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
In its search to develop electric power through chemical reactions, Allis-Chalmers in 1951 began research on fuel cells. In October 1959 near West Allis, Wisconsin, this fuel cell tractor plowed a field of alfalfa with a double-bottom plow.
Description
In its search to develop electric power through chemical reactions, Allis-Chalmers in 1951 began research on fuel cells. In October 1959 near West Allis, Wisconsin, this fuel cell tractor plowed a field of alfalfa with a double-bottom plow. Fuel cells produce electrical power directly through a chemical reaction, without heat, smoke, or noise. Unlike standard batteries, fuel cells do not store energy but convert chemical energy to electric energy.
This tractor has 1,008 fuel cells joined in 112 units of 9 cells each arranged in four banks that produced power to run a standard Allis-Chalmers 20 horsepower dc motor. Using a fuel cell to produce power was not a new idea in the 1950s. Over a century earlier, Sir William Grove originated the idea of a fuel cell that would run on hydrogen and oxygen. Over the years inventors experimented with a number of fuels and configurations. The search for an efficient and economical fuel cell unit continues.
Location
Currently not on view (fuel cell)
date made
1959-10
maker
Allis-Chalmers Company
ID Number
AG.76A8
accession number
232284
catalog number
76A08
This miniature Huber Traction engine model is a working steam model built by Mr. Raymond T. Stout in 1962.
Description
This miniature Huber Traction engine model is a working steam model built by Mr. Raymond T. Stout in 1962. “Live” steam toys were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th century, model tractors and engines were considered children’s playthings, helping them learn engineering principles at an early age. This is a model of a 1901 Huber Traction engine, a steam-powered tractor that could be used to haul a load, or power machinery by attaching a belt to the engine’s flywheel.
date made
1950 - 1959
ID Number
AG.65A02
accession number
261334
catalog number
65A02
Labels are an important marketing device.
Description (Brief)
Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.
This Outboard brand apple crate label was used by the Chelan-Manson Co-operative Association Inc., of Chelan, Washington during the mid 1900s. The lithographed label has an illustration of a man wearing a life jacket driving a hydroplane named “Red Apple” over Lake Chelan, with the peak of Stormy Mountain rising in the background. The hills of the lake shore are lined with apple orchards. Fruit crate labels often depicted landscapes like this to evoke a sense of fresh, natural produce.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1949
1950s
referenced business
Chelan-Manson Cooperative Assn., Inc.
ID Number
1979.0441.052
accession number
1979.0441
catalog number
1979.0441.052
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date designed
1950
date produced
1951
designer
Kogan, Belle
maker
Red Wing Potteries, Inc.
ID Number
1993.0234.04
catalog number
1993.0234.04
accession number
1993.0234
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1953
maker
Feininger, Andreas
ID Number
1990.0160.012
accession number
1990.0160
catalog number
1990.0160.012
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1958
maker
Erwitt, Elliott
ID Number
PG.007542
accession number
252364
catalog number
7542
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1930s-1950s
maker
Keppler, Victor
ID Number
PG.006262.Y
accession number
238737
catalog number
6262Y
Life on America's farms in the 1920s and 1930s meant hard work and frugal habits. Farm families were used to "making do" with what they had, wasting nothing that could be recycled or reused.
Description
Life on America's farms in the 1920s and 1930s meant hard work and frugal habits. Farm families were used to "making do" with what they had, wasting nothing that could be recycled or reused. With feed sacks and flour bags, farmwomen took thriftiness to new heights of creativity, transforming the humble bags into dresses, underwear, towels, curtains, quilts, and other household necessities.
By the 1940s the bag manufacturers were turning out bags in bright colors and printed designs. It was felt that these designs and colors would boost sales, because the woman of the house would always select the brand with the most attractive fabric. During World War II, there was a shortage of cotton fabric for the civilian population, and the recycling of bags became a necessity, encouraged by the government.
After the war, the bags were not only a sign of domestic thrift; they also gave rural women a sense of fashion. National sewing contests were organized as a way for women to show off their skills, and manufacturers to show off their designs. Women frequently sold their surplus bags to others as a way of picking up cash to aid in running the home.
This dress was made by Mrs. G. R. (Dorothy) Overall of Caldwell, Kansas, in 1959 for the Cotton Bag Sewing Contest sponsored by the National Cotton Council and the Textile Bag Manufactureres Association. The dress is made of cotton bag fabric, with an overall design of white flowers on a brown (originally black) ground. The dress is lined with black organdy, and machine quilted with a synthetic silver sewing thread. Mrs. Overall was awarded 2nd place in the Mid-South section of the contest.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1959
maker
Overall, Mrs. Dorothy
ID Number
1992.0102.04
catalog number
1992.0102.04
accession number
1992.0102
This lithograph of a boy at work was designed in the late 1930s by the Mexican American artist Ramón Contreras (1919-1940). Mexican-born, he grew up in San Bernardino, a major agricultural town east of Los Angeles. His career was tragically short.
Description
This lithograph of a boy at work was designed in the late 1930s by the Mexican American artist Ramón Contreras (1919-1940). Mexican-born, he grew up in San Bernardino, a major agricultural town east of Los Angeles. His career was tragically short. Before he died of cancer at the age of 21, Contreras became the youngest artist ever invited to the Golden Gate International Exposition, and traveled to Mexico to meet the famed muralist Diego Rivera. Contreras came of age during the Great Depression (1930s), a period of economic crisis for all Americans and for people around the globe. Much of the art produced during these difficult years reflects a political and aesthetic vision–to document and ennoble the lives of ordinary working people. Here, Contreras presents us with an idealized image of a confident young man in motion. Identifiably Mexican with his serape draped over one shoulder, the boy drawn by Contreras triumphantly at the center of the frame is perhaps a fruit vendor. He is probably not a fruit picker–note the non-Californian bananas arrayed with other warm-weather fruits in his basket. This lithograph was printed in about 1950 by Lynton Kistler–it is one of the 2,700 prints by this prominent Los Angeles printer that are housed in the Graphic Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History.
Description (Spanish)
Esta litografía de un niño trabajando fue diseñada a fines de la década de 1930 por el artista mexicoamericano Ramón Contreras (1919-1940), quien nació en México, pero creció en San Bernardino, una de las ciudades más agrícolas al este de Los Ángeles. Su carrera fue extremadamente corta, ya que falleció trágicamente de cáncer a la edad de 21 años, luego de haber sido el artista más joven jamás invitado a la Exposición Internacional del Golden Gate, y de haber viajado a México para reunirse con el muralista Diego Rivera. Contreras creció durante la Gran Depresión (años '30), un período de crisis económica para todos los americanos e indudablemente para el mundo entero. Muchas de las obras de arte generadas durante estos años difíciles reflejan una visión política y estética–documentar y ennoblecer las vidas de la gente común trabajadora. Aquí Contreras nos presenta la imagen idealizada de un joven muy seguro de si mismo en acción. Este joven triunfante dibujado por Contreras en el centro del cuadro puede identificarse como mexicano por el sarape que lleva colgado del hombro, y posiblemente se trate de un vendedor de frutas. Es probable que no sea un recolector de frutas—pueden notarse en el canasto las bananas no californianas dispuestas junto a otras frutas de clima cálido. Esta litografía fue grabada aproximadamente en 1950 por Lynton Kistler—es uno de los 2.700 grabados de este prominente impresor de Los Ángeles perteneciente a la Colección de Artes Gráficas del Museo Nacional de Historia Americana.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1950
graphic artist
Kistler, Lynton R.
original artist
Contreras, Ramon
ID Number
1978.0650.1130
accession number
1978.0650
catalog number
1978.0650.1130
78.0650.1130

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.