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
This spur, worn over a riding boot, was made in Mexico in the mid-1800s. Rubbed against the animal's side, spurs are one of the instruments that riders use to direct horses. The spikes on this spur are set on a small wheel called a rowel, making this a rowel spur.
Description
This spur, worn over a riding boot, was made in Mexico in the mid-1800s. Rubbed against the animal's side, spurs are one of the instruments that riders use to direct horses. The spikes on this spur are set on a small wheel called a rowel, making this a rowel spur. Horses and good riding equipment, such as spurs, saddles, stirrups, and leather coverings, played a fundamental role in the European conquest, exploration, and settlement of wide areas of North America. Much of the technique and craftsmanship of riding culture that was found in the American West among both Native Americans and later U.S. settlers was introduced by the Spanish in Mexico within the first century of colonization (1500s). During this period, huge herds of cattle and sheep (both newly introduced species, like horses) flooded the dry grasslands of northern Mexico and were tended by men who would later be called vaqueros—cowboys. The ranching culture that they developed, as well as the ecological destruction that grazing produced, stretched from Texas to California. This economy of raising livestock on the open range was embraced by settlers coming overland from the American East along routes like the Santa Fe, Old Spanish, and Gila trails. To this day, ranching remains a vital economic and cultural force in both the American West and northern Mexico.
Description (Spanish)
Esta espuela, que se llevaba en la parte trasera de las botas de montar, fue fabricada en México a mediados del siglo XIX. Los jinetes dirigían al caballo rozando las espuelas contra el costado del animal. Las espigas de esta espuela sobresalen de una pequeña rueda llamada rodaja, la cual le da al nombre de espuela de rodaja. Los caballos y el buen equipo de montar, como las espuelas, la montura, los estribos y los revestimientos de cuero, desempeñaron un papel fundamental dentro de la conquista, exploración y asentamiento europeo en vastas extensiones de Norteamérica. Muchas de las técnicas y destrezas artesanales relacionadas con la cultura ecuestre que se observan en el oeste americano, tanto entre los americanos nativos como más tarde entre los colonos de Estados Unidos, fueron introducidas por los españoles a México durante el primer siglo de la colonización (S. XVI). A lo largo de este período, erraban por las pasturas secas del norte de México vastas manadas de vacunos y ovinos (especies recientemente introducidas, al igual que el caballo), al cuidado de hombres que luego se denominarían vaqueros. La cultura de hacienda que éstos desarrollaron, paralelamente a la destrucción ecológica que produjo el pastoreo, se extendió desde Texas hasta California. Esta economía sustentada en la ganadería a campo abierto fue adoptada por los colonizadores que llegaban por tierra desde el este por el Camino de Santa Fe, el Camino Español de Los Ángeles y el Camino del Diablo. Hasta el día de hoy, la ganadería continúa siendo de vital importancia económica y cultural tanto en el oeste americano como en norte de México.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1840 - 1860
ID Number
CL.004841
catalog number
4841
accession number
2007.0144
A poster advertising the boycott of wines made in Modesto, California along with any non United Farm Workers lettuce and grapes.Currently not on view
Description
A poster advertising the boycott of wines made in Modesto, California along with any non United Farm Workers lettuce and grapes.
Location
Currently not on view
associated person
Chavez, Cesar
associated institution
United Farm Workers
ID Number
PL.321648.29
catalog number
321648.29
accession number
321648
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
referenced
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
United Farm Workers
ID Number
PL.321807.19
accession number
1976.321807
catalog number
321807.20
A advertisement promoting the grape strike by the United Farm Workers.Currently not on view
Description
A advertisement promoting the grape strike by the United Farm Workers.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
August 1
Associated Name
United Farm Workers
maker
Allied Printing Trades Council
ID Number
PL.296849.25
catalog number
296849.25
accession number
296849
A poster with an image of Pancho Villa. Pancho Villa was a Mexican guerilla fighter in the early 20th century, considered a champion of the people and advocate for land rights. He is also associated with the Chicano worker struggle.Currently not on view
Description
A poster with an image of Pancho Villa. Pancho Villa was a Mexican guerilla fighter in the early 20th century, considered a champion of the people and advocate for land rights. He is also associated with the Chicano worker struggle.
Location
Currently not on view
associated person
Villa, Pancho
associated institution
United Farm Workers
ID Number
PL.296849.36
catalog number
296849.36
accession number
296849
Poster referring to a lettuce growers strike in Salinas Valley, California in 1970-1971.Currently not on view
Description
Poster referring to a lettuce growers strike in Salinas Valley, California in 1970-1971.
Location
Currently not on view
associated institution; direct
United Farm Workers
ID Number
PL.296849.31
catalog number
296849.31
accession number
296849
A poster with lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkle song, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" The poster states that Paul Simon will help spread the word about the cause of the Farm Workers.Currently not on view
Description
A poster with lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkle song, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" The poster states that Paul Simon will help spread the word about the cause of the Farm Workers.
Location
Currently not on view
quoted
Chavez, Cesar
Simon, Paul
affiliated union; direct
United Farm Workers
Associated Name
Simon, Paul
United Farm Workers
ID Number
PL.296849.33
catalog number
296849.33
accession number
296849
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1970 circa
direct
United Farm Workers
ID Number
PL.296849.28
catalog number
296849.28
accession number
296849
A 1988 poster asking for consumers to boycott grapes.Currently not on view
Description
A 1988 poster asking for consumers to boycott grapes.
Location
Currently not on view
Associated Name
AFL-CIO
United Farm Workers
ID Number
1988.0520.132
catalog number
1988.0520.132
accession number
1988.0520
referenced
Nixon, Richard M.
Associated Name
United Farm Workers
ID Number
1986.0666.127
accession number
1986.0666
catalog number
1986.0666.127
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
United Farm Workers
ID Number
1993.0448.21
catalog number
1993.0448.21
accession number
1993.0448
This is a curved metal knife used by Isaias Sanchez to cut palm fronds and dates from date trees. Isaias Sanchez used this knife in California when he was brought in from Mexico under a Federal temporary guest worker program commonly known as the Bracero Program.
Description
This is a curved metal knife used by Isaias Sanchez to cut palm fronds and dates from date trees. Isaias Sanchez used this knife in California when he was brought in from Mexico under a Federal temporary guest worker program commonly known as the Bracero Program. More then 2 million guest workers were brought in between 1942 and 1964 under this program. Workers were used mainly in agricultural fields, orchards, and cotton fields. U.S. growers wanted a source of cheap, efficient, and temporary labor. American farm workers and union officials were worried about loss of jobs, lower wages, poor working conditions, and lack of representation. Communities on both sides of the border experienced periods of economic prosperity as workers spent money or sent money home. This program had a direct impact on immigration and labor policy but more importantly on the formation of thriving Mexican American communities here in the U.S.
date made
ca 1963
ID Number
2007.0107.01
accession number
2007.0107
catalog number
2007.0107.01
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
A short Handled hoe, 1936 hoe. Original owner Librado Hernandez Chavez, (father of Cesar Estrada Chavez). The hoe has a metal blade welded to a metal neck and a wooden handle. The two are attached by a slot screw.
Description
A short Handled hoe, 1936 hoe. Original owner Librado Hernandez Chavez, (father of Cesar Estrada Chavez). The hoe has a metal blade welded to a metal neck and a wooden handle. The two are attached by a slot screw. The top edge of the blade is similar to the two curves at the top of a valentine hear. Blade recently sharpened.
The short-handled hoe brings back memories of back-breaking labor for generations of Mexican and Mexican American migrant workers who sustained California's booming agricultural economy. Since the late 1800s, its expansive fields of produce have relied on a cheap, mobile, and temporary workforce. The short-handled hoe required workers to bend painfully close to the ground to weed and thin crops. The state abolished the short-handled hoe in 1975, ruling it an occupational hazard after a seven-year legal battle. During this period of political mobilization, the predicament of the migrant farm worker became emblematic of the limited opportunities and the cycle of poverty that trapped many Mexican Americans. In 1966, when Mexican and Filipino American farm workers were brought together under the banner of the United Farm Workers of America, the struggle for labor rights was understood by its supporters as part of the much larger civil rights movement. It was not just important for Mexican Americans but also other low-paid workers. The hoe pictured here belonged to Librado Hernandez Chavez, father of civil rights leader and farm worker organizer, Cesar Estrada Chavez.
Description (Spanish)
La azada de mango corto es un recordatorio de aquellas épocas en que generaciones de trabajadores migratorios mexicanos y mexicoamericanos se quebraban las espaldas en las labores que sustentaron la floreciente economía agrícola de California. Desde fines del 1800, las extensiones de campos de producción agrícola crecían respaldadas en la mano de obra barata, móvil y temporaria. La azada de mango corto exigía que los trabajadores se agacharan penosamente cerca del suelo para poder desbrozar y entresacar los cultivos. El estado abolió la azada de mango corto en 1975, decretándola como elemento de riesgo laboral luego de una batalla que se prolongó siete años. Durante esta época de movilización política, el predicamento del trabajador agrícola se convirtió en un emblema de la limitación de oportunidades y el ciclo de pobreza en el que muchos mexicoamericanos se hallaban atrapados. En 1966, cuando los trabajadores del campo, mexicoamericanos y filipinoamericanos, se unieron bajo la bandera del Sindicato de Trabajadores Agrícolas de América (UFW, por sus siglas en inglés) , la lucha por los derechos laborales fue comprendida por sus partidarios como parte del movimiento más amplio por los derechos civiles. No sólo era importante para los mexicoamericanos, sino también para otros trabajadores mal pagos. La azada que aquí se ilustra pertenecía a Librado Hernández Chávez, padre del líder de los derechos civiles y organizador de los trabajadores agrícolas, César Estrada Chávez.
Date made
1936
user
Chavez, Librado Hernandes
Chavez, Cesar Estrada
ID Number
1998.0197.01
accession number
1998.0197
catalog number
1998.0197.01

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.