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USDA History Collection
Brief Description of Collection
Title: The USDA History Collection
Provenance: Agricultural and Rural History Section, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture
Extent: ca. 650 cubic feet
Repository: National Agricultural Library, Special Collections, Beltsville, Maryland
Location: For access to this collection, contact Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, 301-504-5876Administrative Information
Usage Restrictions
Materials created by agencies or employees of the United States government are in the public domain. Unless specified otherwise, the copyright interests in materials acquired or collected by government employees from outside sources have not been transferred to NAL or to the U.S. government.
Preferred Citation
[description of item, Series and Box/Folder number], USDA History Collection, Special Collections, National Agricultural Library.
Provenance
The USDA History Collection was transferred to the National Agricultural Library, Special Collections, from the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture in April 1996. Additional shipments of material were received in June, August, and October of 1997.
Processing Information
Processed by Alan H. Haeberle, Project Archivist; Matthew G. Brown, Heather M. Crocetto, Glenn R. Gray, and Rebecca A. Zeltinger, Graduate Assistants; with assistance of Christopher R. Miller, Graduate Assistant. Portions of the collection were processed by Mark Ames, Coralina Daly, Tom Eisinger, Scott Hertzberg, Thaddeus Krupo, Anne Meininger, Aaron Purcell, and Emma Wilmer, students in Dr. Bruce Dearstyne's course "Archival Principles, Practices, and Programs," LBSC 605, at the University of Maryland, College of Library and Information Services (link is external).
Historical Note
Agricultural History Section,
mid-1960s.
The materials in this collections were gathered over several decades by the staff of the Agricultural and Rural History Section (ARH) of the Economic Research Service (ERS). The ARH staff served as the official historians for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Historical work was carried out by various divisions in USDA over the years, principally by the Division of Statistical and Historical Research, which was part of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics (BAE) from its formation in 1922. When the BAE was abolished in 1953, the Division of Statistical and Historical Research was transferred to the Agricultural Marketing Service, 1953-1961. The Agricultural and Rural History Section (also called the Agricultural History Branch, or Agriculture and Rural History Branch) was established when the ERS was organized in 1961, and it inherited the Statistical and Historical Research files. The ARH was closed in 1994.
31 Items
Please note that full-text search is only available for items which have successfully had their text extracted. Due to the nature of the materials, many documents are not OCR-compatible.
- Collection: USDA History Collection
Extension Service Report title page
Description: Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work for 1910. Project and Annual report memoranda, Rice Demonstrations in 1909. Property of Office of Extension Work in the South, States Relations Service, United States Department of Agriculture, 1921. Title page…
Herbert Hoover message, USFA book
Description: Herbet Hoover, head of the USFA, wrote a special introduction to the book Food Saving and Sharing, published in 1918 by the United States Food Administration.
Date: 1918
IEFC meeting
Description: Cover of the USDA publication Consumers' Guide, with a report inside on the first meeting of the International Emergency Food Council (IEFC) in Washington D.C. The Council was organized to deal with the world food crisis after the end of World War…
Date: 1946-08
IEFC, p. 5, Consumers' Guide
Description: An illustration on page 5 of an issue of the USDA publication Consumers' Guide, with a report on the first meeting of the International Emergency Food Council (IEFC) in Washington D.C. The Council was organized to deal with the world food crisis…
IEFC, p.3, Consumers' Guide
Description: An illustration on page 3 of an issue of the USDA publication Consumers' Guide, with a report on the first meeting of the International Emergency Food Council (IEFC) in Washington D.C. The Council was organized to deal with the world food crisis…
Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep, p.40 Illustration
Description: Illustration on page 40 of Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep, by Major W. Shepherd, published in 1884. Caption reads "Lassoing on the Prairie."
Date: 1884
Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep, opening illustration
Description: Illustration opposite title page of Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep, by Major W. Shepherd, published in 1884. Caption reads "Interior of Ranch."
Date: 1884
Sir John Sinclair letter. USDA History Collection
Description: Letter of Sir John Sinclair, dated London, 8 December 1800. Found among the Thomas Jefferson material in the Class File (Series II). Letter makes reference to an unfulfilled request for specimens of limestone from the North of Scotland. Letter is…
Date: 1800-12-08
Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep, Title page
Description: Title page of Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep by Major W. Shepherd, published in 1884.Series XI, Personal Papers, Box 11/Starch 13, USDA History Collection, Special Collections, National Agricultural Library.
Date: 1848
Title page, USFA book
Description: Title page of the book Food Saving and Sharing, published in 1918 by the United States Food Administration. The full title adds "Telling How the Older Children in America May Help Save from Famine Their Comrades in Allied Lands Across the Sea."Series…
Date: 1918
Marshall letter, September 12, 1788
Description: George Pennock to Humphry Marshall, September 12, 1788. The letter is on one page of a sheet of paper, but the image is presented in two sections, showing the upper and lower portions of the page.
Date: 1788-09-12
Marshall's Arbustum
Description: The title page and dedication to Humphry Marshall's Arbustum Americanum: The American Grove, 1785, the first American imprint on native trees and shrubs. Marshall published Arbustum with the assistance of Samuel Vaughan, an English planter from…
Date: /sites/specialcollections.nal.usda.gov/files/images/arbustp.jpg, arbusded.jpg
Old Administration Bldg
Description: The old red brick Administration Building of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, erected in 1868 at a cost of $140,420, and torn down in 1930. Caption on back of photograph from USDA Office of Information Press Service, photo no. 328-C.
Charles F. Brannan
Description: Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, 1944-1948; Secretary of Agriculture, 1948-1953.