This shipping crate side contained Swift’s Premium Corned Beef that was packed and distributed by Swift & Company during the early 20th century. The crate contained two dozen tins of corned beef. Swift and Company was founded by Gustavus Franklin Swift, and was incorporated in 1885. Swift and Company was part of the large meatpacking industry in Chicago that used refrigerated cars to ship their meat all across the country.
This jacket was worn by Mary Louise Reynnells as the Pacific High School FFA chapter sweetheart in San Bernadino, California in 1977. Prior to 1969, the Future Farmers of America excluded females from membership, and being a chapter sweetheart was the only way for women to be involved. After membership was opened to all, chapter sweetheart was an honorary title elected by the chapter who wore a special white jacket when she served as chapter hostess for visitors or at events. The white jacket has the seal of the FFA on the left breast with a small yellow patch underneath that reads “Chapter Sweetheart.” The right breast is embroidered "Louise Rogers / 1977 / Pacific / San Bernardino" in blue script. In 1978 Reynells was elected chapter president, and received the Bank of America Achievement award in Agriculture.
The FFA was founded in 1928 to engage youngsters with agriculture and prepare young farmers for the future challenges of farming. In 1933 the band from the Fredericktown chapter of the FFA wore the blue corduroy jacket to the sixth annual convention, where the delegates became so enamoured with the jacket that it was adopted by the organization as its official dress.
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.
This El Camino Junior High School, Santa Maria, CA sweatshirt (hoodie) was used by agricultural worker Monica Camacho Ramirez.
Monica Camacho Ramirez was born in La Piedad, Michoacán, Mexico on February 3, 1994. Her mother, Martha Ramirez, was an agricultural worker. Monica migrated to the United States when she was six years old and settled in La Puente, California. She attended Santa Maria High School in Santa Maria, California. She began working as a farm worker when she was 17 years old picking strawberries to help her mother with medical bills and later used her money to pay for her DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). She describes the hardships of working in the fields picking strawberries, pumpkins, chilies, tomatoes and weed-picking. She mentions working with fellow high school girl friends who formed a crew. She states that she and her friends opted for fieldwork because it was accessible to people with or without legal documentation and for teenagers seeking to secure a full-time summer employment. She describes a regular workday to be eight to twelve hours, six to seven days of the week, and mentions people younger than 15 years old working in the fields. Interestingly, workers were forbidden from eating the crops they picked because of the chemicals used posed a danger to their health. Monica talks about saving her money to help her mother in case of a family emergency, to pay for her DACA, and to finance for her first car. She spends details the process of filing her DACA application. After receiving the DACA Monica started to work at the retail store where she states the wages were significantly lower but not as physically demanding than the fields.
In agriculture, girls still work long hours around dangerous chemicals and are unprotected by child labor laws. These are not small family farms—this is agribusiness.
Federal laws passed in 1938 helped protect children under 16. But agriculture was exempt from this legislation, allowing children to continue working in fields across America.
Monica Camacho wore protective clothing to shield her from chemicals used in the field.
"It was just super hot because we had to wear . . . protective clothes like sweaters so the chemicals or the sun doesn't hit you." —Monica Camacho, 2018
In agriculture, girls still work long hours around dangerous chemicals and are unprotected by child labor laws. These are not small family farms—this is agribusiness.
Federal laws passed in 1938 helped protect children under 16. But agriculture was exempt from this legislation, allowing children to continue working in fields across America.
Monica Camacho wore protective clothing to shield her from chemicals used in the field.
"It was just super hot because we had to wear . . . protective clothes like sweaters so the chemicals or the sun doesn't hit you." —Monica Camacho, 2018
This model accompanied the patent application for William N. Whiteley’s improvement in harvesters that received patent number 197,192 on November 13, 1877. The combined reaper and mower had a single large wheel with a driver’s seat to steer the horses and manipulate the mower, reaper, or rake attachments This harvester model was manufactured under the brand name “Champion.” The Champion was sold by a variety of company’s across the country from its home in Springfield, Ohio which is still known as the “Champion City.”
A reaper is a machine for harvesting grain crops, especially wheat. Drawn by horses (or a tractor), a reaper uses a large blade to cut wheat stalks. Early reapers required farmers to rake wheat off the machine by hand. On self-raking models, automatic rakes pushed the wheat across a platform and deposited it on the ground in bunches. Workers followed the reaper, gathering and tying bundles of wheat, called “sheaves.” They stacked the sheaves into piles, called “stooks,” for protection from wind and rain. Later, workers threshed and winnowed the wheat to remove edible grains from the inedible chaff.
Migrant farm workers had to use the short-handled hoe or el cortito for thinning and weeding. Because it required them to stoop during long hours in the fields, the hoe became a symbol of the exploitive working conditions. Campaigns by the United Farm Workers and others helped outlaw use of the hoe in 1975.
American agriculture’s dependence on Mexican labor has always been a source of great conflict and great opportunity for field workers and the agriculture industry. In the U.S., agricultural labor was overwhelmingly Mexican and Mexican American. Issues of legal status, workers rights, and use of domestic workers are issues the unions, agricultural producers, and the federal government have been struggling with since the 1920’s.