Agriculture

John Deere Model D Tractor

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
Date: 1900s

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1902
ID Number
NU.69.127.816
catalog number
69.127.816
accession number
286471

Goat pulling cart of kids

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1983.0376.0035
catalog number
1983.0376.035
accession number
1983.0376

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1903
ID Number
NU.68.263.753
catalog number
68.263.753
accession number
281689

Woman milking cow

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.0707
catalog number
1986.3048.0707
nonaccession number
1986.3048

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1900
ID Number
NU.68.263.1194
catalog number
68.263.1194
accession number
281689

Prize: Exposition Commemorating 50th Jubilee of Horticultural Society

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1908
ID Number
NU.69.127.427
catalog number
69.127.427
accession number
286471

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1907
ID Number
NU.69.127.829
catalog number
69.127.829
accession number
286471

woman with oranges

real photo postcard; publisher - W.J. Harris; papermaker - CykoWoman in light colored dress holding oranges, seated below tree with oranges, basket of oranges in her lap, crate of oranges in backgroundreal photo postcard; publisher - W.J.
Description (Brief)
real photo postcard; publisher - W.J. Harris; papermaker - Cyko
Woman in light colored dress holding oranges, seated below tree with oranges, basket of oranges in her lap, crate of oranges in background
real photo postcard; publisher - W.J. Harris; papermaker - Cyko
Woman in light colored dress holding oranges, seated below tree with oranges, basket of oranges in her lap, crate of oranges in background
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
maker
Harris Brothers Co.
ID Number
1986.3048.1883
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1883

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1900
ID Number
NU.68.263.1371
catalog number
68.263.1371
accession number
281689

Feeding Time

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1909
ID Number
1986.3048.1860
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1860

Prize Medal from Novo Uzienski, Russia, 1901

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1901
ID Number
NU.NU61827.1
catalog number
NU61827
accession number
210914

saddle, stock

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
c. 1900
user
Gilpin, William
ID Number
CL.309003.01
catalog number
309003.1
309003.01
accession number
309003

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1902?
ID Number
NU.68.263.1383
catalog number
68.263.1383
accession number
281689

Prize: Exposition at Novousiensk of Agriculture

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1901
ID Number
NU.69.127.449
catalog number
69.127.449
accession number
286471

Honoring Wachter by Society for Horse Races in St. Petersburg

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
n.d.
associated date
1900
ID Number
NU.69.127.692
catalog number
69.127.692
accession number
286471

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1907
ID Number
NU.69.127.1056
catalog number
69.127.1056
accession number
286471

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1903
ID Number
NU.68.263.1243
catalog number
68.263.1243
accession number
281689

Hart Parr #3 Tractor

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr developed a two-cylinder gasoline engine and set up their business in Charles City, Iowa.
Description
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr developed a two-cylinder gasoline engine and set up their business in Charles City, Iowa. In 1903 the firm built fifteen tractors (a term coined by Hart and Parr), and the 14,000 pound #3 is the oldest surviving internal combustion engine tractor in the United States. The two-cylinder engine has a unique hit-and-miss firing cycle that produced 30 horsepower at the belt and 18 at the drawbar.
The tractor worked on the George Mitchell farm near Charles City for twenty-three years. Realizing the historic importance of Hart-Parr #3, the Oliver Tractor Corporation (which had absorbed Hart-Parr) purchased the tractor and used it to demonstrate the quality of the firm's products. In 1960, Oliver made a gift of #3 to the Smithsonian.
When it arrived at the National Museum of American History, it was painted solid black and did not have a canopy. Despite its unauthentic appearance, it remained on exhibit for years. In 2003 the Smithsonian agreed to a restoration plan, and a team from Greenville, Illinois, composed of Oliver and Sherry Schaeffer, John W. Tichenor, Doug Strawser, and Todd Stockwell restored #3 to its original color and fabricated a new canopy. The Smithsonian's Larry Jones coordinated the work. Restoration was funded by the Hart-Parr/Oliver Collectors Association.
The restoration project was fully documented both by photographs and by a journal kept by John W. Tichenor. When #3 appeared at the I & I Antique Tractor festival in Penfield, Ill., in 2003, oral history interviews were done with members of the Mitchell family, the Hart family, and the key people who did the restoration work.
Location
Currently on loan
Date made
1903
company co-owner
Hart, Charles W.
Parr, Charles H.
user
Mitchell, George
maker
Hart Parr Tractor Company
Wrang Tang Liniment Co.
ID Number
AG.60A04
catalog number
60A04
F001212
accession number
230442

New England Mill

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

blade, hoe

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th century
ID Number
1990.0605.80
catalog number
1990.0605.80
accession number
1990.0605

medal

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1905
ID Number
NU.69.127.1033
catalog number
69.127.1033
accession number
286471

Women and kids posing with traction engine

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1908
Associated Date
1908-08-07
1908-08-06
ID Number
2018.0166.0094
accession number
2018.0166
catalog number
2018.0166.0094

Prize: Society for Agriculture in Honor of N.J. Shikhmanov

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1903
ID Number
NU.69.127.121
catalog number
69.127.121
accession number
286471

Lummus 80-Saw Cotton Gin

This steam-powered cotton gin, usually called a ginstand, was produced by F. H. Lummus and Sons of Columbus, Georgia. It employed a system of 80 twelve-inch saws, a pneumatic elevator, and a single-cylinder feeder.
Description
This steam-powered cotton gin, usually called a ginstand, was produced by F. H. Lummus and Sons of Columbus, Georgia. It employed a system of 80 twelve-inch saws, a pneumatic elevator, and a single-cylinder feeder. It also used a single-stand condenser, which collected the lint (cotton) as it came out of a flue and discharged it in mat form. The mat of cotton lint was then put into a compress. This machine was manufactured around 1900.
The Lummus gin and compress could produce one and a half bales of cotton every hour, or as many as 15 bales in a twelve-hour workday. Steam whistles signaled the beginning of a new day of ginning.
Much information about the construction of the shed that housed the gin has been lost, but it may date to the 1880s. When land development threatened the structure, the owner contacted the Smithsonian about the 80-saw ginstand. Lummus Industries restored the gin.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
F. H. Lummus Sons Co
ID Number
1990.0344.01
catalog number
1990.0344.01
accession number
1990.0344

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