Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Agriculture

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Agriculture
Creators:
Warshaw, Isadore, 1900-1969
Dates:
1786-1971
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
9.93 Cubic feet
consisting of 21 boxes, 9 folders, 12 oversize folders, 3 map case folders, plus digital images of some collection material.
Repository:
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Agriculture forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana

Scope and Contents note

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.

Administration

Author
Vanessa Broussard-Simmons and Nicole Blechynden
Sponsor
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
Agriculture is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.

Digital Content

More …

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation note
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Agriculture, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Conditions Governing Access note
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Conditions Governing Use note
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.

Materials in the Archives Center

Materials in the Archives Center
Archives Center Collection of Business Americana (AC0404)

Forms Part Of


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Agriculture Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Business ephemera Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Business Number: Phone: 202-633-3270
Fax Number: Fax: 202-786-2453
archivescenter@si.edu