and the wooden gearing came from a farm formerly owned by the Augustus C. Smith family in Monroe County, G. The gin shed was built around 1840 and operated until approximately 1900.
Description
This 40-saw cotton gin and the wooden gearing came from a farm formerly owned by the Augustus C. Smith family in Monroe County, G. The gin shed was built around 1840 and operated until approximately 1900. The gin stand was probably built in the decade following the Civil War; it bears no manufacturer's name or other identification.
Augustus Card Smith, born on March 5, 1830, owned and managed the farm and gin until his death in 1907. His wife, Sara Jane Phinazee Smith, bore eleven children. James Milton Smith took over the farm when his father died. On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, the farm had 180 acres, and the family owned one horse, four cows, and three mules. Smith marketed 11 bales of cotton that year. During the Civil War, A. C. Smith joined the Monroe County Cavalry and fought for the Confederacy. By 1880 the Smith farm had grown to 350 acres and raised 23 bales of cotton. A. C. Smith personified the yeoman farmer who owned his land and produced enough to provide for his family and to market the surplus. His life spanned the ante bellum years of increasing sectional tensions, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the establishment of segregation in the 1890s.
The Smith cotton ginning operation typified 19th-century ginning technology. The large open space on the lower level allowed mules to circle the bull gear, setting in motion the pinion gear that transferred power to the gin on the second floor. The precisely fitted wooden blocks joined by pegs and cleverly fitted supports demanded skilled workmanship.
Ginwrights both manufactured and serviced gins. The number of gins and the precise work needed to construct and maintain them necessitated a large number of skilled workmen. African Americans manufactured, maintained, and operated gins along with whites. A. C. Smith's ledgers show that he ginned for toll; that is, he took a percentage of the cotton in payment.
Date made
ca 1880
Ginstand
ca 1880
wooden gearing
1840-1910
maker
unknown
ID Number
1984.0852.001
accession number
1984.0852
catalog number
1984.0852.001
real photo postcard; black and white image of two women holding farming tools; wood planks on ground in front of them and wooden structure partially visible in background; postmark from 1914, sent to Buffalo, North Dakota; handwritten text on verso reads "Dear Nora.
Description (Brief)
real photo postcard; black and white image of two women holding farming tools; wood planks on ground in front of them and wooden structure partially visible in background; postmark from 1914, sent to Buffalo, North Dakota; handwritten text on verso reads "Dear Nora. Well what do you think of Alices & my garden suits. What are you doing now? Are you going to teach this year? I guess we will thresh before very long but it is so dry all of the time I am afraid there won't be much crop. Write soon. With love Lillie" and addressed to Miss Leonora B. Titus, Buffalo, N. Dak.; 1 cent stamp on verso, franked
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1914
ID Number
1986.3048.0645
catalog number
1986.3048.0645
nonaccession number
1986.3048
This object is an original pen and ink political cartoon hand drawn on heavy white paper by Clifford Berryman circa 1912 in Washington, D.C.
Description
This object is an original pen and ink political cartoon hand drawn on heavy white paper by Clifford Berryman circa 1912 in Washington, D.C. It depicts Woodrow Wilson in a barnyard with farm animals being fed "Wilson's Progressive Mixture." Each animal is labeled as a Wilson Rooster, Supporter, Promoter, Shouter, Promoter, Advocate, Follower, or Cackler. Inscribed in ink near his face as if he is speaking are the words "Everything in Knowing What to Feed 'Em." The drawing is stamped in the lower left corner with Berryman's number 14063 in blue ink. It is signed "Berryman" in the lower right area of the illustration.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
circa 1912
depicted
Wilson, Woodrow
maker
Berryman, Clifford
ID Number
PL.322733.006
catalog number
322733.006
accession number
322733
This object is an original pen and ink political cartoon hand drawn on white paper by Clifford Berryman circa 1917 in Washington, D.C. The title "Getting in the Hay" is inscribed in pencil and centered on the bottom.
Description
This object is an original pen and ink political cartoon hand drawn on white paper by Clifford Berryman circa 1917 in Washington, D.C. The title "Getting in the Hay" is inscribed in pencil and centered on the bottom. The drawing depicts Woodrow Wilson in farmer dress wielding a large bunch of hay, saying "Better get it all in while we can" and, behind him, the words "Fall Elections." A man named Congress is hoisting the hay up into the barn and says "Gosh it's hot up here." The drawing is stamped on the back with Berryman's number 44376 and is signed "Berryman" in the lower right area of the illustration.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
circa 1917
ca 1917
depicted
Wilson, Woodrow
maker
Berryman, Clifford
ID Number
PL.322733.002
catalog number
322733.002
accession number
322733
catalog number
322733.002
A tape measure in a celluloid case of cream celluloid with yellow and green on the front and back. Advertising copy for the John Deere Company includes a profile portrait of John Deere with the message, "He gave to the world the steel plow," underneath.
Description (Brief)
A tape measure in a celluloid case of cream celluloid with yellow and green on the front and back. Advertising copy for the John Deere Company includes a profile portrait of John Deere with the message, "He gave to the world the steel plow," underneath. The other side bears the John Deere logo.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1917
advertiser
Deere & Company
depicted
Deere, John
maker
Parisian Novelty Company
ID Number
2006.0098.0927
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.0927
A first-prize ribbon produced by Whitehead & Hoag Co. for the Maine State Poultry Association. The button, made of celluloid, has a color image of the emblem for the State of Maine. The silk ribbon is blue, with silver-embossed inscription.
Description (Brief)
A first-prize ribbon produced by Whitehead & Hoag Co. for the Maine State Poultry Association. The button, made of celluloid, has a color image of the emblem for the State of Maine. The silk ribbon is blue, with silver-embossed inscription. A silk cord is attached to the back of the button.
The ribbon reads "11th Annual Show Maine State Poultry Association // Portland, Maine // Dec. 12-13-14-15 1911."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1911
maker
Whitehead & Hoag Company
ID Number
2006.0098.1268
accession number
2006.0098
catalog number
2006.0098.1268

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