Agriculture - Overview
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.
"Agriculture - Overview" showing 8 items.
- No Image Available
Agriculture [series], 1786-1971
- Summary
- Primarily trade catalogs, printed advertisements, correspondence on letterhead stationery, price lists, bills, receipts, addresses, envelopes, advertising cards, reports, manuals, memorandum books, fair tickets, lithographs, photographs, almanacs, etc., from manufacturers and distributors of farming machinery and implements. Many agricultural tools and products are represented. Also includes material from agricultural societies, such as the American Agricultural Association and the Livestock Society of America, and from experiment stations, along with general publications and periodicals
- Cite as
- Agriculture, Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, box #, folder ##, digital file ###
- Date
- 1786
- 1971
- 1786-1971
- collector
- Warshaw, Isadore d. 1969
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980 (bulk 1919-1965)
- Notes
- Bickley was one of the more active inventors of twentieth century. While his main and most portable invention was an automatic bean sorter, his other inventions were numerous and wide in scope. Examples are: a photographic exposure meter; fly killing device; dance charts; nut-cracking device; and outdoor electric sign
- Summary
- Correspondence, patents, drawings, manuals, trade literature, and photographs, particularly rich in information on Bickley's sorting devices. World War II innovations, and other inventions such as an exposure meter, dance charts, fly-killing device, and an outdoor electric sign known as the Motograph
- Spans much of the twenthieth century and is of value to researchers interested in product development, the patent application process, product marketing and promotion, World War II innovation, and the daily operation of a small, privately owned industry. General correspondence, patents and patent correspondence, drawings, manuals, trade literature, and photographs; also, several artifacts designed by Bickley, including a photographic exposure meter (Fotimer), a prototype slide mount (Color Tight Slide Mount), dance chart, and even a clipboard (Deskette)
- Cite as
- The Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1919
- 1919-1980
- bulk 1919-1965
- 20th century
- 1930-1950
- creator
- Bickley, Everett H. 1888- 1972
- donor
- Beyer, Audrey Bickley
- Subject
- Bickley Manufacturing Company
- H. J. Heinz Company
- Local number
- 1999.3022 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Robinson and Via Family Papers, 1845-2001
- Notes
- The Robinson family acquired land and began raising tobacco in Prince George's County, Maryland, in 1843. The property consisted of over 170 acres by the end of the 19th century and included a dwelling, a tenant house and various outbuildings. While the principal crop remained tobacco, other grain crops were grown and sheep were raised. By the 1950s-1960s, the Robinson family was farming over 1,000 acres in Prince George's and Charles Counties, Maryland, through a combination of lease and direct ownership. The Via family acquired land and began raising tobacco and livestock in Prince George's Co., Maryland by 1949. The property consisted of thirty acres of owned property and included a dwelling and small outbuildings
- The Via family were also employed off the farm. By 1956 they had moved to Calvert Co., Maryland and were farming full-time on approximately 150 acres of owned property, raising tobacco, small grains and livestock. The Robinson family continues farming on approximately 300 acres of owned property in Benedict, Charles Co., Maryland. By 1993, the Via farm had been reduced to approximately five acres of owned property, and is no longer farmed
- Summary
- Farm records from the Robinson and Via Families of Southern Maryland, documenting family life, agricultural work, community involvement, and rural culture over a period of 150 years. Primarily correspondence, diaries, photographs, home movies, farm account books, and miscellaneous farming papers. Includes scrapbooks, funeral registers, cookbooks, architectural drawings, phonograph records, and postcard albums. 2009 addendum consists of approximately 1.6 cubic feet of papers including six scrapbooks, a music portfolio, two farm account books, a map, funeral memorabilia, and other miscellaneous papers. The 2011 addendum consists of approximately three fourths of one cubic foot of papers relating to the family and the farm, including correspondence, school papers, and diaries. The 2013 addendum consists of two volumes from a nursing school correspondence course
- Several documents are signed with an X
- 2009 addendum consists of six scrapbooks and one bound music folio, one farm account book, five memoranda books about the farm, a road map, funeral memorabilia, and loose papers relating to the operation of the farm
- Cite as
- Robinson and Via Family Papers, 1845-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Franklin A. Robinson, Jr
- Date
- 1845
- 1845-2001
- 1980-2000
- 20th century
- 20th Century
- 19th century
- 1930-1950
- donor
- Robinson, Franklin A. Jr (actor writer) 1959-
- Subject
- Robinson, Franklin A. Sr. 1932-
- Robinson, Franklin A. 1841-1905
- Robinson, Robert Henry 1851-1937
- Robinson, Robert David 1962-
- Robinson, Adina Theresa 1963-
- Robinson, Thomas Wells 1803-1869
- Robinson, Martha Walls 1807-1897
- Robinson, Frank A. 1883-1970
- Robinson, Amanda Baden 1849-1940
- Townshend, Martha Robinson 1880-1961
- Via, Adina Mae 1937-1966
- Via, Robert Delano 1933-
- Via, Robert Milton 1906-1983
- Via, Virginia Wood 1914-
- Howes, Grace Bourne ?-1976
- Robinson, Elizabeth Bourne 1892-1976
- Capital Transit Company Washington (D.C.)
- Serenity Farm, Inc
- Local number
- 1994.3003 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2009.3080 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2011.3082 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2012.3106 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2013.3024 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Page Tractor Company Papers, 1940-1979
- Notes
- Wisconsin-based tractor company. They also made snowmobiles, snow blowers and snow plows
- Summary
- Papers documenting Page Tractor Company and its parent company, Pioneer Manufacturing. The papers include customer inquiries and the responses to them, drawings and blueprints, invoices, trade literature, parts catalogs and price lists, and instruction manuals
- Cite as
- Page Tractor Company Papers, 1940-1979, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1940
- 1940-1979
- 20th century
- creator
- Page Tractor Company
- collector
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Pioneer Manufacturing Company
- Local number
- 2007.3103 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Fairs and exhibits (series), circa 1857-1961
- Summary
- Consists primarily of catalogs, brochures, programs, guides, correspondence, advertisements, advertising cards, tickets, postcards, invitations, and lithographs relating to fairs and exhibitions. Includes material from health, agricultural, industrial trades, international, city, state, and traveler's health fairs and exhibitions. The bulk of the material dates from the latter half of the 19th century
- Cite as
- Fairs and Exhibits series, Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, box ##, folder ###, digital file number ####
- Date
- 1857
- 1961
- circa 1857-1961
- collector
- Warshaw, Isadore d. 1969
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Bernis B. Brown Collection, 1878-1960
- Notes
- Brown was a dealer, salesmen and repairman of farm equipment, especially steam powered engines
- Summary
- The collection documents the history of farm machinery in America, especially steam-powered machines. The papers include Brown's correspondence with individuals and institutions regarding his research and his collection, notes and notebooks, reference books and history books on farm machines, clippings and articles, newsletters on farming subjects, catalogs of farming equipment, subject files, photographs, magazines, and a manuscript for a history Brown compiled on early American farm power
- Cite as
- Bernis B. Brown Collection, 1878-1960, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1878
- 1878-1960
- 20th century
- collector
- Brown, Bernis B. 1888-1960
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 2007.3119 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Exterminators and sprayers (series), 1896-1940
- Summary
- Consists primarily of articles, advertisements, correspondence, pamphlets, bulletins for farmers and health reports pertaining to exterminators and sprayers. The bulk of the material dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries
- Cite as
- Exterminators and Sprayers series, Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, box ##, folder ###, digital file number ####
- Date
- 1896
- 1940
- 1896-1940
- 1880-1940
- 1890-1900
- 1900-1950
- 1900-1960
- collector
- Warshaw, Isadore d. 1969
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Seed industry and trade (series), circa 1831-1981
- Summary
- Primarily illustrated catalogs, invoices and receipts, price lists, advertisements, advertising cards, almanacs, business cards, circulars, correspondence, lithographs, seed packages, pamphlets and guides from companies involved in the seed industry and trade, including seed growers, merchants, nurseries, auctioneers, importers and exporters. Includes a number of images, as well as monographs from the Luther Burbank Society, which discuss what the Society termed the "improvement of the human plant."
- Cite as
- Seed Industry and Trade series, Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, box ##, folder ###, digital file number ####
- Date
- 1831
- 1981
- circa 1831-1981
- collector
- Warshaw, Isadore d. 1969
- publisher
- Luther Burbank Society
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH