Scope and Contents note
This material consists primarily of trade catalogues, printed advertisements, scattered correspondence on letterhead stationery, price lists, bills/receipts, addresses, envelopes, advertising cards, reports, manuals and memorandum books, fair tickets, lithographs, photographs, calendars, descriptive circulars, photographic postcards, handbills, leaflets, receipt/credit books, price lists, almanacs, sales contracts, product manuals, periodicals and order forms from manufacturers and dealers of agricultural implements necessary for the management of the farm.
The different types of products include ploughs, fertilizers, harrows, seed sowers, scythes, elevators binders, hay rakes, mowers, sickle hooks, reaping hooks, reapers, corn shellers, rotary spades, seed-saws, sickle hooks, reap[ing hooks, reapers, corn shellers, rotary spades, pumps and scrapers. Many of the companies sold other products such as hydraulic cement, cedar & willow ware, brooms, brushes, flower pots, plant trellises, leather belting, sleighs, sleds, lumber, woodenware, doors, blinds, sashes, blinds, salt, lime.
There are numerous illustrations throughout this collection. A number of these images are of agricultural implements. Such tools are primarily in trade catalogues and include descriptions of type, function, dimensions and price. Agricultural implements are also included among the engravings illustrating farm tools used in 1790. Other images include people working in the field and factory scenes. There are numerous images of children particularly on advertising cards and calendars from some of the manufacturers and dealers.
A substantial amount of material from experimental stations can also be found among the materials. Such materials consist of notices and correspondence from experimental stations located in New Brunswick (New Jersey), Orono (Maine), Wooster (Ohio), Geneva (New York), Amherst (Massachusetts), Ithaca (New York), Indianapolis (Indiana) and Corvallis (Oregon).
Researchers interested in materials from agricultural societies, organizations and associations will also find information in this collection. Such organizations include the American Agricultural Association, Livestock Society of America, United States Agricultural Society and smaller groups formed on the state level. Most of the information is related to annual fairs.
Publications pertaining to agriculture are in a variety of articles, pamphlets, reports, bulletins, periodicals and journals. Discussions on farming in the United States as well as other countries are among the publications. Mr. Warshaw collected seventy-seven articles from a publication titled The Story of Farming which examines issues such as "Inspection of Cattle on an Egyptian Farm", "Early Farmers in Europe", "A Medieval Farmyard." "In a New England Farming District," "Farming in the French Aids", "Plowing in Portugal", and "Machinery on a Russian Farm." Unfortunately there are no dates on any of the articles.
Agricultural journals and periodicals that were published in different sizes during their existence are among these materials and can also be found in another section of the Warshaw Collection. The American Agriculturist, Wisconsin Agriculturist an Farmer and the Cultivator and Country Gentlemen are also stored in flat oversize boxes due to their size.
Manufacturers and distributors of farming implements are in boxes one through fifteen and are arranged in alphabetical order by name of company. Patents, general images, import/export documents and legal documents are also in box fifteen. Box sixteen through twenty-one contains related publications and are organized by type and then alphabetically by name of publication.