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
1898
publisher
Underwood & Underwood Illustration Studios
maker
Strohmeyer & Wyman
ID Number
2006.0142.21
accession number
2006.0142
catalog number
2006.0142.21
Press print; portrait of a teenage boy wearing button down shirt, tie and corduroy jacket with his name on it (partially visible) and Tate President partially visible; Booth, from Oklahoma, won Star Farmer in 1943, Future Farmers of AmericaCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; portrait of a teenage boy wearing button down shirt, tie and corduroy jacket with his name on it (partially visible) and Tate President partially visible; Booth, from Oklahoma, won Star Farmer in 1943, Future Farmers of America
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943
maker
Associated Press
ID Number
2013.0327.0809
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0809
This is an album of 45 studio photographs of Louden Machinery Company equipment. It was most likely used by salesmen.William Louden was born in 1841 in Cassville, Pa but his parents had moved to Iowa before he turned a year old.
Description
This is an album of 45 studio photographs of Louden Machinery Company equipment. It was most likely used by salesmen.
William Louden was born in 1841 in Cassville, Pa but his parents had moved to Iowa before he turned a year old. Louden had a small build and was often sick as a child, which made it harder for him to complete his farm chores. He learned at an early age he would have to change the tools he used since he could not change his physique to be better suited for farm work of that era. In 1867, he had applied for his first two patents, one was a device used to lift and stack hay and the other was used to carry hay into the barn. While not an instantaneous success, his device allowed barn architecture to dramatically change from single to two-level structures, therefore doubling the usable space.
Louden started his first agricultural business in 1868, working out of space on his father-in-law’s farm. In 1870, he moved his operation into Fairfield, IA. He struggled the first few years and in 1877, he was forced to file for bankruptcy. Undeterred, he spent the next 7 years traveling to farms in the area, installing his equipment and developing a consumer base for his products. In 1887, he founded Louden Machinery Company and in 1892, he incorporated, naming his brother as President and himself as Vice-President in order to focus more on the invention and production side of the business. Over the next 40 years, Louden Machinery Company would apply for approximately 200 patents for various inventions and improvements, including the all steel cow stall, individual automatic drinking cup and the flexible barn door hanger. One of his most important inventions that would eventually over-shadow the agricultural side of the business was the supertrack overhead carrier. Manufacturing businesses quickly realized the potential for this product, and Louden quickly amended his design to better suit industrial needs. Even though Louden Machinery Company no longer exists and the agriculture line had been discontinued in the 1960s, the current owner still manufactures this overhead equipment under the Louden name.
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AG.75A09.04
catalog number
75A09.03
accession number
1987.0226
photographed by Samuel Leonard Stein; studio portrait of six women posed and dressed to appear as if returning from the fields; woman at left is carrying a basket, woman second from right is holding a rakeCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
photographed by Samuel Leonard Stein; studio portrait of six women posed and dressed to appear as if returning from the fields; woman at left is carrying a basket, woman second from right is holding a rake
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1892
maker
Stein, Samuel Leonard
ID Number
PG.000246
accession number
25318
catalog number
246
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1894
maker
Annan, James Craig
ID Number
PG.001701
catalog number
1701
accession number
55701
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Job, Charles
ID Number
PG.003590
accession number
69050
catalog number
3590
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Job, Charles
ID Number
PG.003588
accession number
69050
catalog number
3588
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943
maker
Associated Press
ID Number
2013.0327.0814
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0814
date made
1946
referenced
United States Department of Agriculture
maker
Anonymous
ID Number
2013.0327.1161
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.1161
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2017.0281.0125
accession number
2017.0281
catalog number
2017.0281.0125
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1946
ID Number
2013.0327.0898
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0898
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0062
catalog number
2017.0306.0062
accession number
2017.0306
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
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Littleton View Co.
ID Number
2006.0142.12
accession number
2006.0142
catalog number
2006.0142.12
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1937
Associated Date
1937
maker
Fassbender, Adolf
ID Number
2013.0327.0031
catalog number
2013.0327.0031
accession number
2013.0327
New England Mill, c. 1905 by anonymous, gelatin silver print.Currently not on view
Description
New England Mill, c. 1905 by anonymous, gelatin silver print.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1905
Associated Date
1905
maker
Anonymous
ID Number
2013.0327.0018
catalog number
2013.0327.0018
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0110
accession number
2017.0306
catalog number
2017.0306.0110
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2017.0281.0126
accession number
2017.0281
catalog number
2017.0281.0126
Photograph: An agent from the Texas growers association selects braceros for distribution among his association members in Hidalgo, Texas.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: An agent from the Texas growers association selects braceros for distribution among his association members in Hidalgo, Texas.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.14.14
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.14.14
Photograph: A bracero places heads of lettuce in a Toro lettuce box in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: A bracero places heads of lettuce in a Toro lettuce box in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.34.15
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.34.15
Photograph: A vendor offers a liquid to the braceros who stand around him at a camp in the Salinas Valley, California.
Description
Photograph: A vendor offers a liquid to the braceros who stand around him at a camp in the Salinas Valley, California.
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.24.34
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.24.34
Photograph: A bracero family sits in their home in San Mateo, Mexico.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: A bracero family sits in their home in San Mateo, Mexico.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.08.01
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.08.01
Photograph: Standing on a truck, a bracero leans against a stack of Toro lettuce boxes in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: Standing on a truck, a bracero leans against a stack of Toro lettuce boxes in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.40.25
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.40.25
Photograph: Standing on a truck, a bracero leans against a stack of Toro lettuce boxes in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph: Standing on a truck, a bracero leans against a stack of Toro lettuce boxes in a field in the Salinas Valley, California.
Location
Currently not on view
date photographed
1956
photographer
Nadel, Leonard
ID Number
2004.0138.40.22
accession number
2004.0138
catalog number
2004.0138.40.22

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