Project Profile
Project Number: 5501482-12 PI: Ingram/Mook
Sponsor: Comell University
CFDA#
Contract #
Title: Preserving the History of U.S. Agriculture and Rural Life-Phase 2
Start Date: 07/01/1998 End Date: 12/31/00
Award Amount: $60,339.00
Cost Share:
HUMANITIES
DIVISION OF PRESERVATION AND ACCESS
APPLICATION COVER SHEET
OMB No. 3136-0134
r: i- ,,,,
Sinoividual applicant or project director
a. Name and mailing address:
Demas Samuel G
(last) (first) (initial)
Albert R. Mann Library
(street)
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
(city) (state) (zip code)
b. Form of address: Mr.
c. Telephone numbers
Office: 607 / 255-6919 Home: 607 /277-5479
(area code) (area code)
FAX: 607 /255-0318 E-Mail: sgdl@cornell.edu
(area code)
d. Major field of applicant or project director: H3
(code)
e. Citizenship: U.S.
i Other:
SType of applicant
a. O by an individual b. M through an organ./institution
If a, indicate an institutional affiliation, if applicable, on line 11a.
If b, complete block 11. below and indicate here:
c. Type research library
d. Statusunit of state government
0 Type of application
a. [ new b. F supplement
If b, indicate previous grant number
j Program to which application is being made
Division of Preservation and Access
- Requested grant period
From: July 1998 To: June 2000
SrProject running
a. Outright funds
b. Federal match
c. Total from NEH
d. Cost sharing
$ 995,362
$ 0
$ 995,362
S 98,443
,1 nOQ3 n0
(country) (specify monthyear) It. I total project costs .J ,"".
Field of project W Descriptive title of project
H3 Preserving the History of U.S. Agriculture and Rural Life--
(code) Phase 2
&A Description of project (do not exceed space provided)
Cell University, on behalfof the United States Agriculture Information Network (USAIN), and in cooperation with ten other land
grant university libraries, seeks $995,363 in supportfrom the National Endowment for the Humanities for a two-year, phase 2 project to
continue a program to preserve the most significant published materials on the history of state and local agriculture and rural life. The
project wil utilize a model developed for the National Preservation Program for Agricultural Literature which partners scholars and
librarians to identify and preserve the most significant agricultural literature of a state. The plan for administration, coordination and
management is based on established models for cooperative preservation projects used by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
and the Research Libraries Group Great Collection projects.
During phase 2, preservation of materials selected in California, Florida, Nebraska, and Texas will be completed. In addition, the
preservation of the history of American agriculture will be extended by the identification and selection of materials in Arizona, Arkansas,
Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, and Montana. Funds are also requested to permit the preservation of selected materials in Hawaii and
Montana.
Funding is requested to preserve the top 25% of titles judged important for humanities research as selected by scholars. This 25%, in
combination with the 1 l-20% of the relevant literature previously preserved in most states, will result in preservation of approximately
35-45% of the relevant historical record in each state.
SWill this proposal be submitted to another government agency or private entity for funding? (If yes, indicate where and when):
NO
SInstitutional data
a. Institution or organization: d. Name and mailing address of institutional grant administrator:
Cornell liniversityvname, Henderson-Harr Amy
Ithaca NY (last) (irs) (.fntal)
(cty) (state) 120 Day Hall, Cornell University
b. Employer identification number: 15-6002250-A1lha
Ithaca NY 14853
c. Name of authorizing official: (city) (state) (zip code)
Lowe Jack W Telephone: 607 /255-5014 Form of address: MS.
(last) (first) (initial)
(area code)
Director of Sponsored Programs FAX: 6,7 /255-5058 E-Mail: ah30@cornell.edu
(title) (area code)
a Certification. By signing and submitting this application, the individual or the authorizing official of the applicant institution (block 11c) is providing the
pplicable certifications regarding the nondiscrimination statutes and implementing regulations, federal debt status, debarment and suspension, a drug-free
workplace, and lobbying activities as set forth in the appendix to these guidelines.
/ I
(printed name) (signature) (date)
NOTE: Federal law provides criminal penalties of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both for knowingly providing false information to an agency of the U.S. government. 18U.S.C. Section 1001.
For NEH use only
Date received
Application #
_ Lx~res: tJJ1197
~
Il___ii__l ___li___~ _____i__li___L__
Initials
CORNELL
U N I V E R S I T Y
Albert R. Mann Library New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Ithaca, New York 14853-4301 New York State College of Human Ecology
8 July 1997
Dear USAIN/NEH Phase 2 Project Participants:
Enclosed is a copy of the Phase 2 USAIN grant proposal to the National Endowment for the
Humanities (NEH) "Preserving the History of U.S. Agriculture and Rural Life -- State and Local
Literature, 1820-1945". Carolyn's work in coordinating the proposal writing was excellent and the
process went smoothly. Thanks to all of you for your work on the proposal.
I think you will enjoy reading through this proposal. Each state compiled an excellent statement on
the history of its agriculture and rural life and made a strong case for the importance of the
preservation of the literature. Altogether, your work on the narratives, the budgets, setting up the
scholarly review panels, and demonstrating your state's capability to carry out the work makes this
a most compelling cooperative proposal.
The proposal was submitted to NEH June 27, 1997. We will hear from NEH about the success of
our proposal next Spring, probably in April or May 1998. If the Phase 2 project is funded work
will begin in July 1998 with a Project Managers meeting at ALA in Washington, D.C.
We believe our chances of funding are very good. In anticipation of possible funding, it would be
advisable for those states which will be compiling their bibliographies as part of the project to
begin planning how they will approach the work. Representatives of nearly all the states were able
to attend the Project Managers meeting at ALA in San Francisco and as a result have a pretty good
idea what will be involved. Re-reading the methodological article in Library Resources and
Technical Services [37(4): 434-443] might be useful in thinking through what will be required of
you. Calling me, Wally, or a colleague at another participating institution might also prove helpful.
Later in the year we will send all new participants a copy of one or more completed bibliographies
for your perusal.
Again, thank you for your work on the proposal. If we are successful 30% of the states will be
involved in this noble effort. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
j^---^
Samuel Demas
Project Director
P.S. I have only sent one letter and one copy of the proposal to each participating institution.
Please route/copy as appropriate for communications within your institution, keeping in mind that
such proposals contain confidential budgetary information (e.g. salaries) and should be handled
appropriately.
Enc.
SD
cc: Wally Olsen
Carolyn Clark Morrow
USAIN National Preservation Program Steering Committee
PRESERVING THE HISTORY
OF UNITED STATES AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LIFE :
STATE AND LOCAL LITERATURE, 1820 1945
PHASE 2
A proposal submitted to the
National Endowment for the Humanities,
Division of Preservation and Access
on behalf of the
United States Agricultural Information Network
and
the University of Arizona,
the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
the University of California-Berkeley,
the University of Florida,
the University of Hawai'i-Manoa,
Iowa State University,
the University of Minnesota,
Montana State University-Bozeman
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
and Texas A&M University,
Submitted by the Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University
July 1997
BUDGET NOTE
Indirect cost recovery rates and contributed costs:
As noted in the body of the proposal, participating libraries have agreed to engage in the proposed
preservation activities without recovery of their allowable indirect costs. The indirect costs on
preservation activity waived by the participants totals $224,416. These commitments will not appear in
the budget as "Cost Sharing" and are not included in total project cost, per the pre-existing arrangement
with NEH on cooperative projects.
In addition, Cornell is contributing $39,188 in costs for project administration, and four participants
(Florida, Minnesota, Nebraska and Texas) have made In-kind contributions totaling $59,255 in addition
to waiving indirect cost recovery. These two categories of contributed costs do show up in the project
budget and are included in the total project cost. These commitments, combined with the waived indirect
costs, total $322,859 in cost sharing. Indirect costs waived and other cost shares are outlined in Appendix
H.
As project sponsor Cornell University requests recovery of indirect costs for project administration.
Indirect costs on project administration do appear in the project budget and are included in the total
project cost.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Application Cover Sheet
Budget Note
Budget Tables
1. Precis 1
2. Significance of the Materials and Need for Preservation and Access 2
3. A National Preservation Program for the History of Agriculture 7
and Rural Life
3.1 The Land Grant University Mission 8
3.2 A National Preservation Plan for Agriculture 9
3.3 Preserving State and Local Agriculture and Rural Life Literature 13
4. Plan of Work and Project Goals 15
4.1 Project Goals and Objectives 16
4.2 Project Administration 16
4.2.1 Project Coordination 18
4.2.2 Project Management 18
4.2.3 Project Financial Administration 20
4.2.4 Project Timetable 21
4.3 Bibliographic Analysis and Selection for Preservation 24
4.3.1 Defining the Scope of the Literature 25
4.3.2 Compilation of the Bibliography for each State 26
4.3.3 Scholarly Evaluation and Ranking 27
4.3.4 Priority Selection for Preservation 28
4.4 Procedures and Standards 29
4.4.1 Searching and Identification 30
4.4.2 Physical Preparation 30
4.4.3 Bibliographic Control and Record Distribution 31
4.4.4 Microfilming and Quality Assurance 31
4.4.5 Access to Preserved Materials 32
4.4.6 Storage of Master Negative Microfilms 32
5 Preservation Profiles and Project Staff 33
5.1 Arizona and the University of Arizona 34
5.2 Arkansas and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 36
5.3 California and the University of California-Berkeley 39
5.4 Florida and the University of Florida 41
5.5 Hawai'i and the University of Hawaii at Manoa 44
5.6 Iowa and Iowa State University 46
5.7 Minnesota and the University of Minnesota 49
5.8 Montana and Montana State University-Bozeman 51
5.9 Nebraska and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 53
5.10 Texas and Texas A&M University 55
6. Descriptions of the Collections 59
6.1 Arizona 60
6.2 Arkansas 64
6.3 California 67
6.4 Florida 70
6.5 Hawaii 73
6.6 Iowa 77
6.7 Minnesota 79
6.8 Montana 83
6.9 Nebraska 87
6.10 Texas 90
7. Budget Narrative 93
List of Tables
Table 1. National Preservation Plan for Agricultural Literature 11
Table 2. Project Overview 23
List of Appendices
A. Vitas of principal project staff
B. Letters of support--President, USAIN; Director, National Agriculture Library
C. Dorothy Wright, Samuel Demas, and Walter Cybulski,
Cooperative Preservation of State-Level Publications: Preserving the Literature of New York
State Agriculture and Rural Life," Library Resources and Technical Services 37,4 (1993):434-
43.
D. Scope of Bibliography
E. Detailed project budgets--examples--Texas A & M, University of Arizona
F. Memoranda of intent
G. University of Nebraska Lincoln project budget
H. Summary of waiver of indirect costs and other cost share
1. Precis
1. PRECIS
Cornell University, on behalf of the United States Agriculture Information Network (USAIN), and in
cooperation with ten other land grant university libraries, seeks $995,363 in support from the National
Endowment for the Humanities for a two-year, phase 2 project to continue a program to preserve the
most significant published materials on the history of state and local agriculture and rural life. As in the
phase 1 project--funded by NEH from July 1996 June 1998--the phase 2 project will utilize a model
developed as a pilot for the National Preservation Program for Agricultural Literature and first
implemented for New York State by Cornell University's Albert R. Mann Library, a leader in the
preservation of agricultural literature. The Cornell model partners scholars and librarians to identify and
preserve the most significant agricultural literature of a state. The plan for administration, coordination
and management is based on established models for cooperative preservation projects used by the
Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the Research Libraries Group Great Collection projects.
In phase 1, materials were identified and selected for preservation in Alabama, California, Connecticut,
Florida, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. Also in phase 1, funds were available
to preserve the most important materials identified in Alabama, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
During phase 2, preservation of materials selected in California, Florida, Nebraska, and Texas will be
completed. In addition, the preservation of the history of American agriculture will be extended by the
identification and selection of materials in Arizona, Arkansas, Hawai'i, Iowa, Minnesota, and Montana.
Funds are also requested to permit the preservation of selected materials in Hawai'i and Montana. A
phase 3 project is planned to complete the preservation of materials selected in phase 1 in Connecticut
and in phase 2 in Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, and Minnesota. With funding of this Phase 2 proposal, work
will be underway towards systematic preservation of the relevant literature in 15 of the 50 states, i.e. 30%
of the long range goal of this component of the NATIONAL PRESERVATION PROGRAM FOR
AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE. At the completion of all three phases of this national project,
approximately 8,705 titles in 15,310 volumes published between 1820 and 1945 will be preserved from a
diverse cross section of fifteen states representative of the history of American agriculture and rural life.
This project is an integral part of the NATIONAL PRESERVATION PROGRAM FOR AGRICULTURAL
LITERATURE developed by USAIN and the National Agriculture Library in 1993. This national
disciplinary preservation plan for agriculture calls for each state in the U.S. to take responsibility for
preservation of its own state and local level literature. The proposed project in its multiple phases will
result in the systematic identification of the universe of state and local level published literature in each
participating state, not just the titles held in each of the participating libraries. In each state a panel of
scholars and librarians will then evaluate and rank the resulting lists in terms of the importance of
individual titles for research in social, cultural, and economic history. Each state will then microfilm
those brittle titles judged by the panel to be most important for current and future humanities research.
Funding is requested to preserve the top 25% of titles judged important for humanities research. This
25%, in combination with the 10 20% of the relevant literature previously preserved in most states, will
result in preservation of approximately 35-45% of the relevant historical record in each state.
SECTION 2
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MATERIALS
AND
NEED FOR PRESERVATION AND ACCESS
2. Significance of the Materials
History celebrates
the battlefields whereon we meet our death,
but scorns to speak of the plowed fields whereby we thrive.
It knows the names of the king's bastards
but cannot tell us the origin of wheat.
This is the way of human folly.
--J.H. Fabre
One cannot fully understand U.S. history without studying its agriculture and its rural communities.
Agriculture fueled the economic engine which built our nation; state and local governments evolved to
regulate farming, land tenure, and trade in agricultural commodities; the farm family was the
fundamental social unit of American life; and agriculture has transformed, for better or worse, our
landscape. Much of what defines the national character of Americans, our cultural values and mores, is
rooted in our agrarian past. Due to its centrality to the American experience, social, economic, and
cultural historians, as well as historians of science and technology, are fascinated by the published record
of agriculture and rural life.
The story of American agriculture is captured in a broad band of documentary resources ranging from
the memoirs and transactions of early agriculture societies; to newspapers and almanacs; family,
community, and corporate archives; and state and county extension service publications. The evolution
of farm and rural life and agricultural economy is chronicled in the agriculture periodical press and the
numerous local, regional, and national farm journals that exhorted, informed, and shaped the opinions,
values, and concerns of early farm families. Journals such as Country Gentleman, Cappers' Farmer, and
Cincinnatus (the latter "devoted to scientific agriculture, horticulture, education, and improvement of rural
taste") have much to tell historians about the daily activities, issues, and practices of the time.
The literature of agriculture and rural life is threatened by the slow, but inexorable deterioration of
books, documents, and photographs, and other paper artifacts in libraries and archives across the country.
The condition of these materials--particularly those created after 1840 on ephemeral, acidic paper--
threatens access to these research resources now and in the future. In addition, the historical literature of
agriculture and rural life typically lacks intellectual access in an on-line bibliographic environment,
limiting the ability of the humanities researcher and scholar to identify and locate resources in order to
trace the history of agriculture and its impact on society as it moved west across the continent. The shear
bulk of the material and its varied locations demands an approach that selects the most important material
for immediate preservation while it identifies the universe of materials at risk.
As rural life changed, so did the content of the literature aimed at the farm family. These materials form
a premier scholarly resource to document the experience of the individual farm family, the establishment
and evolution of farm communities, the pressures affecting rural culture, and how rural culture shifted
and evolved in response to national and world events. Supplementing the published literature are the
diaries, letters, photographs, and farm records that are critical resources to understand rural life and its
role and place in American society.
Agriculture was the predominant social and economic structure of the United States until well into the
19th century. In 1800, over 95% of the nation's five million people were involved in agriculture. By
1870, the population had grown to about 40 million, of whom 90% were engaged in agriculture. On the
eve of the industrial revolution it took four persons engaged in farming to allow one to engage in non-
agricultural pursuits, whereas now one worker in agriculture can sustain fifty or more in other jobs. Prior
to World War II, the basic unit of agriculture and of American society was the family farm. Powerful
forces such as the abolition of slavery, westward migration, the system of share-cropping, the emergence
of state and federal agricultural agencies, the introduction of immigrant populations to rural society, and
2. Significance of the Materials
the use of migrant workers in agriculture --all of these influences shaped and were shaped by the cultural
and economic landscape of agriculture and its communities.
During the 19th century, the farm unit shifted its orientation from the family and the immediate
community to the market, and to the expanding urban-industrial society. For nearly 100 years,
employment in the American agricultural and food system remained nearly constant at about 35 million
while the population soared. With these changing demographics came shifts in attitudes about rural life,
community and family values, and the management of the farm enterprise. These shifts had a profound
effect on farm families, on rural communities, and on the economy of the nation.
The unprecedented growth in U.S. agricultural productivity during the 19th and early 20th centuries was
based in part on the growth of the agricultural literature as a means of sharing and expanding the fund of
agricultural knowledge. In 1820, farming was a self-sufficient enterprise with relatively few advances
since colonial times. The average farmer was largely ignorant of the principles of animal and plant
breeding, often hampered by superstitious beliefs, and typically skeptical of agricultural innovation.
Agricultural publications before 1819 were few in number and difficult for the average farmer to obtain.
Almanacs were the chief source of agricultural information. However after 1820, American writing on
agriculture increased and, most importantly, the medium of the agricultural periodical appeared. By the
1840's the U.S. had developed the largest farm readership in the world. Thus the content of these
journals over a hundred-year period in U.S. history is an unparalleled resource for the study of cultural
and social attitudes.
Early farm journals were clearinghouses of general agricultural information. They borrowed liberally
from each other and thus track the movement of information and ideas. As farmers left eastern farms
with their dreams or despair and moved west, they brought their agricultural knowledge with them--a
knowledge and experience often completely unsuited to the climate and topography that they found.
The dreams of farmers and the cries of entrepreneurs mingle in the literature and documents of
agriculture and rural life to tell the story of both success and bitter defeat, exaltation and catastrophe.
The fate of the native Americans swept up and overrun by land-hungry pioneers is part of this story. The
clash of Anglo culture with Spanish and Mexican culture in Florida, Texas, and California over land and
agricultural tradition is a principal theme in U.S.-Mexican history. European and Asian immigrants
brought their varied agricultural heritage with them to new lands and created the distinctive regional
ethnic communities that became inexorably tied to the landscapes, farms, and rural communities of
America.
The establishment of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862 and the passage of the Morrill Acts of
1862 and 1890 (which founded the present-day system of land grant universities) further involved the
federal government in agriculture and was followed by legislation that established state-level agriculture
experiment stations and extension services. The growth of these organizations boosted agricultural
research with a constant emphasis on practical applications within individual farms and farming
communities. The local journals tracked the effects or lack of effects that new research and practices had
on farming and rural life.
The remarkable history of federal-state cooperation in establishing a national network of experiment
stations, land grant universities, extension services, and 4-H clubs, is an example of the impact of
agriculture on the reach and methods of government. Government involvement in education, youth
programs, and scientific research all stem from early efforts to support and improve the nation's most
important industry: agriculture.
An emphasis on higher education and the emergence of agricultural research in the early part of the
twentieth century stimulated the production of scholarly treatises and journals that joined a panoply of
federal, state, and county documents. These resources now allow scholars to track both the evolution of
2. Significance of the Materials
government policy and attitudes toward the agricultural enterprise and the response of the individual
farmer and farm communities to greater government involvement and intervention.
Before 1834, farm journals presented information without much regard for system or organization.
Subsequently, journals began to develop columns such as "Cattle Husbandry, "Horticulture", and
"Poultry". These columns reveal the roots of the developing specialization of agriculture--a trend that
was reflected in a dramatic increase of periodicals and monographs in the late 19th century devoted to a
specific type of farm activity. However, in addition to information about technical agriculture, the
numerous local, regional, and national farm journals routinely included editorial comment, political and
economic reviews, a "ladies comer" aimed at the purview and concerns of the farm wife, columns on
family and community issues, and extensive advertising. The substantial home, family, and community
content distinguishes the literature of pre-1945 agriculture from the literature of the latter part of the
20th century that focuses exclusively on technical and financial information. The changing content of
the literature documents the contest between two ways of life: one urban-based and tied to industrial
forms of production, the other rural and tied to family, community, individual, and craft-based
production. Thus the literature of agriculture before 1945 is a unique chronicle of the tensions between
these two worlds.
The application of the principles of science and engineering to agriculture--so spectacularly realized
since World War II--had its beginnings in the 19th century. The result of decades of applied research
was an increase in agricultural production that was unparalleled in the history of civilization. The United
States lead the world in this remarkable effort. However, the productivity of modem agriculture had its
dark side. In addition to altering the landscape and social structure of rural American communities, the
intensive use of energy, fertilizers and pesticides created a wasteful, polluting, and ultimately
unsustainable system of food and fiber production.
Thus the social, economic and cultural insight afforded to historians by agricultural literature is only one
of its important dimensions. Nineteenth and early twentieth-century publications are in great demand
from scientists who are looking for information about the interplay between agriculture and the
environment. While current research in agriculture offers potentially promising approaches for the
ongoing revolution in agricultural values and techniques variously referred to as "sustainable agriculture",
alternative agriculture", and "organic agriculture", many scientists are also looking back at the history of
agriculture for ideas and insights. Increasing concern about the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers
cause researchers to comb the literature looking for inspiration from earlier, natural methods of
combating disease and pests. Historical literature can provide clues to the efficacy and environmental
impact of earlier methods. The search for clues to a sustainable agriculture capable of feeding the earth's
current five billion persons is sending researchers back to literature as diverse as the archeological record
of desert civilizations and the transactions of state agricultural societies in 19th century New England.
The historical literature of agriculture chronicles the beginning of an era in which the pressures of
population and the opportunities of urban and global markets resulted in an agricultural system which is
arguably the most productive in the world, but which is also a major contributor to environmental
degradation. In trying to increase efficiency of land and labor use, traditional farming practices and
systems were abandoned in favor of large-scale, energy-intensive methods--often involving seasonal
workers. The negative effects of modern agriculture were largely unanticipated, and thus the story of
agriculture's transformation is also of major interest to cultural historians chronicling the history of the
environmental and agricultural worker's rights movements, and the rise of the land conservation ethic.
The literature of agriculture is replete with information about sustainable agricultural methods,
observations, production, and effects. Until the 1940s, farmers did not use pesticides and chemical
fertilizers in great quantities. The record of pre-World War II agriculture is almost entirely a literature of
what we now call "alternative" agriculture. In land grant university libraries across the country, 19th and
2. Significance of the Materials
early 20th century books and journals--now seriously embrittled and deteriorating--are in great demand
as we begin yet another transformation of agriculture. This time the transformation is along ecological
and environmental lines rather than economic and technological, a process that is beginning even as we
continue to reflect on and learn from our rural past.
***
Even as agriculture evolved from a home and family craft-based way of life to the market-driven business
enterprise that we know today, urban and suburban residents have held onto the images of an agrarian
past, as depicted in art from New York such as Currier and Ives prints and Grandma Moses paintings, and
more recently in the remarkable popularity of home and community gardening. The history of this
deeply rooted American myth celebrating the pioneer, the self-sufficient farm family, the rural
community, and the spirit of the individualistic American, are preserved in the literature of agriculture
and rural life. These materials will eventually contribute to further discovery and interpretation in
weaving the colorful history of our nation and in understanding our national character.
One fundamental component of this rich record of American agriculture and rural life is state and local
level publications of each of the fifty states. Section 6 of this proposal contains descriptions from each of
the ten project participants of their agricultural literature and an overview of the historical trends and
issues it documents. Due to its critical importance to the study of state, regional, and national history,
this state and local level record is among the highest preservation priorities of land grant institutions of
the U.S.
To guide a nationally coordinated effort to preserve the record of agriculture, the United States
Agricultural Information Network has developed a National Preservation Program for Agricultural
Literature. This cooperative project to continue the preservation of the agriculture and rural life literature
of the states is proposed to advance one key component of a larger national plan.
SECTION 3
A NATIONAL PRESERVATION PROGRAM
FOR THE
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LIFE
3. A National Preservation Program
We cannot solve the problems with knowledge
of the present day alone.
Prophecy is conditioned on experience
and the longer the experience and the keener the appreciation of it,
the truer will be our judgments.
In all the bewildering opinion and achievement, we must not forget.
--Liberty Hyde Bailey
The development of a national program to preserve the history of agriculture and rural life is a logical
extension of the work carried out by land grant universities in cooperation with federal, state, and local
agencies to benefit farm families and rural society. The land grant universities of the U.S. constitute a
remarkable and uniquely American research, education, and extension system with a long tradition of
cooperation and a legal mandate to serve the citizens of the nation.
The intense focus of each of the nation's 72 land grant universities on the citizens, the agriculture, and the
environment of their particular state, has resulted, among other things, in a remarkable set of library
collections. Materials documenting state and local agriculture and rural life have been primary
collecting responsibilities of land grant libraries for over a century. Better than any other resource, these
collections document the concerns, needs, interests, aspirations, and resources of the people of each state.
While these collections were largely built in the service of then current needs of science, technology, the
state, commerce, and the average citizen, they have become prime historical repositories and priority
targets for preservation in the interest of humanities research.
Mindful of this, the land grant university libraries, working closely with the National Agricultural Library
(NAL) through the United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN), have developed a national
preservation plan to preserve this record. Organized state by state, with a history of and structure for
national level cooperation, this consortium of libraries is uniquely positioned to systematically preserve
an important slice of American history.
3.1 THE LAND GRANT UNIVERSITY MISSION
The best acreage for a farmer to cultivate
lies within the ring fence of his skull.
--Charles Dickens
The system of land grant universities was established out of a deep American impulse to democratize
education, to consciously direct knowledge and research in the interests of the average citizen, and to
improve the productivity of our food and fiber system and the quality of rural life.
At the time of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, existing colleges and seminaries
were dedicated to classical studies on the model of their European counterparts. These institutions existed
to educate the monied classes, government leaders, and the professions--not to serve a democratic society
dedicated to the concept of opportunity for all. In the 1840's, Jonathan Baldwin Turner of Illinois, a Yale-
educated farmer, newspaper editor, and college professor, made education for the working classes a
cause. His "Plan for a State University for the Industrial Classes" advanced ideas that are now fundamental
to the land grant system, such as experimental research and its dissemination. What began as mild protest
against the too-exclusive pattern of collegiate education in the new country, grew into widespread
agitation by the middle of the nineteenth century, and Congress began to seriously debate the role of the
federal government in higher education. Newly formed agricultural societies, in particular, insisted that
colleges where agriculture could be studied must be widely available.
3. A National Preservation Program
Justin Smith Morrill, a representative and later senator from Vermont introduced legislation to Congress
in 1857, and finally obtained its passage in 1862, to establish a system of colleges dedicated to teaching
agriculture, military tactics, and the mechanical arts--as well as classical studies--so that the working
classes could obtain a liberal, practical education. The addition of military tactics to the original 1857 bill
helped obtain its passage during the worn-tor years of the Civil War-combined with a president with
rural roots who appreciated the need for access to education for all citizens.
The Morrill Act of 1862 provided grants, in the form of federal lands, to each state to establish a "land
grant" college. In 1887, the Hatch Act extended the land grant system by authorizing direct payment of
grant funds to each state to establish an agricultural experiment station in conjunction with the land grant
institution. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created a Cooperative Extension Service associated with each
land grant institution. The land grant universities are connected to the citizens of the state by means of
Cooperative Extension Service offices and staff in every county of most states. Thus, in addition to
education, the research, publication, and dissemination of information to the average citizen were
deliberate outcomes of the land grant system.
Concurrent with the establishment of the land grant colleges, Congress established the Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to promote the interests of farmers--a persistent idea since George Washington's
days as president. The effectiveness of the U.S. agricultural system lies in the cooperation among
government, the universities, and industry; a system that has produced perhaps the most successful
research and development program in history. From the beginning, the interests of the land grant
colleges and universities extended beyond the technology of farming to farm management, rural
sociology, agricultural economics, land management, home economics, rural life, and social, family, and
community concerns. Complementing the contribution of the land grant colleges, considerable rural-
related, disciplinary social science research was conducted by historians, political scientists, general
economists, sociologists, and anthropologists. The preservation of these sources is also vital to an
understanding of the history of agriculture, rural life, and U.S. history.
3.2 A NATIONAL PRESERVATION PLAN FOR AGRICULTURE
Not surprisingly, the libraries of the land grant colleges and universities hold the nation's strongest
collections of agricultural literature. Collection and dissemination of information was part of the land
grant mandate, and the close ties between the land grant institutions and the agricultural experiment
stations and extension services ensured intensive collection of their publications, as well as those of the
many agricultural societies and rural organizations, along with the relevant popular, trade and scholarly
literature. Much state and local level agriculture and rural life literature was published in short runs and
was not widely disseminated. Adding to the problem of scarcity is the fact that much of this material was
considered at the time of its publication to be out of collection scope by many of the nation's major
research libraries. Consequently historians from non-land grant libraries often have to travel to land
grant libraries to conduct their research. Additionally, the problem of deteriorating and brittle paper
affects the historical literature of agriculture as severely as it affects all publications produced before
1950, creating a preservation crisis that threatens to destroy access to the record of our agricultural past.
Beginning in the late 1980's, Cornell and other leading land grant universities--in cooperation with the
United States Agriculture Information Network (USAIN) and the National Agriculture Library (NAL)--
began discussion of the need to initiate a nationally coordinated plan to preserve and improve access to
the historical literature of agriculture, rural life, and the agricultural sciences. NAL had a foundation of
past preservation activity upon which to base future efforts, including a cooperative project with the land
grant university libraries conducted from 1974 through 1987 to microfilm agricultural, forestry, and
3. A National Preservation Program
extension publications. USAIN was established in 1988 to provide a forum for discussion of agricultural
issues, to take a leadership role in the formation of a national information policy as related to agriculture,
to make recommendations to NAL, and to promote cooperation and communication among its members.
In October 1991, USAIN sponsored a program to explore the feasibility of developing a national
program to preserve the literature of agriculture and rural life. Organized by Samuel Demas, Head of
Collection Development and Preservation, Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University, the two-day event
drew a group of thirty librarians, preservation experts, and representatives of funding agencies. Following
a review of the status of preservation programs and cooperative strategies, the group enthusiastically
endorsed the idea of a nationally-coordinated preservation program to ensure both preservation of, and
access to, the historical literature of agriculture and rural life. The attendees outlined recommendations
and a planning process and urged USAIN, together with NAL to prepare a more detailed plan.
Subsequently, the USAIN membership unanimously endorsed the recommendations.
USAIN appointed Brice Hobrock, Dean, Kansas State University Libraries, to chair an Advisory Panel on
Preservation that included Elizabeth Adkins, Kraft General Foods; Pamela Q. Andre, National
Agricultural Library; Wesley Boomgaarden, Ohio State University; Clinton Howard, University of
California at Davis; Barbara Williams Jenkins, South Carolina State University; Peggy Johnson, University
of Minnesota-St. Paul; Erich Kesse, University of Florida; Jan Kennedy Olsen, Cornell University; Julia
Peterson, Cargill Information Center; Keith Russell, National Agriculture Library; and Katherine L.
Walter, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Advisory Panel hired Nancy E. Gwinn, Assistant Director,
Collections Management, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, to facilitate the planning process and draft the
national plan. To assist the group, Dorothy Wright, Preservation Librarian at Cornell's Albert R. Mann
Library, conducted a survey of land grant and other institutions to gauge the level of interest in
participating in a national program and to identify, in a preliminary way, priorities for preservation.
The resulting plan, A NATIONAL PRESERVATION PROGRAM FOR AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE
(USAIN, 1993) was adopted by the USAIN membership in October 1993 as a guiding document for
coordinating and stimulating preservation efforts within the agricultural sciences. Throughout this
process USAIN has provided organizational sponsorship for development and implementation of this
plan. [See Appendix B for letters of support from the president of the USAIN Executive Council and the
director of NAL.]
The national preservation plan provides a disciplinary framework within which to divide the preservation
challenge among USAIN libraries. Its goals are being accomplished through a series of systematically
organized and coordinated projects combined with local initiatives. Preservation projects may be
structured around genre, period, region, subject, or combination of these, and will use a variety of
preservation strategies including reformatting to microfilm or digital formats, preserving the original, or a
combination of these depending on the nature of the material, its condition, and its expected use.
Progress in implementing the USAIN National Preservation Program for Agricultural Literature
Over the past 4 years considerable progress has been made in advancing this unique national cooperative
plan for systematic preservation of the literature of a discipline. Table 1 shows the key components of the
agricultural literature in the National Preservation Program for Agriculture and assignments of
preservation responsibility for each component.
3. A National Preservation Program
TABLE 1
NATIONAL PRESERVATION PLAN
FOR AGRICULTURAL LITERATURE
CORE, HISTORICAL
LITERATURF-
(Popular and Trade
Journals)
UniIversity-based
nationally
coordinated
FEDEPLAL
DOCUMENTS
NA.I
Land-Grant
Publications
Assess status,
iUin
pill In
aps
I
MANUSCRIPTS
AND ARCHIVES
Local Initiatives
UNIQUE
COLLECTIONS
subject-based
geography-based
* format-based
* etc.
Local Initiatives
Non-print and
Audiovisual
Collections
Local
Initiatives
STATE AND
COUNTY
DOCUMENTS
State-based,
nationally
coordinated
PRE-1862
IMPRINTS
project
3. A National Preservation Program
The proposed project addresses the components labeled "State and County Documents" and "Core
Historical Literature--Popular and Trade Journals". Popular and trade journals, identified in the Core
Historical Literature Project, have been divided by state of publication and are folded into the state and
local level preservation projects. Phase 1 of the proposed project has enabled 9 states to move forward in
fulfilling their responsibilities under the plan. The proposed Phase 2 project will allow 4 of those 9 states
to complete their microfilming of top ranked materials and will bring 6 new states into the project.
The land grant publications of 42 states have already been preserved in a cooperative microfilming
project led by NAL (component labeled "Land Grant Publications" in Table 1). Work completed in this
ground-breaking 'cooperative preservation project is taken into account in the USAIN National
Preservation Program and in the proposed NEH project. Those land grant titles already filmed in the
earlier project will be excluded from the current project, and any titles missed in the earlier project will
be considered in the current project. Also, the 8 states which did not film their land grant publications as
part of the NAL cooperative project will do so in the course of future phases of the project project to
preserve state and local literature.
In an entirely separate project, work is well underway on a central component of the National
Preservation Program for Agriculture, labeled "Core Historical Literature--Scholarly Monographs and
Serials" in Table 1. For several years, the Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University has been working
on the preservation of the Core Historical Literature of Agriculture. With funding from the Rockefeller
Foundation and support from the Hatch Act and the NAL, Wallace C. Olsen directed a major
bibliographic effort to identify the most significant, or core, literature of the agricultural sciences
published since 1950. Later the methodology was adapted to historical literature, principally to assist in
developing preservation priorities for materials of national scope and importance. The core historical
literature is being preserved in a series of projects. Most recently Cornell has completed scanning and
producing COM film for 1,250 volumes in agricultural economics and rural sociology that have not
already been microfilmed. The two-year project, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
and directed by Ann Kenney, Associate Director of the Department of Preservation and Conservation at
Cornell, tested the feasibility of using digital image technology to create microfilm that will meet national
preservation standards for quality and image permanence. Another 1,000 volumes of the core historical
literature was scanned with funding from Title II-C, U.S. Department of Education, under the direction of
Sam Demas. A project to secure permission for national distribution of those titles still under copyright
protection is underway with funding from the National Agricultural Library. The goal of the Core
Historical Literature project is to have archival microform for preservation of the entire corpus of over
20,000 volumes, and to distribute nationally in electronic form the full corpus for access purposes.
With the appointment of Evelyn Frangakis as NAL Preservation Officer and a permanent allocation of
funds to establish a preservation program, NAL has commenced work on the components of the plan
labeled "Federal Documents" and Pre-1862 Imprints".
This year a new component is being added to the National Preservation Program for Agriculture: an
action plan for preservation of the digital publications of the USDA. A conference on the topic was held
March 2-4, 1997 and the resulting draft "Action Plan for Preserving USDA Digital Publications" is under
review and will be formally added to the National Preservation Program for Agriculture upon
completion.
Other elements of the national plan will be advanced by initiatives of the members and by the USAIN
National Preservation Program Steering Committee. Its members include Samuel Demas (chair); Evelyn
Frangakis, NAL Preservation Officer; Jan Olsen, Director, Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University;
Brice Hobrock, Dean of Libraries, Kansas State University; Maria Pisa, Assistant Director for Policy and
Planning, National Agricultural Library; Barbara Jenkins, Dean of Libraries and Information Services,
3. A National Preservation Program
South Carolina State University; and Antoinette Powell, Director, Agriculture Library, University of
Kentucky, and president of the USAIN Executive Council.
3.3 PRESERVING STATE AND LOCAL AGRICULTURE AND
RURAL LIFE LITERATURE
A 1991 USAIN survey of the status of and need for preservation of agricultural literature revealed that
USAIN members assign highest preservation priority among the published parts of the record to
materials on local agriculture, agricultural society transactions, and state level publications. The National
Preservation Program calls for each state to preserve its own state and local level publications in a
nationally coordinated project.
In light of the priority placed on this literature and the existence of a model methodology with which to
proceed on this part of the plan, the the USAIN National Preservation Program Steering Committee
selected this component to implement next. They invited land grant university libraries to send a
representative to a meeting at the Midwinter 1995 meeting of the American Library Association to
discuss their interest in participating in the development of a cooperative, national project to preserve state
and local literature of agriculture modeled on the pilot project for New York State literature conducted
by Albert R. Mann Library, Cornell University. In addition to significantly advancing the national plan,
the project would give the USAIN community another experience in implementing a cooperative project-
-experience that will be needed to implement the rest of the national plan. Interest in the project was
substantial.
Preservation consultant Carolyn Clark Morrow, formerly the Preservation Librarian at Harvard University,
was hired by USAIN in spring 1995 to develop the project plan and a proposal for funding in
cooperation with nine land grant university libraries. That proposal, Phase 1 of the proposed Phase 2
project, was funded and work commenced in the nine states in July 1996. The current Phase 2 proposal,
extending the work to include six additional states, was also prepared by Ms. Morrow, in conjunction with
the ten participating states and the project administration.
The national preservation program for agricultural literature described above establishes a national
framework to preserve the history of agriculture and rural life in the United States. The project described
in this proposal is an important piece of that plan. Its purpose is to cooperatively preserve and improve
access to a critical mass of state and local publications in a diverse cross-section of states using the proven
methodology originally developed at Cornell University for New York State's literature. (See Appendix
C for an article describing the project.) The nine participating states in Phase 1 were selected on the
basis of geographic spread, existence of a substantial preservation capability within the land grant library,
willingness to contribute institutional resources and to undertake systematic identification and evaluation
of the literature, willingness to commit collection development as well as preservation staff to the project,
and ability to undertake cooperation with other libraries in the state as necessary. The same criteria were
used in selecting the six new states included in Phase 2. Section 5 provides a profile of the preservation
capabilities and the project staff for each participating state in Phase 2.
At the completion of the proposed project, fifteen states across the country will have combined their
efforts to make a significant contribution to preservation in an important area documenting American
social, cultural, and economic history including the history of farming as a technology and business; the
documentation of rural life and communities; the integration of immigrants into American rural
institutions and communities; and the impact of farming on the visual landscape and on' ecosystems.
Section 6 provides an overview of the relevant literature documenting agriculture/rural life for each state
in Phase 2.
3. A National Preservation Program
The project will result in the preservation of at least the most important 25% of the total universe of
publications on each state's agricultural and rural life heritage in 30% of the states in the U.S.
Additional outcomes will be to: 1) continue the momentum for the National Preservation Program for
Agricultural Literature; 2) complement the national Core Historical Literature project underway at
Cornell; 3) replicate and adapt the Cornell model for preservation of state literature through the
experience of other states, and publish an article on the project and its methods; 4.) serve as inspiration
for additional states to follow suit, thereby building a more complete national picture of the history of
agriculture and rural life; and 5.) prepare the way for other coordinated projects to meet the goals of the
national plan, including unique collections of primary resource materials such as manuscripts and
archives.
Work on the Phase 1 Project (participants are Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Nebraska, New
York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin) is proceeding smoothly and on target in terms of project
benchmarks. A second Project Managers meeting will be held in San Francisco in June 1997 to take
stock of lessons learned in conducting the bibliographic and scholarly review components of the project
(see Section 4.3). Experience gained thus far in Phase 1 has informed the formulation of this Phase 2
proposal.
The development of a national preservation plan for agricultural literature is consistent with the concept
of a discipline-based approach to preservation. It emphasizes selection of the most important material
from the universe of relevant literature, the involvement of scholars in the selection process, and a
cooperative approach that acknowledges that the most important materials will be found throughout more
than one library. The discipline-specific approach to preservation is also based on the fact that society is
unlikely to allocate sufficient funds to preserve all of the publications in any given discipline and that,
furthermore, not everything that was published is worthy of preservation. With a well-developed
preservation infrastructure in place, the need to develop and implement intellectually-viable, cost-effective
strategies for preservation, discipline by discipline, begins to take on greater importance and urgency.
To our knowledge, this is the largest, most systematic, discipline-based, cooperative preservation project
ever undertaken. Scholars involved in the evaluation process are delighted with the opportunity to
participate in a systematic process of identifying and setting preservation priorities for this important
literature. Cooperation within and among the states has been excellent, and all indications thus far are that
this approach has potential as a model for cooperative preservation in other disciplines.
SECTION 4
PLAN OF WORK AND PROJECT GOALS
4. Plan of Work--Project Administration
4.1 PROJECT GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goals and objectives of this project are:
To preserve and improve access to a critical mass of the most significant publications documenting the
history of agriculture and rural life in a diverse cross-section of states.
to systematically identify the relevant publishing in each state, raising our preservation sights
beyond the holdings of any given library to scrutiny of the total universe of publishing within
the subject scope;
to involve scholars and librarians in evaluating this universe of publishing, ranking individual
titles to set preservation priorities;
to microfilm the top 25% of the brittle titles in each state ranked as most important for
humanities research, about 4,376 titles in 8,491 volumes;
to preserve and catalog target materials.
To continue the momentum of the NATIONAL PRESERVATION PROGRAM FOR AGRICULTURAL
LITERATURE by having the states fulfill their responsibility for preserving state and local publications.
to replicate and adapt through the experience of fifteen states the Cornell model for
preservation of state and local level literature, and to publish an article on the project and its
methods;
to create an Internet accessible database of the title lists from each state, including both
preserved and unpreserved titles, complete with rankings, to guide any future preservation work
on the balance of the universe;
to stimulate other coordinated projects to meet the goals of the National Preservation Program
for Agricultural Literature.
To provide additional institutions with substantive experience in the practice of systematic, discipline-
based preservation; and to advance the concept of discipline based, cooperative preservation.
to continue to adapt and extend the RLG and CIC models for cooperative preservation to a
discipline-based approach;
to ensure that selection, preservation and access standards for quality and productivity are
maintained across the project through proper administration, training, and coordination;
to address methodological problems in the evolving disciplinary approach to cooperative
preservation, including bibliographical analysis issues and methods of interlibrary cooperation.
4.2 PROJECT ADMINISTRATION
The project will be implemented and administered through the auspices of the Albert R. Mann Library,
Cornell University. Sam Demas, Head, Collection Development and Preservation, will serve as Project
4. Plan of Work--Project Administration
Director, as he has in Phase I, and will oversee the work of the Project Coordinator, Wallace C. Olsen, who
will work closely with the ten project libraries and their designated institutional Project Managers or Co-
Managers to implement the project. The USAIN National Preservation Program Steering Committee will
serve as advisor to the project. [See Appendix A for the vitas of the principal project staff.]
The plan for administration, coordination, and management of this project is based on a successful model
that has been well-established and tested through other cooperative preservation and access projects such
as those of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (i.e. the Big-Ten University libraries and the
University of Chicago), the Research Libraries Group for their "Great Collections" projects, and the
projects administered by the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET). The value of this particular
project is that it will enable institutions to be linked in a discipline-based preservation and access project
for the benefit of humanities scholars, while also insuring that preservation and access standards for
quality and productivity are maintained across the project.
During phase 1, the cooperative preservation model was successfully adapted to a cooperative project
incorporating a discipline-based selection model and using a scholarly review panel to rank materials
according to their importance as resources for humanities studies. Experience gained during phase 1 is
being shared during meetings held in conjunction with the annual meetings of the American Library
Association. This dialog will not only improve the methodolgy of the present program to preserve the
history of agriculture and rural life, but also explore the value of the model for other disciplines. Based
on the experience in the phase 1 project, the model is a useful one, helping libraries address the
additional set of preservation issues faced in identifying and preserving high priority materials within the
context of a discipline-based approach to preservation.
Cornell University has long been a leader in the land grant community and in the agricultural sciences
world-wide. The Albert R. Mann library is a major land grant library with a proven record of leadership
in the trends and issues in agricultural information. Cornell's commitment to preserving the literature of
the agricultural sciences is an outgrowth of its role as a world center for agricultural sciences research.
This commitment to excellence and innovation in agricultural information services, and to leadership in
preservation is demonstrated in Cornell's initiative in the development of a National Preservation Program
for Agriculture; in identifying the core literature, contemporary and historical, of the agricultural
sciences; in preserving the core historical literature; and in developing a methodology for the
preservation of state and local literature.
Sam Demas of Albert R. Mann Library organized the 1991 USAIN preconference program in which the
idea of a national preservation program was developed and an outline and plan of action emerged. Jan
Olsen, Director of Albert R. Mann Library, is an active member of the USAIN NPP Steering Committee,
stimulating continued action on projects to implement the program. Wallace Olsen's work in identifying
the core literature and Mann's work to preserve the core historical literature have contributed immensely
to the USAIN preservation program. Cornell is deeply committed to the National Preservation Program
for Agriculture. Albert R. Mann Library views the proposed NEH project as a continuing step forward in
the evolution of cooperative, discipline-based preservation programs, and is sponsoring the project in that
spirit.
As Project Director, Sam Demas will oversee the implementation of the project devoting 10% of his time
to the project for two years. He will be responsible for establishing standards for the project, maintaining
contact with NEH staff and Cornell's Office of Sponsored Programs, and administering project funds. He
will assure progress toward project goals, represent the project in national forums, and direct the work of
the Project Coordinator.
Mr. Demas has worked in administrative positions in academic libraries for twenty years. For the past ten
years he has specialized in the development and preservation of research library collections, working as
4. Plan of Work--Project Administration
Head of Collection Development and Preservation at the Albert R. Mann Library at Cornell University.
Demas has directed six different preservation projects at Albert R. Mann Library, each of them of two to
four-year duration, resulting in the reformatting (via filming and/or scanning) of over 11,000 volumes
since 1986. In this capacity he established project standards, maintained contact with the funding
agencies, and supervised project staff. Three of these projects were cooperative (RLG CPMP and NYS
Coordinated Preservation Projects). Mr. Demas was closely involved with the effort to develop a National
Preservation Program for Agricultural Sciences Literature and is committed to the advancement of this
cooperative, discipline-based preservation plan. He has built on the groundbreaking work of Wallace C.
Olsen in systematic identification of core historical literature, extending and adapting the selection
methodologies in the subjects of entomology, state and local level agriculture and rural life literature (as
part of the National Preservation Program for Agricultural Sciences Literature), and local and regional
natural history literature. Demas has organized conference programs, spoken in various forums, and
published articles to encourage the movement towards a cooperative, disciplinary approach to
preservation.
4.2.1 Project Coordination
As Project Coordinator, Wallace C. Olsen will be responsible for the management of the project on a one-
half time basis for two years. He is currently Project Coordinator for the Phase I project. He will
coordinate the work of the ten participating institutions, serving as resource person for the institutional
project managers and maintaining regular contact to resolve problems and issues and ensure that work
proceeds in a timely manner. He will oversee the development of quarterly production goals for each
project, monitor progress towards meeting the goals, recommend approval of payments to participants,
and draft quarterly progress reports to NEH for review and approval by the Project Director.
Wallace Olsen has worked in the agricultural library community for twenty-five years and is an authority
on land grant libraries. Over a period of nearly twenty years at the National Agricultural Library, he held
positions as liaison officer to the land grant and USDA field libraries, deputy director for public services,
deputy director for technical services, and officer for special programs. He was responsible for efforts to
create an agricultural libraries network involving land grant libraries and the libraries of the USDA. Mr.
Olsen served as Project Director for the NAL/land grant cooperative microfilming project, involving over
thirty participating libraries, which resulted in the filming of 1.4 million frames of experiment station and
extension service publications. In this capacity, he organized the agreements and "sold" the project to
land grant librarians, obtained the funds at NAL, set the technical standards with Peter Scott of MIT, and
managed the finances, project organization, and quality control. More recently, Mr. Olsen has served as
Project Director of the Core Agricultural Literature Project since 1990. He has identified the
contemporary and historical core literature of seven disciplines comprising the agricultural sciences. The
core historical literature is a key component of the National Preservation Program for Agricultural
Literature. Mr. Olsen will receive The Oberly Award for Excellence in agricultural bibliography for his
work as editor-in-chief of the 7-volume set The Core Literature of Agricultural Science (Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 1991-96). Mr. Olsen brings to the job of Project Coordinator years of
administrative experience, profound knowledge of the agricultural literature, complete familiarity with
land grant libraries, and experience in managing a large cooperative microfilming project in the land
grant community.
4.2.2 Project Management
Each of the ten participating institutions has appointed an institutional Project Manager or Project Co-
managers who will be responsible for the implementation of their library's and state's participation in the
project. Project managers will attend the two project meetings, implement the plan of work, supervise
project staff, establish local work flows, oversee contracts with vendors, assure that all procedures and
4. Plan of Work--Project Administration
products meet established guidelines and standards, verify that work has been completed, and submit
quarterly reports to the Project Coordinator.
During Phase 2, those participating states and libraries that identified the universe of materials and selected
the most important materials for preservation in Phase I (California, Florida, Nebraska, and Texas) will
complete their work by microfilming materials according to national preservation standards. In addition,
Arizonia, Arkansas, Iowa, and Minnesota will identify the universe of materials and--with the assistance of
a scholarly reveiw panel from each state--select the most important materials for preservation. A Phase 3
project is planned to complete the preservation of selected materials. Finally, funds are requested to
enable Hawai'i and Montana to identify, select, and preserve materials during Phase 2.
Participating states and libraries and their institutional Project Managers are listed below. Section 5
provides a complete list of project staff and preservation profiles of each institution. Project Manager
costs are built into the per volume cost of each state's budget, generally at 5-10% commitment per year.
This has proven sufficient in Phase I.
University of Arizona
Doug Jones, Team Leader, Science-Engineering Library
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Michael Dabrishus, Head of the Special Collections Division
University of California Berkeley
Norma Kobzina, Head Information Service and Bioscience
and Natural Resources Librarian
Ann Swartzell, Head of the Preservation Replacement and Library
Photographic Service units
University of Florida
John Ingram, Chair of Special Collections
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
Lynn Davis, Head of the Preservation Department
Eileen Herring, Reference Librarian in the Science and Technology Department
Iowa State University
Edward Goedeken, Principal Bibliographer for the Humanities
Ivan Hanthorn, Head of Preservation Department
University of Minnesota
JoAnn DeVries, Associate Librarian, Reference/Bibliographer
Central Library of the St Paul Campus
Montana State University-Bozeman
Jodee Kawasaki, Reference Librarian with an agriculture information speciality
University of Nebraska Lincoln
Rebecca A. Bernthal, Head of the C.Y. Thompson Agriculture Library
Katherine Walter, Chair of the Serials Department
Arizona:
Arkansas:
California:
Florida:
Hawai'i:
Iowa:
Minnesota:
Montana:
Nebraska:
4. Plan of Work--Project Administration
Texas: Texas A&M University
Rob McGeachin, Agriculture Reference Librarian
Suzanne Gyeszly, Social Sciences Collection Development Librarian
and Preservation Librarian
4.2.3 Project Financial Administration
The Project Director and Project Coordinator will review progress as outlined in the project timetable
below to ensure that the project is conducted in a timely manner and that project goals are met for quality
and productivity. The Project Coordinator will work with the institutional Project Managers to establish
institutional benchmarks during the first six months. Benchmarks for the preservation stage of the
project will be fully established for each participating library after the completion of the bibliographic
analysis and selection stage (see below) and will be based on the number of volumes to be preserved and
titles cataloged throughout the project.
All costs attendant to the identification, selection, and preservation of the target materials are included in
the project budget for each participating institution in Section 5, Preservation Profiles and Project Staff.
TABLE 2 provides a Project Overview, for each participant and for the project as a whole, including: the
total number of titles and volumes to be identified and preserved, the per volume reimbursed cost, and the
total project cost. On file with project administrative staff are even more detailed budgets for each
participant. See Appendix E for two examples of detailed project budgets: one for a state that is
preserving materials selected in phase 1 and a second for a state that is identifying and selecting materials.
See Section 7, Budget Narrative for more budget detail.
According to a formal Memorandum of Agreement, participating libraries that are identifying and
selecting only (Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, and Minnesota) will be paid 50% of the total project cost in
advance, and 50% upon completion of the ranked bibliography. Participating libraries that are
preserving materials selected in phase 1 (California, Florida, Nebraska, and Texas) will be reimbursed
according to their cost-per-volume rate on a quarterly basis--up to the total project cost submitted by
each participant. The two libraries (Hawai'i and Montana) that are identifying, selecting, and preserving
materials in phase 2 will also be reimbursed according to their per-volume rate on a quarterly basis. A
quarterly report from the institutional Project Manager to the Project Coordinator (certifying the number
of volumes preserved and titles cataloged) will initiate reimbursement by Cornell University.
Because reimbursement will be based on work completed, those participating institutions preserving
materials in phase 2 will be required to spend institutional funds up front in the first stages of the project
to complete bibliographic work and get production started.
As project sponsor, Cornell has received from each participating institution letters of intent to collaborate
in this project. These letters, included as Appendix F, indicate institutional commitment to participation
and to waive of indirect cost recovery as cost share contribution and show indirect cost recovery rates.
Cornell University will be reimbursed for the partial costs of administering and coordinating the project
including a one-half-time salary and benefits for the Project Coordinator; travel to the two project
meetings by the Project Director and Project Coordinator; expenses for telecommunications, postage, and
duplication associated with coordinating the work of the ten participating institutions; and indirect costs at
Cornell's negotiated rate for non-research projects. Cornell will contribute 10% of Sam Demas' time as
Project Director and the wages of a part-time student assistant to help with maintaining project records
and clerical tasks.
4. Plan of Work--Project Administration
4.2.4 Project Timetable
The project will extend for two years beginning July 1, 1998, and ending June 30, 2000.
Year One
July September 1998
Project Managers' start-up meeting, Washington D.C.
Training in bibliographic phase of the project
Training for scholarly evaluation phase of the project
Quality control workshop for libraries filming in phase 2
Identification of resources for compiling the bibliography
Development of subject headings list for each state
Begin searching and compilation phase
October December 1998
Review of bibliography scope documents from each state
Compilation of the bibliographies for each state
Start-up of the preservation stage of the project--continuing libraries
Benchmark approx. 20% of volumes completed--continuing libraries
January March 1999
Scholarly review and ranking of the bibliographies
Review of ranked bibliographies
Quality assurance consultant's visits to selected libraries
Continuation of preservation stage--continuing libraries
Completion of 30% of project volumes--continuing libraries
April June 30 1999
Preservation and quality assurance completed for 40% of project volumes
--continuing libraries
Start-up of preservation phase for new libraries; completion of 10% of volumes
--new libraries
Year Two
July September 1999
Project managers' meeting in New Orleans
Review progress and compare strategies
Preservation and quality assurance completed for 60% of project volumes
--continuing libraries and 30% of project volumes--new libraries
October December 1999
Preservation and quality assurance completed for 80% of project volumes
--continuing libraries and 50% of project volumes of new libraries
Completion of any needed refilming--continuing libraries
January March 2000
Preservation and quality assurance completed for 100% of project volumes
--continuing libraries
Preservation and quality assurance completed for 75% of project volumes
--new libraries
4. Plan of Work--Project Administration
April June 2000
Preservation and quality assurance completed for 100% of project volumes
-new libraries and needed refilming
Wrap-up of project activities
Notification of scholarly journals and societies
Publication of article on project results and methods
Creation of database of lists from each state of titles preserved and yet to be preserved, complete with
rankings
Completion of project final report
4. Plan of Work--Bibliographic Analysis
4.3 BIBLIOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AND SELECTION FOR
PRESERVATION
Over the last decade, research libraries and archives, with funding assistance from federal and private
sources, have mounted an impressive national effort to preserve our nation's endangered intellectual
heritage. As the program has evolved, so have the strategies for defining and selecting the highest
priority materials for preservation. A number of projects have employed the "great collections" model
introduced by the Research Libraries Group, whereby materials on a particular subject are preserved from
the "great" collection of an individual library. The use of the national bibliographic databases to
disseminate information about what has been preserved has allowed more than one "great collection"
library to work in a subject area without duplication of effort. However, this approach to selection for
preservation does not meet the need of scholars for the systematic preservation of the "core literature" of
a discipline. Nor does it meet the national program's need to be selective and cost-effective.
The preservation problem in research libraries is estimated to include over twelve million unique
published titles requiring preservation. When Congress increased funding for the National Endowment
for the Humanities in 1988, the national program was targeted to preserve a selected three million
volumes over a twenty-year period. Thus, at the same time that Congress and research libraries
acknowledged the urgency of the preservation problem, they also recognized that it would be impossible,
given financial realities, to preserve everything. While the "great collections" approach has been a
valuable component of the national program, when considered in the context of limited funding, it can
not meet the goal of developing a coordinated and focused strategy to preserve the highest priority
literature of individual disciplines.
The limitations of funding from both federal and local sources demand that the national program be
highly selective. Some preservation projects, in order to carefully target the national program to the
needs of scholars, have employed the strategy of a partnership between scholars and librarians to analyze
the literature and designate priorities. Such a strategy can be particularly effective when applied to a
specific discipline such as the history of agriculture and rural life.
In addition, to further advance the goals of coordination, cost-effectiveness, and selectivity, a powerful
strategy has begun to emerge whereby materials are designated for preservation based on a
comprehensive national plan for the preservation of the literature of a discipline. Such a plan defines and
analyzes the literature of an academic or research discipline, sets priorities for preservation, identifies the
major players, and organizes projects around logical topics or genre. Programs are underway in such
diverse disciplines as theology, biomedicine, performing arts, anthropology, geology, architecture, art
history, and agriculture. Through the experience of these programs and consensus among research
libraries and library consortia, national preservation planning, discipline by discipline, is emerging as a
rational and cost-efficient model for establishing priorities and designing projects.
The value of this model lies not only in its cost-effectiveness--there will never be enough resources to
preserve all materials in a particular discipline--but also in its involvement of scholars in the selection
process. Furthermore, the process of ranking the literature in terms of preservation priorities can provide
the basis for a series of incremental projects.
This project employs the model of a discipline-based preservation project and continues the work of the
phase 1 project. Its purpose is to preserve additional materials and improve access to them--thus
approaching a critical mass of the most significant publications that document the history of U.S.
agriculture and rural life between 1820 and 1945 from a diverse cross-section of states This cooperative
project will be conducted with ten land grant university libraries across the United States (and their
partners as appropriate) using the proven methodology for bibliographic analysis and evaluation
TABLE 2
PHASE 2 -- PROJECT OVERVIEW
Preserving the History of U.S. Agriculture and Rural Life 1820-1945
Participant
Titles Volumes $ per pam/mono/serial
Year 1
Year 2
1UU/o
Identify Only
Arkansas
Arizona
Iowa
Minnesota
Subtotal
$26,603
$23,720
$37,580
$20.572
$108,475
Total
100%
$26,603
$23,720
$37,580
620.572
$108.475
40% 60%
Identify and Preserve
California 1,666 1,842 88.33 $65,082 $97,622 $162,704
Florida 603 1,841 57.50 $42,343 $63,515 $105,858
Hawaii 560 875 129.26 $45,241 $67,862 $113,103
Montana 100 500 114.05 $22,810 $34,215 $57,025
Nebraska 739 1,125 61.86 $27,838 $41,758 $69,596
Texas 708 2,308 51.92/72.17 $61,970 $92,955 $154,925
Subtotal 4,376 8,491 $265,284 $397,927 $663,211
PROJECT TOTAL 4,376 8,491 $373,759 $397,927 $771,686
Project Administration
Direct Costs
Indirect Costs
NEH FUNDED
PROJECT TOTAL
$56,083
$89,240
$48,956
$29,398
$519,082 $476,281
$105,039
$118,638
$995,363
-----
$20,5
4. Plan of Work--Bibliographic Analysis
developed and implemented at Cornell University, in cooperation with the New York State Library, to
preserve New York State's agriculture and rural life literature and applied in a successful phase 1 project
(See Appendix C for an article describing this methodology and a report of the phase 1 project.)
This methodology has been tested and refined in Phase 1. At the second Phase 1 Project Managers
Meeting (to take place in San Francisco in June 1997) we will formally take stock of what thas been
learned through the experience of eight states (New York had already compiled it's bibliography) in
compiling their bibliographies and having them reviewed by scholars. Based on discussions with Phase 1
participants, their quarterly reports, and a meeting held at the USAIN Conference in Tuscon, AZ in April
1997, we know that the methodlogy has been successfully adapted to the needs of all eight states in Phase
1. We now have a growing body of librarians experienced in this methodology of selection for
preservation. Based on the conclusions of the formal discussions at the Phase 1 Project Managers
meeting and the final results of Phase 1, the bibliographic methodology and its variations in application
in the states will be written up in detail in an article for publication.
The plan of work is organized so that libraries first conduct a systematic bibliographic analysis and
evaluation of the materials with priorities for preservation determined by a team of scholars and
librarians. This stage of the project includes the following steps:
*Defining the scope of the literature
*Compiling a bibliography of the universe of publications within scope
*Conducting scholarly evaluation of the bibliography (ranking of citations)
*Setting preservation priorities for the body of literature
Each state then plans to preserve the top ranked 25% of titles identified through this process. At the
conclusion of the project, ranked lists of titles that were not preserved in the project (i.e. the balance of
the universe of publishing on the subject) are included in a USAIN-maintained database accessible via the
Internet. Also included are lists of titles preserved prior to or parallel with the project by commercial
filmers or libraries. These lists will provide guidance on preservation priorities for future efforts to
preserve a greater share of the universe of the relevant publishing in any of the states.
This approach focuses limited preservation funds on the most important materials first, provides a method
of measuring overall progress in preserving the published record of a discipline, and leaves for posterity a
record of what has been preserved and what hasn't.
Two project meetings will be held to provide training and direction in bibliographic analysis, scholarly
evaluation, and quality assurance, and to develop consensus about the utility and methodology of the
discipline-based approach to preservation and access projects.
4.3.1 Defining the Scope of the Literature
For the purpose of developing an estimate of the materials to be preserved, each state estimated the
universe of publications that constitute the published historical record of agriculture and its fundamental
relationship to the state's landscape, natural resources, rural society, and economy between 1820-1945.
Earlier imprints were excluded from consideration as nearly all are included in the Evans and the Shaw
and Shoemaker bibliographies and because as part of the NPPAL, the National Agriculture Library has
assumed preservation responsibility for early imprints. Later imprints were considered out-of-scope,
reflecting the fact that agriculture became agribusiness after World War II. Land grant and experiment
4. Plan of Work--Bibliographic Analysis
station publications previously filmed as part of the NAL sponsored cooperative microfilming project will
be excluded from this project.
The definition of rural society that will be covered by the project can be characterized by Dr. Albert R.
Mann's definition: "the study of associated or group activities of the people who live in the country
viewed from the standpoint of the effect of these activities on the character of the farm people
themselves." Also included is the effect of outside influences (e.g. advertising, technology, war,
immigration) on the activities and character of rural people and communities. Broad subject areas
include the following:
Rural society: family farming; the farm home and family; rural communities; standards of living in
rural communities; rural organizations, e.g. agricultural societies, Grange, Farm and Home bureau, 4-H,
and similar organizations, church and improvement societies; rural political organizations and farmers'
movements; farm demographics; rural communications: rural radio programming; the
centralization/consolidation of schools; nature study movement; country life movement; rural play and
recreation activities; county and local fairs; cooperative extension services; farm people's attitudes and
opinions; development of rural leadership; selected mail order catalogs of interest to farm families; role
of women in farm life and rural communities; role of immigrants and immigrant populations in rural
societies; employment of migrant workers; Rural Free Delivery; automobiles and rural life; rural
architecture; rural health and medical care; rural social services, welfare, and social security; rural art;
rural water supply and waste water treatment; rural land use and planning.
Rural economy: agricultural economics; farm organization and management; production economics;
food distribution; state food supply; statistical data; agricultural prices; marketing of agricultural
products; state agricultural and food policies; cooperatives; agricultural finance; land economics and land
use; land tenure; marketing of agricultural products; rural economy other than farm economy; food
imports.
Technical agriculture: farming, food and nonfood agricultural products; -major, minor, and
experimental crops; agronomic techniques, including plant breeding; animal science; forestry; crop
insects and diseases and their control; food science; agricultural engineering (farm equipment, farm
structures, agricultural technology); rural transportation; natural resources pertaining to agriculture (soils,
water, meteorology) and their conservation.
4.3.2 Compilation of the Bibliography for each State
During this stage of the project, participating libraries will systematically identify the universe of
publications on agriculture and rural life in their respective states. (For four of the states included in this
proposal, this work was accomplished during the Phase 1 project funded by NEH from June 1995 June
1997.) The object is to identify the state and local literature as a whole--not just the titles held in each of
the library's collections. Therefore, depending on the state, the lead library will seek the cooperation of
one or more other libraries such as the state library, state historical society library, another research
library, and/or the state's historically black land grant university in order to identify the universe of
relevant materials.
The first Project Managers Meeting will be held in conjunction with the 1998 annual meeting of the
American Library Association in Washington D.C. At this meeting, the project parameters established
during the proposal development stage and put into place during Phase 1 will be further refined.
Institutional project managers will receive training on the bibliographic process from Sam Demas and
Wallace Olsen. They will provide instruction and consultation on developing scope statements and the
compilation of the bibliographies, based on the methods developed in the New York State project and the
Phase 1 project.
4. Plan of Work--Bibliographic Analysis
Because the program is national in scope, the participants will come to final agreement at their first
meeting about those materials to be included and excluded from consideration based on subject and
topic, as well as considerations of format, date, provenance, and the likelihood of coverage in other
preservation projects. The project will exclude, for example, materials such as reprints, almanacs, daily
newspapers, state legislative documents. However, in the final analysis, each state will be responsible for
identifying their most important material relevant to the history of agriculture and rural life, therefore,
some differences in scope and subject matter will result from the process of refining the scope and
compiling the bibliography in each state.
Also at the start-up meeting, the participants will discuss the use of a database management programs for
compiling the bibliographies. The use of a database management program designed to handle
bibliographic references can facilitate downloading records from on-line systems, and allow merging,
sorting, and duplicate detection of records.
Following the start-up meeting, the participants will begin the project by:
1) developing a detailed description of the scope of their particular state's bibliography; see
Appendix D for an example from the New York project;
2) listing the sources they will use for compiling the bibliography; and
3) listing the subject headings to be used based on a modification of those used in the Phase 1
project.
By the end of the first three months of the project, they will also have hired or assigned staff and begun
the searching and compilation process so that questions about compilation can be fruitfully addressed at
this early stage. Libraries will generally employ a team consisting of a librarian and a support staff
person to compile the bibliography and prepare it for scholarly evaluation. The amount of time devoted
to this will vary from state to state, but typically it will involve a half-time librarian and half-time support
staff person for 3 5 months, depending on the size of the universe of materials. These personnel costs
are included in the project budget for each participant.
Three months into the project, the Project Director and Project Coordinator will review the products
developed in each state and provide additional guidance. Participants will be provided with materials
developed for the scholarly evaluation stage of the project. In addition, questions about the preservation
stage of the project will be addressed by the project's Quality Assurance Consultant. [Note: Those
participants needing further assistance in quality assurance procedures will also be visited at the start-up
of the preservation stage of the project. See section 4.4.4 Microfilming and Quality Assurance below.]
With the scope of each state bibliography determined, project participants will compile the bibliographies,
a process that will take approximately 2-4 months to complete and will involve an extensive review of
both print and electronic sources. Participants will work from the list of subject headings derived from
the original New York State project and Phase 1, but customized to reflect their state's agricultural history.
Selected subject headings and date parameters will be searched in each library's on-line catalog as well as
the databases of other libraries in the state and, as appropriate, in the national bibliographic databases.
Lists generated from on-line sources will be supplemented with citations from a wide variety of printed
sources, including scholarly bibliographies, dictionary catalogs, repository shelf-lists, source
bibliographies appended to book chapters and theses and dissertations, and lists of titles available from
agricultural publishers.
4. Plan of Work--Bibliographic Analysis
4.3.3 Scholarly Evaluation and Ranking
Following compilation of the state bibliographies, each library will engage a scholarly review panel of
three to five individuals to review and rank the titles in the bibliography for preservation priority
according to the rating scheme described below. (See Section 5, Preservation Profiles and Project Staff
for the list of scholarly reviewers from each state.) Reviewers were selected for their knowledge of
agriculture and/or state history and chosen to reflect different backgrounds and points of view. Each
reviewer will be paid an honorarium ($450 per person in most cases; these costs are included in the per
volume cost for each state) for his or her services as a consultant to the project and asked to deliver the
completed product within six weeks. Based on the Phase 1 experience, it is estimated that each reviewer
will spend approximately eight hours reviewing the list, usually over a period of several weeks.
Prior to distributing the bibliography for review, each project library will host a meeting for the reviewers
to discuss the project as a whole, the scope of the bibliography and the compilation process, and the
rating scheme and scholarly review process. This meeting will help insure that reviewers are apply the
rating scheme in a similar manner and that questions are addressed up front.
Monograph citations will be separated into approximately ten subject categories to help structure the
review process and make it easier for the reviewers to consider each title within the context of the subject
matter and the time period of the publication. Likewise, serials titles will be arranged in categories
depending upon the type of publication ( e.g. serials about state agriculture, land grant university
publications, etc.). Reviewers will also receive a separate list of the titles that have already been preserved
in an acceptable preservation format. (See Section 4.4.1 Searching and Identification below.)
Following the meeting, the reviewers will be asked to determine the relative importance of each title for
historical research in the humanities, as compared to other titles within the same list and according to the
following scheme:
First Priority: Very important historical title, of critical importance to preserve in this grant
project.
Second Priority: Important title definitely worth preserving in this grant project, funds permitting.
Third Priority: Worth preserving at some time, but of a lower priority.
Fourth Priority: Not worth preserving.
In addition to the scholarly reviewers, the institutional project managers, or another appropriate person in
the institution, will also evaluate the list from the point of view of an agriculture bibliographer. A review
by a practicing librarian will contribute a broad perspective on how the materials are used by students and
scholars in many disciplines and a sense of the relative scarcity of the publications.
Following the rating process, the results for each title will be averaged and ranges assigned in order to sort
the titles into logical and manageable priority groups. For example, in New York, titles that fell into the
1.0 1.5 range became first priority titles; titles that fell into the 1.6 to 2.0 range were ranked second
priority for the project. The experience of the original New York State project and the Phase 1 project
was that there was remarkable similarity in the way that historians viewed the literature. A random
sampling of the ratings showed that the four reviewers rated each title either the same or one rating apart
more than 90% of the time.
4. Plan of Work--Bibliographic Analysis
4.3.4 Priority Selection for Preservation
Setting preservation priorities by the use of a rated bibliography is more time-consuming than the more
typical model for a preservation project that selects deteriorated materials within a subject and time period
from the shelves of a library with a great collection. However, the premise of this proposal is that a
thorough bibliographic and scholarly evaluation project can objectively and authoritatively set
preservation priorities for a discipline, thus setting the stage for the conduct of a systematic preservation
program. Such a methodology allows individual projects to be undertaken at cooperating institutions at
different times--as funding permits and without losing momentum. Most importantly, however, the use
of a rated bibliography as a selection tool for preservation ensures that the most important materials in a
discipline will be preserved first. Thus, given the realities of limited funding for preservation, this more
time-consuming approach to selection may actually be the most effective and appropriate strategy for the
national program.
Funds requested for preservation in the Phase 2 project are based on the actual quantity of material of
highest priority selected for preservation by scholars during Phase 1 in California, Florida, Nebraska, and
Texas. Funds requested for identification, selection, and preservation of materials in Hawai'i and
Montana and for identification and selection in Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, and Minnesota were established
based on the estimates of the universe of materials provided by the project libraries during the
development of the proposal, as well as on the experience of prior projects.
The budget requested for each state is estimated to be sufficient to preserve those materials that have been
or will be ranked priority one and two by the scholarly reviewers. The goal of the project is to preserve
approximately 25% of the universe of materials so that when those titles that have already been preserved
(22% in New York State; estimated to be 10-20% in most states) are considered, approximately 35-45%
of the universe of materials will have been preserved. This is consistent with the outcome of the New
York State project and the Phase 1 project. Project libraries are committed to preserve any remaining
priority two materials within their local preservation programs, as funding permits. In addition to
preserving the most important materials on the history of agriculture and rural life; this project will also
establish priorities for preserving the remaining historical record.
A second project managers meeting will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American
Library Association in New Orleans in June 1999.
4.4 PROCEDURES AND STANDARDS
Throughout the project, participants will adhere to specifications, guidelines, and standards from the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the
Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM), the Research Libraries Group (RLG), and
the Library of Congress. These specifications and standards apply to the physical and bibliographic
preparation of materials for microfilming; the bibliographic control of microfilm masters for
monographs and serials; the preservation microfilming of library materials; processing, duplication,
inspection, and quality assurance procedures for preservation microfilm; and the housing and storage of
master negative microfilms completed for the project.
The Project Coordinator will work with the institutional Project Managers to ensure that staff from
participating libraries have access to and appropriate knowledge of all standards, specifications, and
guidelines to be used in the project. In addition, Ann Swartzell, Head of Preservation Replacement and
Library Photographic Services at the University of California-Berkeley, will serve as Quality Assurance
Consultant to the project. She will conduct a formal review of quality assurance procedures for those
4. Plan of Work--Procedures and Standards
participants that are microfilming materials in Phase 2 at the start-up meeting in June 1999. In addition,
upon the recommendation of the Project Director, USAIN will arrange and finance a follow-up visit by
the consultant to those libraries needing additional assistance with the establishment and implementation
of quality assurance procedures. Although all participating libraries have experience with microfilm
reformatting, the coordination of project procedures will also include linking libraries less experienced in
the conduct of preservation projects with experienced participants in a mentor/prot6g6 relationship so that
questions about procedures and practical advice on setting up local routines will be immediately
available.
4.4.1 Searching and Identification
In the course of the bibliographic analysis and selection phase of the project, (see Section 4.3.2 above),
project staff will search for and identify all relevant titles, using both print and electronic sources. The
national bibliographic databases, OCLC and RLIN, will be searched both to identify titles, as well as to
determine whether titles identified from other sources have already been preserved on archival quality
microfilm. Working with the Project Director and Project Coordinator, guidelines will be established to
determine when a microfilm copy is an acceptable preservation replacement.
As a result of these and other searching strategies, the project libraries will collect information on which
relevant titles have already been microfilmed. A list of titles, both monographic and serial, that are
suitably preserved will be provided to the scholarly reviewers in addition to the list that they will be asked
to evaluate and rank in order to establish the priorities for the project. This will insure that the reviewers
are given an appropriate context in which to judge the importance of material.
Priority one and two materials selected for inclusion in the project (see Sections 4.3.3 and 4.3.4 above)
will be retrieved from the library's collection or requested on interlibrary loan from another cooperating
library in the state. Because on-line catalogs are typically an inadequate source for detailed holdings
information for serials, project staff will conduct additional searches of manual serial records as well as
checking the shelves.
4.4.2 Physical Preparation
Each of the project libraries microfilming materials in Phase 2 will carry out the preparation of materials
for microfilming according to guidelines established by the Research Libraries Group for their
cooperative projects, and published in the RLG Preservation Microfilming Handbook (March 1992),
pages 20-35.
Physical preparation begins with page-by-page collation of the material to check the order and
completeness of individual monographic volumes and serial runs. Every effort will be made to ensure
that microfilmed material is complete by obtaining photocopies of missing pages or borrowing missing
volumes or issues from other libraries. Items will be identified that need page repair, temporary removal
of foldouts, or disbinding before they can be successfully microfilmed. Also at this stage, microfilm reel
programming for serial titles will take place to prepare the list of volumes and issues being filmed and the
reels on which they will appear. This list will appear at the beginning of each microfilm reel for a serial
title.
Serials will be processed for microfilming in advance of monographs to allow time to locate and obtain
any missing issues.
Microfilm targets to be filmed in conjunction with the original materials, including technical targets and
bibliographic record targets, will be prepared and assembled by preservation staff, or by the filming agent
when so instructed, according to RLG guidelines.
4. Plan of Work--Procedures and Standards
When titles and volumes are complete and in filmable condition, they will be cataloged so that a printout
of the on-line bibliographic record can be microfilmed along with the original materials.
4.4.3 Bibliographic Control and Record Distribution
Immediately prior to microfilming, bibliographic records for each title will be entered into the library's
on-line catalog in conformance with the ARL Guidelines for Bibliographic Control of Microform
Masters for.both monographs and serials. These documents are based upon existing national cataloging
rules and interpretations for creating catalog records, including Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, the
Library of Congress Name Authority File, the CONSER Editing Guide, and the Library of Congress
classification schedules and cataloging manuals. If no subject headings are present on existing catalog
records, one subject heading will be added.
Master negative information will be included in the reproduction note (533) and physical description
(007) fields of the MARC record according to national standards. Holding statements for serial titles will
be summarized in the reproduction note (field 533, subfield M) according to guidelines established by
ARL and CONSER. This will ensure that information about the extent of preservation of a particular
serial title will be available nationally.
All machine-readable bibliographic records for project materials will be entered into OCLC or RLIN
either through direct input or tape loading, according to local practice. Bibliographic records for master
negative microforms entered into OCLC and RLIN are exchanged monthly.
4.4.4 Microfilming and Quality Assurance
Of the six institutions microfilming selected materials in the Phase 2 project, five will contract with
filming agencies for microfilming services and one library will microfilm materials in-house. Each
project participant procured at least two bids for services and chose the filming agent most capable of
doing preservation quality work at a reasonable cost and within the time frame of the project. A
description of the filming agents chosen is included Section 5, in the description of Project Staff for each
participating library. Copies of vendor quotes and supporting material are available for examination
from the Project Director.
All project participants, or their filming agents, will produce three generations of polyester-based silver-
gelatin 35 mm microfilm for each volume in the project including the camera master negative, a
duplicate negative to be used for producing additional copies, and a positive film copy for use and
interlibrary loan. The microfilm will be produced according to relevant ANSI/AIIM standards and the
technical microfilming guidelines published in the RLG Preservation Microfilming Handbook (pages 36-
44).
Quality Assurance Consultant, Ann Swartzell, Head of Preservation Replacement and Library
Photographic Services at the University of California-Berkeley, will be hired to work with the Project
Coordinator and participants to help ensure the quality of the preservation microfilm produced for the
project. The QA Consultant will conduct a one-day workshop during the first project managers meeting;
the focus of the workshop will be to make sure that project participants have the information they need to
develop local QA routines and ensure that the preservation product meets all applicable national
standards and relevant guidelines. The QA consultant will work with the Project Coordinator and project
participants to develop a letter of agreement governing the work of microfilmers. Finally, the QA
Consultant will make a site visit to those libraries that need additional help in establishing QA routines.
4. Plan of Work--Procedures and Standards
The project participants will be responsible for ensuring the quality of all film produced for the project--
whether produced in-house or by a filming agent. A quality assurance report form will be established for
the project to assist libraries in their examination and certification of completed film. In general, the
project will follow the quality assurance procedures developed by the Research Libraries Group for their
cooperative projects and described in the RLG technical microfilming guidelines.
4.4.5 Access to Preserved Materials
Service copies of all microfilms created in the project will be available to users through Interlibrary Loan,
as well as on-site in the libraries. Copies of the microfilm will be available for purchase at cost by other
institutions or individuals, subject to copyright restrictions. The availability of preserved titles will be
made known through the distribution of bibliographic records to the national bibliographic databases,
OCLC and RLIN.
4.4.6 Storage of Master Negative Microfilms
Duplicate negatives will be maintained by the project libraries in facilities that are appropriate for
microfilm storage; they will be used, as needed, to make service copies. All first generation master
negative microfilm produced in the project will be sent to the National Library of Agriculture (NAL) as
security against any unforeseen damage to the duplicate negative, and for preservation in perpetuity as
part of the national preservation program for agriculture and rural life (See Appendix B, letter of support
from NAL).
Project materials will be stored according to established temperature and humidity levels set forth in
ANSI PH1.43-1985 American National Standard Practice for Storage of Processed Safety Photographic
Film. Film enclosures will conform to ANSI IT9.2-1989, Imaging Media- Photographic Processed Films,
Plates, and Papers Filing Enclosures and Storage Containers.
In Phase 1 the Project Director and Project Coordinator have worked with staff-at NAL to establish
procedures for identifying and labeling master negatives. In Phase 2 a schedule for shipping project
materials to NAL will be established at the second project managers meeting in New Orleans.
SECTION 5
PRESERVATION PROFILES AND PROJECT STAFF
5. Preservation Profiles
For each of the nine participating state and libraries, the following section includes:
*a description of state and institutional preservation programs and activities;
*a description of project staff and their responsibilities, and the selection of a microfilming
vendor;
*a description of professional backgrounds of each of the scholars on the review panel; and
*a summary plan of work and project budget.
5.1 ARIZONA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
The state of Arizona has not yet developed a comprehensive statewide preservation plan. However, a
number of institutions maintain collections of special materials for which standard preservation
techniques are employed. These institutions include the Arizona State Library, the Arizona Historical
Society, the Arizona State Museum, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the
University of Arizona. Preservation techniques used for special materials include environmental controls
(temperature, humidity, and lighting), protective enclosures, and archival repairs to damaged materials.
Microfilming, photocopying, and digitization of materials are not routinely employed to preserve
materials in these collections but are occasionally used to provide customer access to the content of
extremely fragile materials.
Preservation efforts for materials in the general collections of the three university libraries focus on
repair, binding and rebinding, phase boxing. Collections are not systematically examined to identify
damaged materials, but items are replaced or microfilmed when damage is identified by customers or
library staff in the course of routine use. A preservation planning committee at the University of Arizona
Library presented a report in December 1990 outlining recommendations including the addition of a
preservation officer, allocation of resources and education to support preservation, improvement of
environmental conditions, and interinstitutional coordination. A preservation team at Northern Arizona
University commissioned a 1993 survey by AMIGOS to assess conditions and environment in their
building. Arizona State University appointed a preservation officer in 1996.
While no formal statewide plan or structure exists to support preservation activities in Arizona, staff at
Arizona institutions rely on an informal network to communicate with and advise each other on
preservation concerns and strategies. The Arizona State Library provides preservation support within the
state through workshops.
University of Arizona USAIN Project Staff
The University of Arizona's contribution to the project will be managed by Douglas Jones, Team Leader
for the Science-Engineering Team. He will be assisted by Teresa Salazar, preservation specialist for
Special Collections. Mr. Jones will coordinate the activities of project participants, the scholarly review
panel and assist in developing cooperative efforts with other institutions. Ms. Salazar will assist in
developing the bibliography and provide expertise on preservation issues.
Jane Matter will conduct the day-to-day activities of the project. In addition to the MLS, she holds an
M.A. in biology and has provided reference and collection management service to agriculture faculty
and students as well as other science users. The duties of the project librarian will include surveying all
relevant libraries in the state to identify publications falling within the parameters of the project. She will
5. Preservation Profiles
also be also be responsible for researching bibliographies and research studies on the history of
agriculture and rural life in Arizona. Assisting her will be Robert Mautner, now retired, former director
of the Science-Engineering Library.
In addition, a Library Ad Hoc USAIN Preservation Project Committee will be formed to provide
additional expertise and support for the project. Members will be drawn from the Science-Engineering
Team; the Social Sciences Team; Research Archives, Museums and Special Collections; and the
Interlibrary Loan Staff. Cataloging will take place under the direction of Robert Renaud, Team Leader
for the Bibliographic Access Team.
The project team will be ably assisted by a scholarly panel of historians and scientists with extensive
experience in the study of Arizona agriculture and rural life.
Arizona Scholarly Review Panel
Dr. Bruce Dinges is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Arizona History and Director of Publications at the
Arizona Historical Society. Previously he served on the editorial staff of The Papers of Jefferson Davis
and The Journal of Southern History. From 1978-1986 he was assistant, associate, and acting editor for
Arizona & the West. He received his doctorate in American history from Rice University and has taught
Arizona history at the University of Arizona and Pima Community College. His numerous articles and
book reviews have appeared in journals such as the Western Historical Quarterly, Journal of the West,
Arizona & the West, Journal of the Southwest, American Indian Quarterly, and Southwestern Historical
Quarterly. He regularly reviews manuscripts for university presses, serves as Executive Director of the
Arizona Historical Convention, and is Regional Vice President for Westerners International.
Dr. Nancy J. Parezo (Ph.D. University of Arizona, 1981), is curator of Ethnology at the Arizona State
Museum and Research Professor in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. She teaches
courses on contemporary Indian America, North American art, museum and cultural preservation,
methodology, professional skills and ethics. Her research interests focus on the Native American
Southwest, with special emphasis on culture change and religion, material culture, art, the history of
anthropology and museums and their collecting activities among Native peoples, and have resulted in
numerous books and articles. She has worked extensively in bibliographic construction and is the author
and compiler of the two-volume Southwest Native American Visual Arts and Material Culture: A
Resource Guide. Garland Press (1991) a project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities
(completed with students R. Perry and R. Allen). She is also the author of Navajo Sandpaintings,
Daughters of the Desert (with Barbara Babcock), Hidden Scholars, and Paths of Life (with Thomas
Sheridan). A current project, undertaken with Dr. Sydel Silverman and Don Fowler, involves a national
initiative to preserve irreplaceable anthropological data and has resulted in a recent edited publication
Preserving the Anthropological Record, first and second edition.
Dr. George Ruyle is Program Chair, Rangeland and Forest Resources--a part of the School of Renewable
Natural Resources within the College of Agriculture at the University of Arizona. He has served as
Research Scientist and Range Management Extension Specialist at the University of Arizona and held
similar positions at Utah State University, UC Davis and UC Berkeley. In 1990 he was Adjunct Professor,
Gerald Thomas Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at New Mexico State University. Approximately 70%
of Arizona land is classified as rangeland and Dr. Ruyle received his M.S. in Range Management from
UC Berkeley and his Ph.D in Range Science from Utah State University. His professional service
includes serving on the Committee on Rangeland Classification of the National Academy of Sciences,
Rangeland Assessment and Monitoring Committee of the Society for Range Management, President of
the Arizona Section, Society for Range Management, and an invited participant in the Office of
Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress project on Agriculture, Trade, and the Environment (1993-
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1995). He has published over 70 book chapters, journal articles, published symposia and extension
publications.
Dr. Thomas E. Sheridan is Curator of Ethnohistory at the Arizona State Museum and Adjunct Associate
Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. He has conducted ethnographic fieldwork and
historical research in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico since 1971 and received his
Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. From 1982-84, he directed the Mexican Heritage
Project of the Arizona Historical Society under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Currently he works in association with the Documentary Relations of the Southwest at the Arizona State
Museum. Dr. Sheridan has written or co-edited ten books and monographs including Los Tucsonenses:
The Mexican Community of Tucson, 1854-1941, Arizona: A History, and Paths of Life: American
Indians of the Southwest and Northern Mexico. Dr. Sheridan also edits the SMRC-Newsletter, the
quarterly publication of the Southwestern Mission Research Center, of which he is a member of the board
of directors. Honors include Certification of Commendation from the American Association of State and
Local History for publications on Arizona history. Upcoming publications include Contested Ground:
comparative Frontiers on the Northern and Southern Edges of the Spanish Empire in the Americas
(1998) and The Southwest: A Cultural History (1997).
University of Arizona Plan of Work and Project Budget
Over the course of the project, the University of Arizona Library, in cooperation with other libraries in
the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Arizona and the Southwest. The project will employ a four-person scholarly
review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies, and
target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 4,000 volumes to be preserved in a
subsequent project.
Project Budget
Identification (staff and online searching) $ 14,380
Travel in-state to identify and locate materials 1,500
Selection by scholarly review panel 2,000
project management 3,840
travel to project meetings 2,000
Total project cost $ 23,720
5.2 ARKANSAS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS,
FAYETTEVILLE
As the largest research library in the state, the University of Arkansas Libraries has been involved with
preservation activities both within the library and statewide. In the early 1980s, the University Libraries
participated in the National Agricultural Library Cooperative Project for agricultural publications.
Materials filmed as part of this endeavor include Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station circulars,
special reports, leaflets, bulletins, and annual reports, as well as similar materials from the Arkansas
Agricultural Extension Service.
Beginning in 1986, in cooperation with the Arkansas History Commission, the University Libraries served
as project site for the Arkansas Newspaper Project. Supported in large part by the National Endowment
for the Humanities, the Newspaper Project helped to preserve (via microfilm) over 1,150 volumes of
5. Preservation Profiles
newspapers and more than 3,000 single or scattered issues. Approximately 3,300 catalog records and
9,600 holdings records were created or updated by the end of the project in 1993. The Arkansas Union
List of Newspapers was also created as one of the end products.
Although the University Libraries does not have a separate conservation or preservation department, it
does have staff and appropriate equipment to microfilm materials on a selected basis. This work is
administered through the Special Collections Division, where the filming of newspapers, serials,
monographs, and archival materials is handled. The Arkansas Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin is an
example of one of the more recent titles that was filmed. The University Libraries also has a separate
Binding Department with a staff of three to coordinate work with a private vendor as well as administering
in-house preservation needs.
University of Arkansas USAIN Project Staff
Michael J. Dabrishus, head of Special Collections at the University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville, will
serve as project manager. He will be responsible for the overall success of the project including attending
project meetings and directing the work of the Scholarly Review Panel. Lutishoor Salisbury, reference
librarian for agriculture, will be responsible for creating the bibliography of material pertaining to
agriculture and rural sociology. She will also travel to libraries in Arkansas that are known to have
relevant materials and create a preliminary lis tof titles. She will also supervise the library Assistant II,
who will be responsible for internet and OCLC searches.
The Project team will be ably assisted by a scholarly panel of historians and scientists with extensive
experience in the study of Arkansas agriculture and rural life.
Arkansas Scholarly Review Panel
Donald E. Voth received his Ph.D. in rural sociology from Cornell University in 1969. He served as
assistant and associate professor of sociology and community development at Southern Illinois University
from 1969 to 1974. He has been an associate professor and professor of rural sociology in the
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville,
since 1974. His areas of specialization include rural sociology, community development, and Southeast
Asia Studies. Dr. Voth has published widely on community development, small farm and structure of
agricultural issues, international development, and evaluation. "A Diagnosis of the Forest Service's 'Social
Context'" and "Selective Migration and the Educational 'Brain Drain' from the Lower Mississippi Delta
Region in 1975-1980" are simply two of his more recent journal articles. Dr. Voth has served committee
appointments in the Rural Sociology Society, the Community Development Society, and the Association
for Farming Systems Research/Extension. Currently he serves on the Council of the Southern Sustainable
Agriculutral Research and Education Program, and as chairman of the Ouachita National Forest's
Ecosystem Management Advisory Committee. During the last twenty years Dr. Voth has worked
extensively with the community development program of Agricultural Education and the Future Farmers
of America, Building our American Communities, for which he was awarded the title "Honorary
American Farmer" in 1983. In April 1995, he served with a team assessing the USAID-funded and NGO-
implemented Productive Land Use Systems project in Haiti; in February and March of 1996, he was team
leader for a USAID evaluation of the Southern African Coordinating Commission for Agricultural
Research in Botswana, and in July of 1996 he led a faculty-student team to perform an assessment of the
potential of the former Dauphin Plantation area of northeastern Haiti.
Jeannie M. Whayne received her Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego, in 1989. She taught
for one year (1989-1990) at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, before accepting
a faculty position with the Department of History at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. In addition
to her teaching responsibilities, Whayne is editor of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, an assignment that
5. Preservation Profiles
she has held since her arrival. She is also Secretary-Treasurer of the Arkansas Historical Association.
Since 1990 she has published four articles, edited two books, co-edited two books, and published one
book on her own. A book that she co-edited, Arkansas Delta: Land of Paradox, won the Virginia C.
Ledbetter Prize in 1993. Another book that she co-edited, The Governors of Arkansas, received a
Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History in 1996. She received an
unprecedented second Commendation that same year for the book she edited entitled Cultural
Encounters in the Early South: Indians and Europeans in Arkansas. She has presented papers at
professional conferences and has received two fellowships: one was a pre-doctoral fellowship at the
Smithsonian Institution in 1987-1988; the other a post-doctoral fellowship at the Carter Woodson
Institute in 1992-1993. The latter fellowship provided her with the opportunity to revise her dissertation
for publication, resulting in A New Plantation South: Land, Labor, and Federal Favor in Twentieth
Century Arkansas, (1996). She has served committee appointments in the Agricultural History Society,
the Southern Historical Association, and the Southern Association of Women Historians. She was
recently elected to serve a three-year term as secretary-treasurer of the Conference of Historical Journals.
Roy C. Rom received his Ph.D. in horticulture and soils from the University of Wisconsin in 1958. He
taught at the University of Arkansas from 1958 until his retirement in 1990. His courses included tree
fruit science, concepts in temperate zone pomology, freshmen scholars seminar, and graduate
colloquium. During his professional career he conducted research in the following areas of Pomology:
rootstocks; nutrition; cultivar evaluation; and herbicides. -He was also active in peach and apple breeding
programs. The apple cultivar Arkcharm that he developed was recently released in Europe, and others
are pending release in the United States. He has had over two hundred publications in professional
journals, proceedings of professional meetings, popular magazines, and newsletters. For four years he
wrote the monthly column "Research Resource and Review" for Peach Times. He was senior editor for
the book Rootstock for Fruit Crops (1987). He wrote five chapters for the book The Peach (1990).
Included among his numerous awards are the following: National Peach Council Distinguished Service
Award, 1984; International Dwarf Fruit Tree Association Service Award, 1983; American Pomological
Society Wilder Medal, 1985; Gerber Products Agriculture Achievement Award, 1987; and Fellow of the
American Society for Horticultural Science, 1981. Dr. Rom is also the owner and manager of the Rom
Family Apple Orchard.
University of Arkansas Plan of Work and Project Budget
Over the course of the project, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville Libraries, in cooperation with other
libraries in the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the
study of agriculture and rural life in Arkansas and the South. The project will employ a three-person
scholarly review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities
studies, and target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 9,000 volumes to be preserved
in a subsequent project.
Project Budget
Identification (staff and online searching) $ 18,093
Travel in-state to identify and locate materials 3,000
Selection by scholarly review panel 1,350
project management 2,160
travel to project meetings 2,000
Total project cost $ 26,603
5. Preservation Profiles
5.3 CALIFORNIA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
-BERKELEY
The Conservation Department of the Library, University of California, Berkeley, has played a pivotal role
in statewide preservation planning, training and production activity in a variety of programs. Under
contract to the State Library, the UC Berkeley Conservation Department staff prepared a simple survey
instrument and trained a sample group to use the tool (CALIPR, 1991) to undertake. a statewide
preservation needs assessment process. A comprehensive process of regional meetings, planning
documents and open review sessions was also undertaken to develop statewide goals and objectives for a
preservation program. The culmination of this work, The California Preservation Program (May, 1995),
was produced by the UC Conservation Department.
The Conservation Department also has worked to coordinate preservation activity within the nine campus
University of California system. A report Conservation of the Collection (1985, revised 1988) led to an
initial state allocation to the nine campus system and an early effort of this group was the NEH-funded
Preservation Implementation Project (1985- 87) developed by UC Berkeley to train a preservation
administrator for each of the other eight campuses. The Conservation Department has continued this
training effort with LSCA funding among institutions in the Bay Area and, with NEH funds, sponsorship
of a series of training programs for conservation technicians nationally.
As a foundation to its statewide activity, the Conservation Department includes four operational units--
Binding Preparation, Conservation Treatment, Preservation Replacement and Library Photographic
Service--and works towards the goal of maintaining the eight million volumes of the UC Berkeley
collection in usable condition to support the university's mission of teaching and research. In addition to
the training programs mentioned above, the Conservation Department has conducted a series of NEH
proposals for microfilming volumes supporting research in Western European (13,416 volumes, 1988-
91), Latin American (11,530 volumes, 1991-1993) and Eastern European and Slavic (projected 10,000
volumes, 1993-1995) language materials. Other microfilming projects have included participation in a
number of the Research Libraries Group "Great Collections" proposals and on-going projects with
foreign institutions, such as the National Institute of Language Study, Japan, and the state government
archives of Tabasco, Mexico. Berkeley also participated in a project to microfilm California land grant
publications in the late 1970's, in cooperation with the National Agricultural Library. Berkeley's program
over the long term will continue to address the immediate needs of scholars and students for access to
individual titles, and to review collections systematically, giving priority to national and internationally
significant collections.
University of California, Berkeley USAIN Project Staff
Berkeley's participation in the phase 2 project will be co-managed by Norma Kobzina, Head, Information
Services and Bioscience and Natural Resources Librarian, and Ann Swartzell, Head of the Preservation
Replacement and Library Photographic Service units. During phase 1, Ms. Kobzina was responsible for
bibliographic analysis and selection including developing and refining the scope of the bibliography,
compiling the citations and coordinating the work of the scholarly reviewers. She was assisted by staff of
the Bioscience and Natural Resources Library who participated in the compilation of the bibliography
including bibliographic verification work and location of titles. Upon completion, the bibliography was
referred to a four-person scholarly review panel to rank the titles according to their importance as
research resources for humanities studies. In the phase 2 project, Ms. Swartzell will be responsible for
preservation activities-managing the microfilming completed by the Conservation Department's Library
Photographic Service and ensuring compliance with all preservation and access standards and guidelines
for the project.
5. Preservation Profiles
The University of California, Berkeley, Library Conservation Department secured bids for producing
preservation microfilm from Bay Microfilm, Inc. (Sunnyvale, California) and the Departments' own
Library Photographic Service (LPS). In past projects, they have also used the services of University
Microfilms. For the current project, LPS services will be used for microfilm production. LPS prices are
comparable to those of the commercial sector and also offer the high quality needed for the product.
Using LPS allows project cost savings in regard to packing and shipping of materials and continued
access (if needed) by patrons. LPS is experienced in preservation microfilming of archival and printed
library materials and has completed filming which meets ANSI/AIIM specifications and RLG guidelines
for a number of NEH sponsored projects.
California Scholarly Review Panel
Morton Rothstein is Professor Emeritus at University of California, Davis; he has been in the History
Department since 1984, and is widely known in the field of agricultural history. He received his BA.
from Brooklyn College in 1954, and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1960. Prior to obtaining his
doctorate, Professor Rothstein did postgraduate work at the London School of Economics from 1956-57.
He taught at the University of Delaware, then went on to hold several positions at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison; he was a professor of history and agricultural economics until 1984, and chaired the
department from 1969-72. Prof. Rothstein is a member and officer of numerous prestigious
organizations and associations in agricultural history, and was an NEH Fellow from 1976-77 and 1983.
He served as the Editor of Agricultural History from 1984 to 1994, and has published extensively. His
research is primarily in American agricultural history, the late nineteenth century United States, and the
antebellum southern economy. Major publications which he has edited or authored include: The History
of California Agriculture : an Updated Bibliography (1991); Outstanding in his Field : Perspectives on
American Agriculture in honor of Wayne D. Rasmussen (1993); Quantitative Studies in Agrarian History
(1993); and The California Wheat Kings (1987).
Ann Foley Scheuring is a noted writer in the field of California agriculture, especially in the history of
the state and university. She worked at the University of California, Davis as an editor and writer.
Although she took early retirement in 1992, she has continued her affiliation with UC Davis as a frequent
consultant on projects and publications. She graduated from the University of Portland, earned a
Master's degree in English at the University of California, Berkeley, and taught English literature and
composition for a number of years at colleges in California and Illinois. In 1974 Ann moved with her
family to Davis, where she earned a second Master's degree in community education. She served eight
years on the Yolo County Planning Commission and is active in numerous community organizations.
She and her husband David, a walnut grower, live on a farm in the Capay Valley along Cache Creek. Her
major publications include A Guidebook to California Agriculture (1983)--a standard reference on the
state's farming economy; Competition of California Water (1982), a collection of studies relating to the
state's water resources. She was co-editor of Global Climate Change and California (1991), a collection
relating to the possible impact of projected climate change. In 1988 she published A Sustaining
Comradeship: The Story of University of California Cooperative Extension, 1913-1988. Most recently
she produced Science and Service: a History of the Land Grant University and Agriculture in California
(1995). She is also the editor of numerous shorter publications.
Dr. Garrison Sposito, Professor of Soil Physics and Chemistry in the Department of Environmental
Science Policy and Management at the University of California, is well known in the fields of soil science
and minerals. He received his Ph.D. from Berkeley, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors.
He was a Fulbright Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, and is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and
the Soil Science Society of America. He has served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on
Women in Science and Engineering since 1990. He has authored numerous books and articles in the
fields of environmental and physical chemistry, most recently Chemical Equilibria and Kinetics in Soils
(Oxford University Press, 1994). He is particularly interested in the history of soils research, and has been
5. Preservation Profiles
working extensively with the papers of Hans Jenny, who did the primary identification of soil types. He
has also done in-depth work with the writings of Eugene Hilgard. Prior to teaching at UC Berkeley, he
taught at UC Riverside. Professor Sposito has.just been elected to the Academy of Agriculture of France.
He is one of only 60 non-French citizens to become a member.
Dr. Kenneth Carpenter is Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Sciences, UC Berkeley; his research in the
fields of vitamins and amino acids is widely known. He received his Doctorate in Science from
Cambridge University, and taught at Cambridge and at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen prior to coming
to the United States. He received the Atwater Medal from the U.S.D.A. in 1993, having been instrumental
in organizing the papers of the first director of the Office of Experiment Stations. He is the author of
several books, including The History of Scurvy and Vitamin C (1986) and Protein and Energy: a study
of Changing Ideas in Nutrition (1993), as well as numerous articles. He was a Fellow of the American
Institute of Nutrition, a Kellogg Fellow at Harvard University, a Commonwealth Fellow at the Food
Research Institute in Mysore, India, and is a member of the British Nutrition Society. His work on the
history of nutrition is world-renowned.
University of California-Berkeley Project Budget
Universe of volumes captured in the bibliography: 13,000
Number of volumes to be preserved: 1,842
Number of titles to be preserved: 1,666
Cost per volume
Identification and selection completed in phase 1
Pre- and post-filming $ 17.74
Bibliographic control and record distribution 3.05
Microfilming, 3 generations 57.60
Local inspection 1.91
Additional local costs 8.03
Total cost per volume $ 88.33
Total project cost $ 162,704
5.4 FLORIDA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Preservation activities in the State of Florida are organized regionally, within the State's several library
information networks. Coordination has been provided by the State Library, through use of LSCA funds,
and by the Florida Library Association's Preservation Caucus. LSCA funded education projects over the
last seven years have funded basic preservation education workshops, repeated around the state and
organized in coordination with SOLINET's Preservation Program to present topics and teach skills from
disaster preparedness and response to environmental monitoring, and from book repair to preservation
administration.
In 1993 and 1994, a Preservation Planning Task Force of the Preservation Caucus determined that the
state's interests, needs, and preparedness for preservation were diverse and should not be organized into a
centralized statewide program. Instead, the Task Force endorsed the continued development of
preservation within the established Library Information Networks-including the Tampa Bay Consortium
(TBC), the SouthEast Florida Library Information Network (SEFLIN), and the NorthEast Florida Library
5. Preservation Profiles
Information Network (NEFLIN)--which had already begun preservation programs within their regions
emphasizing educational outreach. NEFLIN has since begun to expand its collection and coordination
of environmental monitoring data, supported assistance in developing analyses of that data, and begun to
develop training sessions utilizing the resources of the University of Florida.
The Preservation Department at the University of Florida was established in 1987 and includes a
Reprographics Unit and Brittle Books Program, a Commercial Binding Preparations and Processing Unit,
and a Conservation Unit. The Department currently employs 10 FTE professionals and paraprofessionals
with 8 FTE student assistants, as well as additional FTE liaisons in the main and branch libraries. The
Department is chaired by Erich Kesse, a graduate of the Conservation and Preservation Programs at
Columbia University, who has served on several ALA and AIIM Committees.
The Reprographics Unit, under the direction of Robert Harrell, a member of the AIIM C-10 Standards
Committee, maintains one of the nation's largest preservation microfilming programs. The Unit filmed
the University of Florida's contribution to several RLG and SOLINET cooperative preservation
microfilming projects and has begun filming for the NEH-funded Florida Newspaper Project. The Unit
recently built a microfilm scanning section with funding from the Mellon Foundation for the conversion
of Latin American newspapers.
The Conservation Unit, under the direction of John Freund, a member of the American Institute for
Conservation, offers a full range of services from repair to restoration binding. The staff is fully
qualified and has prior experience in the preparation of deteriorated materials for preservation
microfilming.
University of Florida USAIN Project Staff
Florida's participation in the phase 2 project will be managed by John Ingram, Chair of Special
Collections, who also managed the phase 1 project to identify and select materials for preservation.
During phase 1, Vernon Kisling, Coordinator, Sciences and Agriculture Collections, was primarily
responsible for compiling the bibliography with the support of three collection managers, Anita Battiste,
Ann, King, and Carol Kem, who have direct responsibility for managing materials located through the
various subject headings used in the project. John Ingram provided additional support to locate
appropriate material within the special collections. Upon completion, the bibliography was referred to a
scholarly review panel to rank titles according to their importance.
During phase 2, cataloging responsibilities will be overseen by Dorothy Hope, who chairs the Resource
Services Department, with the support of Cecilia Botero, head of the Serials Cataloging unit, Jimmie
Lundgren, who specializes in cataloging agricultural materials, and Elaine Yontz, the head of the
Humanities Cataloging unit. The preservation functions within the project will be assumed by Erich
Kesse, Head of the Preservation Department, assisted by Robert Harrell, who is in charge of the
Reprographics unit, and John Freund, who heads the Conservation unit. For each function, appropriate
support staff and student assistants will be assigned.
The University of Florida secured bids for producing preservation microfilm from the University of
Florida and from Micrographics, Inc. of Gainesville, Florida, and selected the latter for this project. While
the University of Florida estimated a slightly lower per-frame cost, the Reprographics Unit has a full
queue and planned building renovations precluded commitment. Micrographics, Inc. is experienced in
preservation microfilming of archival materials, monographs and newspapers to AIIM/ANSI, RLG and
LC specifications and is one of the few service bureaus dedicated to quality in the Southeast.
Micrographics currently holds the University's state contract for microfilm processing and duplication of
film produced in-house as well as for preservation microfilming out of house.
5. Preservation Profiles
Florida Scholarly Review Panel
Dr. Robert N. Lauriault, Visiting Assistant in Libraries and for the past five years Coordinator of the
Florida Agricultural History Project at the Department of Special Collections, George A. Smathers
Libraries, University of Florida has authored one monograph and one refereed article relating to Florida
agricultural history. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Florida in history with an
MA thesis relating to African agricultural history and a prize-winning dissertation in the field of Cuban
agricultural history (1994). He has taught at the University of South Florida and the University of
Florida. He is a member of the Agricultural History Society, the Florida Historical Society, and The
Conference of Latin American Historians. Dr. Lauriault is also an active farmer.
Dr. Samuel Proctor, a native Floridian, holds his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University
of Florida. He is Distinguished Service Professor of History and Julien C. Yonge Professor of Florida
History at the University. Dr. Proctor is curator of History at the Florida Museum of Natural History,
director of the University of Florida's Oral History Program, and director of the Center for Florida
Studies. He is past president of the Oral History Association. He is a member of the Academic Council
of the American Jewish Historical Society and a former president of the Southern Jewish Historical
Society. Dr. Proctor is the author of five books, over eighty articles, and the editor of thirty-four books.
Dr. William Rogers, Professor of History, The Florida State University, received his Ph.D. from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has authored or co-authored seventeen books and
monographs and sixty-two articles, many focusing on the agricultural history of the Florida and the Deep
South. He is a member of the Southern Historical Association, the Florida Historical Society, the
Agricultural History Society, the Alabama Historical Association, and other professional associations. He
has served on the Board of Editors of the Alabama Review, Apalachee, and the Florida Historical
Quarterly. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships from various sources including
the American Philosophical Society, the American Society for State and Local History, the Alabama
Endowment for the Humanities, the Georgia Endowment for the Humanities, and is a Senior Fellow of the
National Endowment for the Arts.
University of Florida Project Budget
Universe of volumes captured in the bibliography: 3,500
Number of volumes selected for preservation: 1,841
Number of titles to be preserved: 603
Cost per volume
Identification and selection completed in phase 1
Pre- and post-filming $ 8.51
Bibliographic control and record distribution 5.49
Microfilming, 3 generations 39.63
Local inspection 1.93
Additional local costs 1.94
Total cost per volume $ 57.50
Total project cost $105,858
5. Preservation Profiles
5.5 HAWAII AND THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I AT MANOA
With a collection of nearly three million volumes, the University of Hawaii at Manoa Library is 45th
largest major academic and research library in the United States. The Preservation Department is
responsible for maintaining the library collections. High relative humidity and temperatures add to the
daily preservation challenges. The Library maintains an active core of preservation work in the
following areas: Bindery Preparation, Conservation Treatment, Pest Management, .. Preservation
Reformatting, and Library Photographic Services. The Preservation Department provides leadership and
shares expertise with libraries and archives throughout the state.
In 1983-1991, the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library participated in the National Newspaper
program sponsored by NEH. The Hawai'i Newspaper project surveyed holdings in libraries throughout
the state and assembled comprehensive files of selected titles from the holdings of a number of libraries.
In the microfilming phase of the project, 141 titles (12,000 frames) were completed. The library staff
collated the materials, prepared targets, and completed quality control of the microfilm. The
microfilming was done by Advanced Micro-Image to preservation standards.
Agricultural records have been the focus of a number of important initiatives in Hawai'i. With a NEH
grant in 1977-1979, the Hawaiian Historical Society conducted a state-wide survey of sugar plantation
records. In addition, the Humanities Program of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts in
cooperation with the Hawaiian Historical Society has published bibliographic surveys of published
materials and archival records that document Hawaii 's agricultural history. These bibliographies on
sugar, rice, pineapple, coffee and ranching provide a foundation for further analysis and scholarly review
to establish priorities for preservation of published materials on agricultural and rural life in Hawai'i.
University of Hawai'i at Manoa USAIN Project Staff
University of Hawai'i's contribution to the project will be co-managed by Eileen Herring, Plant Science
Librarian, and Lynn Davis, Head of the Preservation Department. Ms. Herring will be responsible for the
bibliographic analysis and selection phase of the project, including developing and refining the scope of
the bibliography, compiling the citations and coordinating the work of the scholarly reviewers. Ms.
Herring has a BA from University of California, San Diego, and a MLIS from the University of Hawai'i at
Manoa. She is knowledgeable in Hawaiian ethnobotany and has designed a garden of Hawaiian healing
plants at the Hawai'i Medical Library. Ms. Herring is familiar with a broad range of literature relating to
agriculture in Hawai'i and has a broad network in the library and plant sciences communities in Hawai'i.
Ms. Davis will be responsible for the preservation phase of the project, managing the microfilming
completed by the library's microfilm vendor, Advanced Micro-Image Systems Hawai'i Inc., and
ensuring compliance with all preservation and access standards and guidelines for the project. Ms. Davis
has a MA from University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and a MLS from University of Hawaii at
Manoa. Prior to working at the University of Hawai'i, Ms. Davis managed the Archives and Visual
Collections at Bishop Museum (Honolulu, Hawai'i). She has managed preservation grants from the State
Foundation on Culture and the Arts, as well as from the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program.
University of Hawaii is fortunate to have a vendor in Honolulu that is experienced in preservation
microfilming of library materials. Advanced Micro-Image has completed numerous preservation projects,
including the NEH Hawai'i Newspaper Project, which meet ANSI/AIIM specifications and RLG
guidelines. The Library has on-going projects to reformat newspapers and monographs working with
Advanced Micro-Image.
5. Preservation Profiles
Hawai'i Scholarly Review Panel
Dr. Edward Beechert, retired Professor of History at the University of Hawai'i, has done extensive
research in labor and sugar history. He received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley. As
the first project director for the Plantation Records Survey (NEH grant, 1976-1978), Dr. Beechert was
instrumental in the preservation of the state's sugar plantation archives. His book, Working in Hawai'i : A
Labor History (1985), is the primary resource on labor history. Dr. Beechert's most recent book, edited
with his wife Alice Beechert, The Piecemeal Filipino Strike of 1924 (1997), explores the drama of labor
relations and Filipino immigrants in Hawai'i. He has also published extensively on the history of the
international sugar economy.
Dr. Noel P. Kefford is currently Emeritus Professor of Plant Molecular Physiology. From 1980 to 1995,
Dr. Kefford was Dean of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and Director of the
Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Hawai'i. He
began his career at the University of Hawai'i in 1965 as Professor and Chairman of the Botany
Department. Throughout his career at the University, he has been involved in the development of State
and regional agricultural policies and plans, and in the expansion of diversified agriculture in Hawai'i.
Dr. Kefford was Chairman of the Agricultural Development in the American Pacific Program from 1987
to 1995 and has served on numerous State committees including the Governors Agriculture Coordinating
Committee, the Agriculture Functional Plant Advisory Committee, the Agriculture Action Alliance and
the Hawai'i Agricultural Products Advisory Committee.
Dr. Barnes Riznik, Emeritus Director of Waioli Mission and Grove Farm Homestead, has been a leader in
the field of interpretation of rural life and agricultural history in Hawai'i. He received his Ph.D. in
History from Stanford University. In 1976 he moved to Kauai to become Director of Waioli Mission and
Grove Farm Homestead. Dr. Riznik developed both of these museums as interpretive sites of the rural
life in the islands. He has published numerous articles and monographs in the field of public history and
historic site interpretation. Recently, Dr. Riznik was production coordinator for a video documentary on
Koloa sugar plantation. He has contributed to many professional organizations including as an elected
member of the Council of the American Association of State and Local History; and has served as
Director and Board member of Hawai'i Museums Association. He has also served as a panelist for
National Endowment for the Humanities, Museums and Historical Organizations.
Dr. John J. Stephan, Professor of History at the University of Hawai'i, is an expert in the Japanese
language literature of Hawai'i. Dr. Stephan received his Ph.D. from London University in Japanese
History. He has published extensively on the history of Japanese in the Pacific, including Hawai'i Under
the Rising Sun: Japanese Plans for Conquest after Pearl Harbor (1977).
University of Hawai'i at Manoa Plan of Work and Project Budget
Over the course of the project the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library, in cooperation with
other libraries in the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Hawai'i. The project will employ a four-person scholarly review
panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies. The
Library will preserve access to the most important 25% of the estimated universe of materials.
Estimated universe of relevant volumes: 3,500
Number of volumes to be preserved: 875
Estimated number of titles to be preserved: 560
Cost per volume
Identification and selection $ 15.72
5. Preservation Profiles
Pre- and post-filming 14.71
Bibliographic control and record distribution 7.71
Microfilming, 3 generations 67.00
Local inspection 1.76
Additional local costs 22.36
Total cost per volume $ 129.26
Total project cost $ 113,103
5.6 IOWA AND IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
The Iowa State University Library has been instrumental in developing capabilities for library and
archives preservation in the state of Iowa. It is one of three institutions with full-time professional
preservation administrator positions, the other two being the University of Iowa Libraries and the State
Historical Society of Iowa. All three preservation programs developed in the 1980s, constructed
conservation treatment facilities to address the physical preservation needs of their collections, and began
to collaborate on a cooperative initiative that evolved into the Iowa Cooperative Preservation Consortium
and eventually incorporated as the Iowa Conservation and Preservation Consortium (ICPC). The
University of Iowa Libraries* conservation treatment facility is also home to a nationally recognized
training program in book binding and conservation. Other libraries in the state have also addressed
preservation needs with programs scaled to their smaller collections.
In 1994, ICPC received a NEH grant for state-wide preservation planning. The resulting plan, Fragile
Harvest: Preserving Iowa's Documentary Heritage, established goals for preservation program
development and collaborative pursuits by archival and library entities within the state. The Consortium
serves as a vehicle for the accomplishment of goals and plans developed in the NEH-funded planning
process. Among other activities ICPC currently conducts preservation education programs, distributes
preservation materials to publications for publication, and publishes a newsletter. ICPC also serves as an
advocate and a mechanism for collaborative preservation efforts within the state.
Cooperation is a cultural characteristic of Iowa and preservation is no exception. Over the years,
organizations in the state of Iowa have collaborated in the successful completion of a number of
preservation projects. The Iowa Newspaper Project, funded in part by NEH, was completed in 1992.
The major contributing organizations were the Iowa Genealogical Society, the Iowa Newspaper
Association, the State Library, the University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and the State Historical
Society.
Since its beginnings in the early 1980s, the preservation program of the Iowa State University Library has
experienced steady growth. The Preservation Department is responsible for commercial binding,
conservation treatments, reformatting, and preservation education to address the preservation needs of
library collections of over two million volumes. The Department has established contractual relationships
with conservation treatment service vendors, preservation photocopy replacement service vendors, and a
preservation microfilm service vendor.
The Preservation Department includes a 3,000 square foot state-of-the-art conservation laboratory and is
equipped to undertake special treatment projects such as the conservation of the Manning Collection--
wherein 2000 design documents ranging from 1x1.5 inches to 5 x 15 feet in size were treated--in
addition to maintaining ongoing treatment program for collections. The Preservation Department head
5. Preservation Profiles
regularly presents lectures and demonstrations for academic courses on campus and provides other
preservation education presentations for organizations on and off-campus.
The Iowa State University Library's Preservation Department consistently contributes to state level
planning and collaboration on preservation With a well-trained staff and a track record on preservation
projects, it is well-situated to conduct a project to preserve literature on agriculture and rural life in Iowa.
Iowa State University Project Staff
Iowa's project will be co-managed by Ed Goedeken, Principal Bibliographer for the Humanities and Ivan
Hanthorn, Head of the Preservation Department. Ellie Mathews, will serve as an expert consultant in for
the bibliographic investigation. She was formerly Head of Reference at the Iowa State University Library,
and as a senior agriculture reference librarian, is well-versed in the extensive literature that supports
agriculture both in Iowa and in the United States.
The project team will also include of Tyler Walters, Acting Head of the Special Collections Department.
In addition to his experience in managing the department's collections, Walters has written and managed
two state-level preservation/access grants and has served as an NEH panelist and grant reviewer.
The Project team will be ably assisted by a scholarly panel of historians and scientists with extensive
experience in the study of Iowa agriculture and rural life.
Iowa Scholarly Review Panel
Gordon E. Bivens is Mary B. Welch Distinguished Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences and
Professor Emeritus, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University.
During his career, he served on the faculties in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Pennsylvania
State University; Departments of Economics and Home Management, Iowa State University; Department
of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Departments of Family Economics and Management
and Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia. In addition, he served on special
appointments with the Consumer and Family Economics Division, USDA, Washington, D.C. (1967-68
and 1988) and as Visiting Scholar, Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder
(1974-75). He served as founding editor of the Journal of Consumer Affairs, founding chair, Board of
Directors, Center for the Family, American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, Washington,
D.C., and as member of the board of directors of Consumers Union, Inc. (publishers of Consumer
Reports), Mt. Vernon, N.Y. His administrative experience includes chair, Extension Department of
Economics, University of Wisconsin; Founding Director, Center for Consumer Affairs, University of
Wisconsin; Director of Graduate Programs, College of Home Economics, University of Missouri,
Columbia; chair, Department of Family Environment; and Interim Associate Dean for Research, College
of Family and Consumer Sciences, Iowa State University, Ames.
R. Douglas Hurt holds a Ph.D. in American History from Kansas State University (1975). His area of
expertise is American agricultural history. He serves as professor and director of the Graduate Program
in Agricultural History and Rural Studies at Iowa State University, Ames, IA., and is editor of Agricultural
History, the journal of record for the field. He has served as curator of agriculture at the Ohio Historical
Society and associate director for the State Historical Society of Missouri. His publications include:
American Farms: Exploring Their History (1996); American Agriculture: a Brief History (1994);
Agriculture and Slavery in Missouri's Little Dixie (1992); Indian Agriculture in America (1987); and The
Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History (1981).
John Pesek is a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and Emeritus Professor of
Agronomy at Iowa State University. His B.S. and M.S. degrees are from Texas A & M University and
5. Preservation Profiles
the Ph.D. is from North Carolina State University. He specialized in soil fertility and economics of
fertilizer use, and served over twenty-six years as department head, including nine months as Interim
Dean of the College of Agriculture. After serving on the manuscript committee of the Iowa State
University Press, Dr. Pesek was president of the Press Board since 1994. He has served on committees
and boards of a number of scientific societies, including the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil
Science Society of America and the Crop Science Society of America, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, the Soil and Water Conservation Society, and the Council for Agricultural
Science and Technology. He was president of both the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil
Science Society of America and served six years, each, as Technical Editor and Associate Editor,
respectively, for the scientific journals of these two societies. He has been a member of external review
teams for research and/or teaching in Canada, Egypt, Mexico, West Indies, and the U.S., a consultant in
several central and eastern European, African and Latin American countries, and completed two
assignments each for the Board on Agriculture of the National Research Council of the National
Academy of Sciences, and the World Bank, and one for the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Dorothy A. Schwieder, university professor of history, has worked in the fields of Iowa and Midwestern
history for the past thirty years. She earned her B.A. from Dakota Wesleyan (1955), M.S. from Iowa
State (1968), and Ph.D. from University of Iowa (1981). She has taught courses in Iowa history, rural
American women, and Midwestern rural society in which she emphasized agriculture and rural life,
immigration to rural areas, rural families, and rural communities. Her research interests also include
monographs on the Iowa State University Cooperative Extension Service, rural industrial communities,
and the Old Order Amish. She has published on the lives and roles of Iowa farm women in various
history journals. Her most recent book, Iowa: The Middle Land (1996), emphasizes agriculture and rural
society in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Publications include: Black Diamonds: Life and
Work in Iowa's Coal Mining Communities 1895-1925 (1983); Buxton: Work and Racial Equality in a
Coal Mining Community (1987); Iowa, Past to Present: the People and the Prairie (1989); and 75 Years
of Service: Cooperative Extension in Iowa (1993).
Richard L. Willham received his B.S. in animal husbandry from Oklahoma A&M College in 1954 and
his M.S. in animal breeding from Iowa State University (then Iowa State College) in 1955. After military
service, he returned to ISC in 1957, and in 1959 initiated an Atomic Energy Commission swine
irradiation project. He completed his Ph.D. in 1960. In 1966, Dr. Willham returned to ISU to teach beef
cattle breeding. He wrote and popularized the "computer cow game" to teach selection principles using
performance records and conducted a classic beef-dairy crossbreeding study. Willham is active in the
beef industry and has worked with Iowa breeders, the American Angus Association--among others--and
the Beef Improvement Federation. He has traveled widely to Europe, Japan, and New Zealand, and is the
recipient of numerous beef industry, scientific, and academic honors and awards. Dr. Willham produced
ten multi-media presentations, and he is the author of twenty-seven papers, more than 100 journal papers,
almost 300 popular articles, and five books on livestock history. Major publications include The Legacy
of the Stockman (1985), which describes the change from husbandry to science, a highly significant facet
of our livestock heritage; Centuries of Fascination: Art About Livestock (1990), an exhibition for which
Dr. Willham was the guest curator; Ideas into Action, tracing the first twenty-five years of the Beef
Improvement Federation; and A Heritage of Leadership: Iowa State University Department of Animal
Science, A Story of the First 100 Years (1996).
Iowa State University Plan of Work and Project Budget
Over the course of the project, Iowa State University Library, in cooperation with other libraries in the
state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Iowa and the Midwest. The project will employ a five-person scholarly
review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies, and
5. Preservation Profiles
target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 12,000 volumes to be preserved in a
subsequent project.
Project Budget
Identification (staff and online searching) $ 29,330
Selection by scholarly review panel 2,250
project management 4,000
travel to project meetings 2,000
Total project cost $ 37,580
5.7 MINNESOTA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
The University of Minnesota Libraries have participated in several recent consortial microfilming projects
under the aegis of the Research Libraries Group (RLG) and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
(CIC), preserving 17,000 volumes. The Libraries microfilmed 3,100 volumes in the first CIC cooperative
project and 3,000 volumes in the second project--all from the Libraries' collection of 19th century
European cultural history journals. The Libraries filmed 4,100 volumes in the first RLG Cooperative
Preservation Microfilming Project (CPMP) and 6,800 volumes in CPMP II--all from the Hess Collection
of Dime Novels. The Libraries' ongoing preservation operation provides for integrated preservation
selection from a range of options and treatments, including replacement, reformatting, phased
conservation through placement in protective storage or protective enclosures, rebinding, and in-house
conservation. The operation is supported by regular annual budgets. Criteria and procedures for
selection have been refined over many years with regular input from bibliographers, whose role in the
selection process has been systematized. The University Libraries follows preservation standards to
reproduce, on a need basis, materials that are seriously deteriorated and/or heavily used by
microfilming/preservation photocopying. The Libraries will complete a formal preservation needs
analysis during 1997 to assess collection condition, identify needs, and assign priorities.
The University of Minnesota Libraries also participated in the NAL/land grant universities microfilming
project in the early 1980s. This project filmed older Agricultural Experiment Station, Agricultural
Extension Service, and some academic department publications, including both monographs and serials.
Minnesota filmed Agricultural Experiment Station Annual Reports beginning with 1890 imprints (the
earliest publications) and Minnesota Farm and Home Service (later Minnesota Science) for the years
1934-1975. Technical Bulletins, Extension Bulletins, and Agricultural Experiment State Bulletins were
also filmed. The project filmed some esoteric publications, such as reports of the development and use of
shortwave transmitters to track animal movements.
The St. Paul Campus Central Library houses extensive collections in agriculture, biological sciences,
human ecology, natural resources, rural sociology, vocational education, and veterinary medicine. The
second largest repository of Minnesota agriculture-related publications is the Minnesota Historical
Society's (MHS) Research Center. MHS has an on-going mandate to preserve on microfilm publications
at risk and participates in the United States Newspaper Project sponsored by NEH. MHS has committed
to helping identify, locate, and provide materials that will be preserved in this project.
University of Minnesota USAIN Project Staff
Minnesota's project will be managed by JoAnn DeVries, Collections Coordinator for the Agriculture,
Biology, and Environmental Resources Group. Ms. DeVries will be responsible for the compilation of
5. Preservation Profiles
the bibliography, the scholarly review process; selection of materials for preservation, and submission of
reports on the grant project. The project team will include professional, technical, and student support
staff.
The project team will be ably assisted by a scholarly panel of historians and scientists with extensive
experience in the study of Minnesota agriculture and rural life.
Minnesota Scholarly Review Panel
Dr. Donald G. Baker, Professor Emeritus, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, completed his B.S. in
Agriculture at the University of Minnesota in 1949. He has a M.S. (1951) and a Ph.D. in Soil Science
(1958) from the University of Minnesota. He taught at the University of Minnesota until his retirement
in 1995. His research, evidenced in numerous publications, has focused on Minnesota soils, water, and
climate. Professor Baker has been an active member of the American Society of Agronomy, American
Geophysical Union, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological
Society, and the Soil Science Society of America.
Dr. Albert W. Frenkel, Professor Emeritus, Department of Plant Biology, has a B.A. in Botany (1939) and
a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology (1942) from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the University
of Minnesota faculty in 1947, served as department head 1971-1975, and retired in 1989. His areas of
research include photobiological reactions, bacterial photo-phosphorylation, and the history of
photosynthesis. His publications are extensive and he has received many awards and honors, including
being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Well known in the
University Libraries as a frequent library user, Dr. Frenkel was honored in 1996 by having the Biological
Sciences Center Library and Reading Room named in his honor.
Dr. Philip M. Raup, Professor Emeritus, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, earned his
A.B. in economics from the University of Kansas (1939) and his M.S. (1941) and Ph.D. (1949) in
agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin. After teaching at the University of Wisconsin,
he joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1953, retiring in 1984. His research focuses on
land prices, valuation, credit, taxation; inheritance, transfer, farm incorporation; water rights and
management; structural change in agriculture, land planning, land tenure reform; and international
agricultural development and world food problems. Dr. Raup is a Fellow of the American Agricultural
Economics Association and member of the Agricultural History Society, International Association of
Agricultural Economists, and Royal Economics Society (England). An internationally recognized
authority, Dr. Raup has an extensive list of publications and conference presentations; since his retirement
alone, he has attended and presented papers at fourteen international conferences.
University of Minnesota Plan of Work and Project Budget
Over the course of the project, the University of Minnesota Libraries, in cooperation with other libraries
in the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. The project will employ a three-person
scholarly review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities
studies, and target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 12,000 volumes to be
preserved in a subsequent project.
5. Preservation Profiles
Project Budget
Identification (staff and online searching) $ 17,222
Selection by scholarly review panel 1,350
project management ($3,898) library contribution
travel to project meetings 2,000
Total project cost $ 20,572
5.8 MONTANA AND MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY-BOZEMAN
In Montana, primary collecting responsibility as well as preservation responsibility have been articulated
and shared by all twenty-four academic libraries (including the seven tribal colleges) as well as the
Montana State Library and the Montana Historical Society Library. Montana has participated in the U.S.
Newspaper Program and each library assumes responsibility, to the best of their ability and with the
assistance of external funding, for the preservation of unique subject materials that fall within their
specifically stated strengths. In addition to their responsibility for local history and culture, and the tribal
college responsibilities related to tribal and reservation records, each of the. academic institutions and state
agency libraries emphasize subject areas relative to their primary mission, historical roots or locale. Thus
Montana State University-Bozeman's mission includes Yellowstone Ecosystem, architecture, Senator
Burton K. Wheeler, Montana agriculture and a few other areas, and endeavors to preserve these unique
materials and to make them available to scholars and researchers through the shared bibliographic
database (WLN) and the library catalog. The Montana Historical Society Library places an emphasis
upon Montana state and territory documents and state authors. Other libraries are working to preserve
materials and provide similar bibliographic access to their unique historic holdings.
In the early 1980s MSU participated in the National Agricultural Library cooperative microfilming
project for agricultural publications from Montana's Extension Service and Experiment Stations. MSU
also received funding from the Montana Cultural Trust for the preservation of the Montana WPA (Works
Progress Administration) records. The bulk are the Livestock History papers--pioneer interviews, History
of Grazing, copies of Brand Books, and photographs. The Libraries' agricultural information specialist,
Jodee Kawasaki, works with Montana agriculture materials from all time periods. MSU-Bozeman
Libraries University Archives mission is to obtain and retain, in a secure area, all papers and publications
emanating from or published by MSU. The Archives and Special Collections are state-of-the-art
environmentally controlled rooms. Special Collections and Archives follow preservation guidelines
including the proper housing, storage, handling, and security of materials. The library has on-site
microfilming capabilities to microfilm publications related to MSU's mission and materials deemed
appropriate for preservation.
Montana State University-Bozeman USAIN Project Staff
Project manager Jodee Kawasaki will supervise and coordinate activities related to the compliation of the
bibliography, the scholarly review process, selection of materials for preservation, retrieval and preparation
of materials for filming, creation and distribution of bibliographic records for preserved materials, and
submission of narrative reports on the grant project. The project team will include Catalog Librarian
Anna Price and Special Collections Librarian Kim Allen Scott, as well as technical staff and student
support. Anna Price will oversee the cataloging portion of the project. She has been a cataloger in
academic libraries for over 25 years, primarily working with serials and has cataloged and analyzed all
Experiment Station and Extension Service serials. Kim Allen Scott will assist the project manager in the
preservation portion of the project, including overseeing the work of the microfilming agency, ensuring
5. Preservation Profiles
compliance with all preservation and access standards and guidelines, and overseeing quality assurance
checks on the microfilm. Other staff and student workers will be identified and hired as the project
begins.
Montana Scholarly Review Panel
Thomas R. Wessel has been a professor of history at Montana State University since 1972 and presently
serves as Department Head. His research and writings focus on Montana and agricultural history. He
has had numerous articles published in journals such as Agricultural History and Montana, the Magazine
of Western History and edited Agriculture in the Great Plains 1876-1930. He has presented papers at
local, state, national, and international society meetings on agriculture and the American West. He is
currently a member of the Executive Committee, Agricultural History Society and has held the offices of
Vice President (1986) and President (1987), and is on the Advisory Board of the Social Science
Agricultural Agenda Project. Dr. Wessel received his Ph.D. from University of Maryland in 1972.
A. Hayden Ferguson, a native of Montana and a Montana State University Professor Emeritus of Soil
Science, has been most recently involved with international consulting in Taiwan and previously in Brazil
and Russia. Dr. Ferguson earned his Ph.D. from Washington State University in soil science. He has
been named outstanding educator/teacher at MSU College of Agriculture and American Society of
Agronomy. He is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America and the American Society of
Agronomy and has numerous publications in journals, books, and Extension and Experiment Station
publications. A recent publication is Montana Agricultural Experiment Station and Extension Service
100 Year Time Line: 1893-1992. Other research topics have included soil physics and saline seep
problems in Montana.
Charles H. Rust is the Associate Director of Extension at Montana State University after working in the
areas of Extension Agricultural Economist and International Extension Project since 1963. His
international work for Extension and private organizations has taken him to places such as West
Cameroon, Swaziland, Bulgaria and most recently Poland. Dr. Rust's work in the Cooperative Extension
Service has been at all levels--County Agent, State Specialist, and Grain Marketing and Transportation
Specialist in the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. His accomplishments as a researcher include many awards
received, publications of articles, professional papers, videos, research reports, proceedings, special
project reports and Extension bulletins. He received his Ph.D. from Montana State University in
agricultural economics in 1965.
Mary Murphy is an associate professor in the Department of History and Philosophy at Montana State
University. Her research in the area of women and rural life in Montana is well represented in numerous
publications. Her forthcoming book Mining Cultures: Men, Women, and Leisure in Butte, 1914-1941,
will be published by the University of Illinois Press. She has many presentations and articles on topics
related to the life of women in rural Montana. Her awards, grants and fellowships and teaching document
her commitment to advance the knowledge of Montana's women and their role in Montana's history. Dr.
Murphy earned her Ph.D. from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990.
Montana State University Plan of Work and Project Budget
Over the course of the project the Libraries of Montana State University-Bozeman, in cooperation with
other libraries in the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Montana and the Western United States. The project will employ a four-
person scholarly review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for
humanities studies. The Libraries will preserve access to the most important 25% of the estimated
universe of materials.
5. Preservation Profiles
Estimated universe of relevant volumes 1,554
Number of volumes to be preserved 500
Estimated number of titles to be preserved 100
Cost per volume
Identification and selection $ 23.23
Pre- and post-filming 7.08
Bibliographic Control and record distribution 2.68
Microfilming, 3 generations 54.74
Local inspection 1.72
Additional local costs 24.60
Total cost per volume $ 114.05
Total project cost $ 57,025
5.9 NEBRASKA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is one of the charter members of the Nebraska Documents
Preservation Advisory Council (NDPAC), which was founded in 1988. NDPAC developed an NEH-
funded statewide preservation plan in 1990/91, entitled A Preservation Action Agenda for Nebraska. The
Agenda identifies goals, objectives, and responsibilities of key institutions within the State. Goals are to:
1) provide a coordinated preservation program; 2) improve the housing and care of all documentary
collections; 3) ensure the long-term preservation of critically important collections, and 4) develop broad
public awareness of the preservation challenge. Key accomplishments to date include identifying a state
agency to house the future State Office of Preservation, re-establishing a state NHPRC chapter, working
with Nebraska Governor E. Benjamin Nelson to authorize an Executive Order requiring the use of
alkaline paper for state documents of enduring value, and becoming involved in the U.S. Newspaper
Program.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln has done much to support the State in accomplishing its preservation
objectives by participating in cooperative preservation ventures and by providing preservation education
opportunities for other Nebraska institutions. In 1995/96, the University Libraries had 13.5 FTE engaged
in preservation activities library-wide, and expended five percent of its total library budget (thirteen
percent of its materials budget) on preservation. Preservation activities include binding, mass
deacidification, book repair, protective enclosures, and preservation microfilming. While some
preservation microfilming is done in-house using a Kodak MRD camera, the University contracted with
Preservation Resources of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to film the Mar Sandoz Collection in 1995-97 for a
project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln USAIN Project Staff
Nebraska's contribution to the phase 2 project will be co-managed by Katherine Walter, the University
Libraries' Preservation Coordinator, and Rebecca A. Bernthal, Head of the C.Y. Thompson Agriculture
Library. Ms. Bernthal was responsible for the bibliographic analysis and selection phase of the project,
including developing and refining the scope of the bibliography, compiling the citations, and
coordinating the work of the scholarly reviewers. She was assisted by librarians and staff who contributed
to the compilation of the bibliography including the verification and location of titles. Ms. Walter will be
responsible for the preservation phase of the project, including overseeing the work of the microfilming
agency, Preservation Resources, ensuring compliance with all preservation and access standards and
5. Preservation Profiles
guidelines for the project, and submitting quarterly reports to the Project Coordinator. She will be
assisted by professional and technical library staff who will conduct on-line searches, retrieve and prepare
project materials for microfilming, create and distribute bibliographic records for preserved materials,
and perform quality control of the microfilm. The Nebraska State Historical Society and the Nebraska
Library Commission have already agreed to lend UNL materials from their collections to complete serial
runs identified for filming.
In 1996/97, Bernthal and Walter developed a bibliography of agricultural and rural life titles produced in
Nebraska from the 1850's (after the first printing press arrived in the state) and 1945. The bibliography
was developed following the subject parameters and guidelines by Cornell University for the phase 1
project. Upon completion, the bibliography was referred to a scholarly review panel to rank the titles
according to their importance as research resources for humanities studies. Nebraska's Scholarly Review
Panel was comprised of three faculty:
Nebraska Scholarly Review Panel
Dr. E. Denis Erickson, D.V.M., Ph.D., is Professor of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, College of
Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska Lincoln. He has authored two
book chapters and written eleven refereed journal articles and twelve published abstracts. He has served
on numerous university committees including graduate studies, computer services, university libraries,
animal care, and academic senate. In addition to his teaching, research and committee service, he also is
manager of the Diagnostic Microbiology Service. His professional memberships include the American
College of Veterinary Microbiologists, the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory
Diagnosticians, the American Society for Microbiology and the Canadian Veterinary Medical
Association. His major research focus is in the area of veterinary microbiology. He received his D.V.M.
degree in 1964 from he University of Toronto and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1973 in the area
of Immunochemistry. Dr. Erickson has been on the faculty of the University of Nebraska Lincoln
since 1977 and is a graduate faculty member.
Dr. James Stubbendieck, Ph.D., is Professor of Agronomy, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural
Resources, University of Nebraska Lincoln. During the past five years, Dr. Stubbendieck co-authored
two books on range plants of North America and weeds of Nebraska and the Great Plains, authored the
chapter in the Encyclopedia of Agricultural Sciences on "Range Plants", co-authored eight refereed
journal articles, and published twenty-two abstracts. He has received numerous awards including the
President's Citation from the Society for Range Management, the Distinguished Teaching Award from the
College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the Honor Award from the Nebraska Statewide
Arboretum, and a fellowship from the Center for Great Plains Studies. His professional memberships
include the Society for Range Management, the Society for Ecological Restoration, Soil Conservation
Society of America, and the Prairie/Plains Resource Institute, Natural Areas Association, and the Natural
Science Society. His major research focus is the study of range plants in Nebraska and the Great Plains
and he currently has four active grants to pursue his major research project on the Ecological Studies of
Nebraska Rangeland Vegetation. He received his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1974 in the area
of Range Science (Ecology and Physiology) and has been on the faculty at the University of Nebraska -
Lincoln since 1974 and a graduate faculty fellow since 1978.
Dr. Marice Baker, Ph.D., is Professor, Agricultural Economics, College of Agricultural Sciences and
Natural Resources, University of Nebraska Lincoln. Dr. Baker has authored two book chapters, co-
edited two books, authored or co-authored twelve journal articles, abstracts and reviews, twenty other
research publications and thirty-seven other professional publications. His professional honors include
American Men and Women of Science and life membership in the Western Association of Agricultural
Economics. His professional memberships include the American Water Resources Association, the
American Agricultural Economics Association, the Association of Environmental and Resource
5. Preservation Profiles
Economists, the Nebraska Economics and Business Association and the National Association of Colleges
and Teachers of Agriculture. His involvement in professional associations has included President and
Executive Committee Member of the Nebraska Economics and Business Association and Secretary-
Treasurer of the Western Agricultural Economics Association. His research interests include the
economics of soil and water conservation, the economics of natural resource quality, and the
environmental impacts on profitability of agriculture. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University
in the area of Agricultural Economics and has been on the faculty at the University of Nebraska -
Lincoln since 1966 and is a graduate faculty fellow.
University of Nebraska Project Budget
Nebraska is requesting funds to pay for one FTE Library Assistant II to assist in preparing materials for
filming, production of targets, borrowing materials for microfilming, perform post-filming quality
control checks, and clerical activities related to the project. Funds are also requested for preservation
microfilming and bibliographic control and record distribution. UNL will cost share indirect costs, the
time spent by the co-managers on the project, shipping costs for microfilming, and the cost of supplies.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln secured bids for producing preservation microfilm from
Micrographics, Inc. of Gainsville, Florida and Preservation Resources, Inc. of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Preservation Resources, Inc. was the low bidder by approximately five cents per frame. The University of
Nebraska Lincoln has previously contracted with Preservation Resources, Inc.; the company is
experienced in preservation microfilming and follows AIIM/ANSI and RLG specifications.
University of Nebraska Project Budget
Universe of volumes captured in bibliography: 5,539
Number of volumes selected for preservation: 1,125
Number of titles selected for preservation: 739
Cost per volume $ 61.86
Total project cost $ 69,596
(See Appendix G for a complete itemization of Nebraska's project costs.)
5.10 TEXAS AND TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
The Texas State Library and Texas Library Association formed a Task Force from 1988-91 to study the
preservation needs of institutions within the state. The group conducted a needs assessment survey
covering numerous issues, including preservation planning, management, and education. Plans for the
Texas State Library to provide a statewide preservation program have not yet materialized. Currently,
the State Library and Archives refer questions to the AMIGOS Preservation Service, the regional
preservation education and information provider for the Southwest. AMIGOS offers fee-based services
in the following areas: emergency preparedness and recovery, basic book repair, and guidelines for
maintaining a preservation environment using the services of preservation vendors.
Information on preservation is shared statewide through the programs and publications of the Texas
Library Association, and its Archives and Local History Round Table and among other TLA Committees.
Other associations and groups in Texas which focus on preservation include Texas' cultural institutions
5. Preservation Profiles
such as the Society of Southwest Archivists, the Texas Association of Museums, the Archivists of the
Metroplex (Dallas/Ft. Worth) and the Alliance for Higher Education of North Texas.
In addition, there is an informal network of preservation information and formal education resources
which includes the University of Texas at Austin General Libraries Preservation Department, the
Preservation and Conservation Studies Program now at the University of Texas-Austin, the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center at UT-Austin, and the University of North Texas.
The preservation program at Evans Library, Texas A&M University, was formally established in 1981.
Currently 13.0 FTE staff are involved in the library-wide preservation program including staff in
Binding, Preservation, and The Cushing Library which contains special collections, manuscripts and
archives. The staff of the Cushing Library carry out both collection level and item level treatments, such
as the re-housing and storage of the Krueger collection of paintings and the protective enclosure of
special collection items. Minor repairs through full-scale conservation binding are also performed. Total
preservation expenditures for the current year are $352,476, which includes salaries of preservation staff,
preservation supplies, and the binding and rebinding of 22,401 volumes by Heckman Binding in Indiana.
A major renovation of Evans Library is under construction over the next few years and will result in new
facilities for preservation and conservation activities.
Texas A&M USAIN Project Staff
Texas's participation in the phase 2 project will be co-managed by Dr. Rob McGeachin, Assistant
Professor and Agriculture Reference Librarian, and Ms. Suzanne Gyeszly, Professor and Social Sciences
Collection Development Librarian and Preservation Librarian. Dr. McGeachin was responsible for the
phase 1 project to identify the universe of materials and select the most important for preservation. He
was assisted in the development and preparation of the bibliography by Ms. Sharon Sandall, a visiting
Reference Librarian at the West Campus Library. Upon completion, the bibliography was referred to a
scholarly review panel to rank the titles according to their importance as research resources for
humanities studies.
Ms. Gyeszly will be responsible for the preservation phase of the project. She will oversee the work of
the microfilming agency, including verifying compliance with standards and guidelines. Cataloging and
technical staff, the Senior Library Specialist for Preservation, and student assistants will help with project
tasks, including, but not limited to, conducting on-line searches, cataloging books and serials to be
microfilmed, pre-filming preparation (retrieving and preparing materials for filming and preparing the
targets), and checking the microfilm for quality and accuracy. Serving as a resource person and assisting
where needed will be Dr. Kathy Jackson, who coordinated an earlier southwest regional microfilming
project.
Texas A&M University secured three bids for the preservation microfilming of the Texas materials for
the History of Agriculture and Rural Life Project. Only one of the three companies, Southwest
Micropublishing, Inc., would be able to provide direct transportation for materials at a reasonable cost.
This was an important consideration, because some unique project materials could not be shipped via
commercial services. Southwest Micropublishing, Inc. has filming laboratories in Arlington and El Paso,
Texas and is the major producer of high quality microfilm in Texas. The company has experience with
other preservation projects, including the ongoing NEH-funded Newspaper Preservation Project for New
Mexico and Texas. Southwest's bid was the lowest when the cost of transportation was added to the two
other bids.
5. Preservation Profiles
Texas Scholarly Review Panel
Dr. Horace R. Burke, Professor Emeritus of Entomology at Texas A&M University, College Station, is the
author of over 120 articles, book chapters, and reviews. He is a rare book collector and specializes in
books about entomology and agriculture. Dr. Burke currently serves on the Library Council and often
provides advice to the collection development and special collections librarians. He received his Ph.D. in
entomology from Texas A&M in 1959 and has been affiliated with the university since that time. He has
served as editor of Southwestern Entomology, as Chair of the Editorial Board for the Coleopterist's
Bulletin, and on the Editorial Board of
Environmental Entomology.
Dr. Raul G. Cuero received his M.Sc. in Plant Pathology from Ohio State University and his Ph.D. in
Microbiology from the University of Stratclyde, U.K. He currently is a Research Scientist at Prairie View
A&M University, Prairie View, Texas. His research interests include environmental microbiology,
agricultural microbiology, mycotoxins and biocontrol. Previously, he was a Professor at the Universidad
del Valle, Colombia. In 1994, he co-chaired the First Latin American Symposium on Environmental
Health. He has published more than 40 articles in refereed scientific journals. He has received numerous
research grants in various specialized areas of biotechnology.
Dr. Richard A. Frederiksen's research interests include international agriculture and sorghum pathology.
He received a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and Plant Genetics from the University of Minnesota. Dr.
Frederiksen, a Professor of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1964.
He has published widely and has earned an international reputation for his work in applying host plant
resistance to the management and control of diseases. Dr. Frederiksen has served as Chair of the Library
Council for the Evans Library at Texas A&M; in addition he recently served on a committee appointed
by the University administration to make recommendations for the provision of electronic access to
information.
Dr. Freddie L. Richards is the Director for the Institute for International Agribusiness Studies at Prairie
View A&M University and is responsible for international programs throughout the university. He has
published a variety of works centering on teaching methods, technology transfer in agricultural
production, and international and third-world agriculture. Dr. Richards serves on a number of
committees focusing on international agricultural development, rural development, higher education in
agriculture for minorities, and the Texas Agriculture Finance Authority for the State of Texas. Dr.
Richards received his B.S. in Agriculture from Alabama A&M University, his Master of Education in
Agriculture from Tuskegee University, and his Ph.D. in Agricultural Education from Pennsylvania State
University.
Texas A&M University Project Budget
monographs serials
Universe of volumes captured in the bibliography: 11,147
Number of volumes to be preserved: 2,352 575 1,733
Number of titles to be preserved: 708 575 133
Cost per volume NEH Cost Share Total
Indentification and selection completed in phase 1
Pre- and post-filming $ 6.88 $ 2.12 $ 9.00
Bibliographic control and record distribution 0 5.03 5.03
Microfilming, 3 generations, monograph 36.72 36.72
Microfilming, 3 generations, serial 56.97 56.97
Local inspection 2.81 2.81
5. Preservation Profiles
Additional local costs 5.51 4.58 10.09
Total cost per monograph volume $ 51.92 $ 11.73 $ 63.65
Total cost per serial volume $ 72.17 $ 11.73 $ 83.90
Total project cost $ 154,925 $27,073* $181,998
*This does not include waived indirect costs as part of total cost sharing.
SECTION 6
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE COLLECTIONS
6. Descriptions of the Collections
6.1 ARIZONA
"Oh yes, said Senator Wade of Ohio. I have heard of that country (Arizona)--it is just like hell."
This quote from Lawrence Clark Powell's Arizona: A History (1990) describes the typical attitude of
19th century politicians. It was an attitude formed, in part, by the agricultural troubles of many of
Arizona's early settlers--from the Spaniards to the Mormons. And even though Spanish explorers
crossed Arizona almost 70 years before the English landed in Jamestown, the region was so remote and
inhospitable, that it remained a virtual frontier until it attained statehood in 1912.
For 3,000 years before Mormons came to Arizona, Native Americans successfully planted and harvested
crops. In the 1200s, the Hohokam developed sophisticated irrigation systems, allowing them to harvest
what was native to the desert: mesquite pods, agave, saguaro fruit, cholla buds and the greens of wild
plants as described in Arizona: A History (1995) by Thomas E. Sheridan. The Upper Piman Indians who
called themselves "Oodham" or "the people," were another agricultural success story. They strategically
planted along the mudflats of the Gila and Lower Colorado Rivers. Perhaps the area's most ingenious
farmers were the Hopi Indians, situated in northern Arizona, who successfully grew crops in the mantle of
sand along their mesas. The sand trapped rainfall and snowmelt, allowing the Hopis to thrive in a land
that averaged a mere ten to thirteen inches of rain per year.
The flavor and texture of Arizona agriculture and society changed with the arrival of Spanish explorers
and missionaries who traveled north from Mexico in the early 1500s. Settlements created by the Spanish
missionaries in the Pimeria Alta (encompassing what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora) in
the late 1600s were the most lasting to date. The Jesuits wanted to settle Native Americans in villages,
where conversion could take place more easily. Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino and his fellow
missionaries knew that in order to convert the Indians, they had to change the way they lived. Thomas E.
Sheridan explains that the Pimas appreciated the material gifts that Kino gave them: grain seeds,
vegetables, fruit trees and small herds of livestock. These small, yet non-native gifts would play a
significant role in Arizona's agricultural and socio-economic history. Many of Arizona's agricultural
struggles center around the introduction of European plants and the quantity of water needed to sustain
them.
The discovery of silver by a Yaqui Indian in 1736 initiated a long struggle between European
entrepreneurs and Jesuit missionaries. The miners and ranchers, interested in using Native American
labor and resources, argued for removal of Native peoples from villages. The miners and ranchers
persevered. Franciscan missionaries replaced the Jesuits after their expulsion from the area in 1767. The
University of Arizona Library holds two outstanding 20th century archives of these Franciscan
missionaries, which provide insight into Native American culture and society. Berard Haile (Papers,
1893-1961) worked extensively with the Navajos and his papers deal with their religion and mythology.
Francis J. Upleggar (Papers, 1867-1964) describes the Catholic missions and the lifestyles of Arizona's
Apache Indians.
Many miners led a nomadic life, and most pioneers who came to Arizona to get rich in the mines actually
had to eke out a living by farming and ranching. Native Americans had to fight to preserve their
agricultural lifestyle. Land became the symbol and the battleground between the budding capitalists
from the eastern states, immigrants from Europe, and aboriginal Americans. The literature of the day
reveals that the end of the 18th century through the 19th century in Arizona was a time of struggles
between Spanish and other European settlers, Mexicans, and Native Americans. Variations and
manifestations of this struggle continue today.
6. Descriptions of the Collections
Mormons arrived in Arizona in 1877 and, like the Native Americans before them, saw their relationship
with the land and agriculture as a spiritual quest. Agriculture represented the Mormon values of hard
work, order, cooperation and companionship. The first Mormon missions were located around the
Colorado Plateau. In order to survive in a harsh desert environment, characterized by isolation and
drudgery, settlers adopted a cooperative lifestyle. Labor, food, and property were shared. Isolation was
difficult because the communities consisted mostly of the young and the poor. Though cooperation was
a theme reflected in the literature of the community, the community was not without hierarchy. A board
of directors distributed work tasks, albeit often unevenly. Mormon settlements saw both rebellion and
desertion, and successful farming was often just a vision.
Away from the Colorado Plateau, Mormon settlements were more successful. In northeastern Arizona,
Mormon farming and society thrived. Families like the Udalls and the Flakes prospered, but many other
Mormon pioneers wandered without ever finding their oasis on the desert. Mormon farming successes
also brought problems, especially as Mormons bought and successfully farmed land around Mesa,
Arizona. They became social and political targets in a landscape radically changing because of railroads,
immigration, and the Mexican wars. An effort to legally disempower the Mormons began in 1885 with
the passing of a state law forcing Mormons to take a loyalty oath against polygamy. For many years,
Mormons would remain targets of politicians and newspaper editors.
The University of Arizona Library has vast documentation of Mormon settlements in Arizona. In
addition to published resources such as Mormon Settlement In Arizona (1921) by James H. McClintock,
Arizona's official historian from 1919-1928, the collections include the primary research resources such
as the papers of David King Udall and Eliza Luella Stewart (grandparents of Congressman Morris K.
Udall) and the autobiography and diary of James Pace (a Mormon frontier settler). The papers of
Congressman Morris K. Udall also provide insight into Mormon settlements in the state.
In the late 19th century the railroads inextricably changed Arizona landscape and society. The railroads
blurred the lines between the frontier west and urban east. Prior to the railroads, cattle played a small part
in Arizona's agricultural life. In the late 1860s, however, ranchers and the railroading entrepreneurs
became one. This was the result of a Congressional act that gave the Atlantic and Pacific Railway the land
for the track they laid. This meant that influential interests could purchase large tracts of land in the
railroad corridors. As this squeezed the Anglo and Mexican farmers and ranchers, it made room for
cattle conglomerates in Arizona. The literature of the day reflects the conflicts that arose and festered
between independent farmers and ranchers who were forced out by the conglomerates. The boom in
cattle did not last long. Drought and over-stocking brought disease and death to thousands of cattle, and
the destruction of rangeland. New products had to supplement cattle for the business interests, now fully
entrenched in the Arizona landscape.
Copper and cotton took the place of cattle. The expansion of copper mining occurred in the 1870s.
Powerful corporations and ambitious tycoons bustled in the expansion of mining. Between 1872 and
1921, 870 million pounds of copper was mined in Clifton, the oldest copper town in Arizona. The
railroads had a profound effect on the production of copper. With the excavation of more and more
cooper veins, copper companies realized that they needed to get into the railway business in order to
deliver copper to market. Rail companies and copper mines struggled over who owned and laid tracks,
while agricultural land diminished even more.
The railroads brought new immigrants into Arizona, among them the Chinese, beginning in 1878. The
harshness of the sun-scorched desert was the reason given for using Chinese to lay railroad tracks.
Chinese workers, hired for a dollar a day, laid a mile of track per day. When the railroads moved on, the
Chinese stayed and built small but successful farming communities along the river beds of southern and
eastern Arizona. They also worked in Arizona's new boom business: mining. In the first half of the 20th
6. Descriptions of the Collections
century, drought, racism and the changing ownership of real estate forced them to leave Arizona or to
change to a more independent livelihood such as truck farming, grocery, or restaurants.
In 1885 the territorial legislature established the University of Arizona in Tucson as the state's land-grant
college. The 1887 Hatch Act provided for the establishment of agricultural experimental stations, and
subsequent federal direction established the Cooperative Extension Service. The publications of these
agencies reveal an active role in helping Arizona families in the areas of agricultural and natural
resources, home economics, community development and youth development--especially through the 4H
program.
The climate of southern Arizona became a drawing point in the early 1900s for people suffering from
lung ailments such as asthma and tuberculosis. The hot dry climate of the Sonoran Desert was just what
the doctor's ordered for respiratory ailments due to the lack of any other effective treatments at the time.
The railroads helped spur the appearance of resorts and entire communities to cater to wealthy invalids;
the poor settled for suffering in tent cities.
The railroads also made it possible for readers inspired by works such as John Wesley Powell's diary and
writings of his explorations of the Grand Canyon, and Clarence Dutton's geologic history of the region,
to experience and view one of the natural wonders of the world. The Santa Fe Railroad reduced the cost
and time to travel to the Grand Canyon and triggered a tourist influx that made Arizona the Grand
Canyon State. Tourism in the 1920s became an industry, and the family-owned car in turn led to an even
greater proliferation of all that goes along with it: gas stations, restaurants, curio shops, campgrounds,
highways, etc. A mobile population was targeted by Arizona's largest cities, Phoenix and Tucson, as
resorts for wealthy visitors, and havens for retirees wanting to escape the northern winters. With extreme
ranges in elevation and temperature, the varied landscape of Arizona also drew people to the mountains
and the pine forests of the Colorado plateau. Arizona also proved to be a magnet for the scientific
community, attracting anthropologists, botanists, archaeologists, and climatologists to study its natural and
human history.
The University of Arizona Library's holdings of published materials and primary resources provide both
historical and intimate views of the effect of the railways on agricultural and rural life in Arizona. For
example, the Library holds the letters and legal papers of Semmes Ives, a lawyer who represented many
of the railroad businesses. The Library also owns a colorful history of the railways, entitled The Planning
of a Transcontinental Railroad through Southern Arizona, 1832-1870, a thesis written in 1948.
The exploitation of Arizona's natural resources met with resistance from individuals of varied
backgrounds, notably art critic John C. Van Dyke, entrepreneur and miner Ralph Cameron, botanist
Forrest Shreve, and agronomist Robert Forbes--all of whom published their views. With an increasing
number of people moving to Arizona, there was an increasing awareness of a need to protect and
preserve the natural beauty and cultural heritage of the state. At the turn of the century, Theodore
Roosevelt was instrumental in establishing national forests, monuments, parks, and land management
areas. Today, almost 44% of Arizona's land is under federal ownership.
An abundance of water brought on by the completion of Roosevelt Dam in 1911, and the demand for
cotton for the war effort, ushered in the Arizona cotton explosion. In 1916 less than 7,500 acres of
cotton were cultivated in the state; by 1919 this had grown to 82,000 acres. As with railroads, mining,
and cattle, large businesses held most of the cotton land. Tire companies, in particular, who needed the
fiber for their product settled in the state. Mexican laborers, who had been called on for mining and
railroad work, provided the large number of workers needed in the cotton fields.
With the end of World War I, the cotton market fell and the cotton explosion turned into bankruptcy.
Farmers and businesses alike were affected, and Arizona's farm population declined by 20 percent
6. Descriptions of the Collections
between 1920 and 1925. Labor strikes and the environmental degradation which had turned the
Southern Plains into the "Dust Bowl," diminished the American cotton industry in the 1920s, though
cotton remained an important crop in Arizona. Migrant laborers who worked the fields became the
targets of Federal quota acts and the newly formed Border Patrol. Overworked and destitute farm
workers from Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas passed through Arizona on their way to California, many
staying a season or two to work in the fields. The literature of the day reveals that dust, drought, and their
effects left an indelible mark on Arizona's agricultural, rural, ecological, social, and political landscape.
Arizona's economy was severely affected during the Depression. But with the advent of World War II it
experienced a revival that lasted for decades. Copper was needed for munitions and machinery, and there
was a demand for beef, hides, and cotton. Air bases were built to train pilots year round in the clear
desert air. After the end of the War, the state saw a phenomenal amount of growth in population and new
industry. With the advent of refrigerated railway cars, much of the acreage that had once been planted in
cotton was converted to crops, such as lettuce, alfalfa, vegetables, and citrus. This in turn increased the
demand for water--the wild card in Arizona's landscape.
The history of Arizona and its agriculture revolve around water control. The Hohokam tried to control
water with their sophisticated canals and so did the Mormons. However, it was not until the 1900s that
Arizonans adopted a philosophy of domesticating water. This philosophy ushered in a profound new
relationship between Arizonans and the federal government. The literature surrounding the construction
of the Salt River Project, Roosevelt Dam, and the Central Arizona Project--all huge waterworks programs-
-document the solidification of an uneasy relationship between the federal government, Arizona
agriculture businesses, and the ever-growing multi-national corporations. The history of these projects is
key to understanding Arizona agricultural and rural history.
Real estate replaced cattle and cotton as the new speculative product in the last part of the 20th century.
Subdivisions displace ranches, orchards, and fields. Undaunted by desert temperatures and shaky
foundations, developers have moved into rural areas to plant golf courses and build air conditioned
homes. Land fraud, always a problem in Arizona, became epidemic in the 1970s and 1980s.
The expansion of urban centers into rural land has been accompanied by air pollution, traffic congestion,
and competing water demands to meet residential, industrial and agricultural needs. Arizona's economic
base changed from the Four Cs (cattle, cotton, citrus, copper) to service industries and high tech
manufacturing in the electronics and aerospace fields. Farmers continue to fight to protect their land and
water rights as Arizona becomes more and more urban. Agriculture, however, continues to play a key
role in the state's economy even as Arizona once again transforms itself.
The history of cattle and cotton in Arizona is well represented in the collections of University of Arizona
Library. Candidates for preservation include state and federal documents concerning Arizona water and
agriculture issues. Descriptions of the Arizona found in publications such as the Journal of Arizona
History (1960--) include overviews of Arizona's agricultural and rural history. The literature that makes
up the history of Arizona's agricultural and rural life reflect the forces and activities that helped to forge
Arizona's path to its present status. Since printing did not begin in Arizona until 1860, written accounts
by explorers, missionaries, settlers, entrepreneurs, and businesses were sent out of the territory to be
printed. Many accounts by ranchers and merchants are still in their original hand writing. Publications
of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads make up part of the literature, as do agencies such as the
Commission of Agriculture and Horticulture, the Colorado River Commission, the Crop Improvement
Association, the Farm Bureau Federation, and the Pimacotton Growers Association. The University of
Arizona and the Agricultural Extension Commission produced, and still produce, a vast number of
publications.
6. Descriptions of the Collections
Over the course of the project, the University of Arizona Library, in cooperation with other libraries in
the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the study of
agriculture. and rural life in Arizona and Southwest. The project will employ a four-person scholarly
review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies, and
target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 4,000 volumes to be preserved in a
subsequent project. Details of the Library's project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.1 of the
proposal's Plan of Work.
6.2 ARKANSAS
The recorded history of a European presence in Arkansas dates to the Spanish expedition of Hernando
de Soto, who crossed the Mississippi River and entered what is now Arkansas in 1541. Reports by the
commanders at Arkansas Post, one of the earliest settlements in Arkansas, indicate that there was never a
substantial agricultural class in the region, even in what might be loosely defined as the more populous
areas. Morris S. Arnold, in his social and cultural history of the state entitled Colonial Arkansas, 1686-
1804, states: "It is safe to conclude that there were never more than eight or ten real farmers at any one
time at the Post in the colonial period.... Although the state of the agricultural art, and the number of
people engaged in it, certainly increased during the last decade of the eighteenth century, John Treat,
writing from the Post in 1805, notes even at that late date that 'agriculture here is yet in its infancy....'"
In 1803 Arkansas became a part of the territory of the United States as the "District of Arkansas" within
the territory of Louisiana. In 1812 the District became part of the Missouri Territory, where it remained
until 1819 when Arkansas became a separate Territory. Military roads were among the important
projects undertaken by the territorial government. The road from Memphis to Little Rock opened in
1828. By 1836, the year that Arkansas became a state, military roads crossed from north to south and
east to west. Coupled with waterways that included the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, these
thoroughfares enabled early settlers--primarily from Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, and
Virginia--to pour into Arkansas in search of new homes.
Governor Archibald Yell, well aware of the importance of the development of agriculture, requested the
state legislature to appropriate funds for scientific agricultural research in 1842. However, it was not until
1871 that any formal educational institution was established to actively promote agricultural research. In
that year Arkansas Industrial University, which became the University of Arkansas in 1899, was created
under the auspices of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. Agricultural science was among those courses
first offered by the University. However, it was eventually abandoned. The campus at Fayetteville,
located in the far northwest corner of the state, was too removed from the eastern and southern parts of
the state where cotton, the principal cash crop, was cultivated.
The geographic area of Arkansas is roughly rectangular in form--250 miles from north to south and 225
miles from east to west. With a total surface area of 53,335 square miles, it is the smallest state west of the
Mississippi, but roughly the size of Pennsylvania and New Jersey combined. If an imaginary line were
drawn from the northeast corner to the southwest corer diagonally across Arkansas, it would divide the
state into nearly equal parts. Roughly, the half of the state to the north and west is highlands and includes
the Ozark and Ouachita mountain ranges. Early farmers in the highlands eked out a living on eroded hill
tracts, raising corn, hogs, and cattle, while supplementing their income by working in coal mines or
sawmills. The half of the state to the south and east consists of river bottoms and low-lying plains. It
includes a broad belt of bottom lands, from 50 to 100 miles wide, along the Mississippi River stretching
from the Missouri line to the Louisiana line. This land, where cotton was king, is among the richest soil
in the country.
6. Descriptions of the Collections
Agricultural society publications, such as proceedings, newspapers, and constitutions and by-laws,
demonstrate that interest in agriculture became intense during the latter half of the nineteenth century
due, primarily, to the economy and falling cotton prices. Farm protests movements such as the Farmers
Alliance and the Arkansas Agricultural Wheel, founded in Des Arc, Arkansas, looked to political remedies
to economic woes. By 1884 there was a Grand State Wheel with nearly five thousand members in 114
subordinate Wheels. The Arkansas Grange was much larger with over twenty thousand members in it
peak year of 1875. The state legislature responded by enacting the Barker Act in 1887 which, among
other things, created the position of superintendent of agriculture at the University. Albert E. Menke, a
young chemistry professor, became the first superintendent. Among his early accomplishments was the
creation of a University agricultural farm.
Legislation at the national level, namely the Hatch Act of 1887, also had an impact. The Arkansas
legislature officially accepted the $15,000 provided by the Hatch Act, and the Arkansas Agricultural
Experiment Station came into being, with Mr. Menke as its first superintendent. The first Bulletin was
entitled "Experiments on Cotton and Corn in Drew County" by F.M. Bordeaux. Subsequent issues of the
Bulletin dealt with a multitude of problems that beset Arkansas farmers, including hog cholera, fertilizers,
and erosion. The Station also produced studies on cotton, corn, sorghum, and tree diseases. Materials in
need of preservation include extant circulars, special reports, and annual reports that document the
programs and activities of the Experiment Station.
The establishment of the Agricultural Extension Service in 1914 by the Smith-Lever Act, and the
Arkansas State Plant Board in 1917 by the state legislature, were major steps in the promotion of
scientific agriculture. The Arkansas Gazette, the state's leading newspaper, had long complained about
Experiment Station bulletins being too difficult to comprehend for the large number of illiterate farmers,
suggesting that demonstration projects could provide tangible results from scientific research that would
benefit farmers directly. Thus, the Extension Service became a conduit for the application of basic work
that was done at the University. One of its early successes was in the eradication of ticks in western and
northwestern Arkansas, supported in part by an allocation of $50,000 from the state legislature.
In 1808 Fortescue Cuming suggested in a letter that a small lake near present-day Helena, Arkansas,
would make "a fine situation for rice grounds." It would not be for nearly 100 years, however, that a
successful crop of rice was grown for commercial purposes. In 1904 William H. Fuller grew a stand near
Carlisle, Arkansas. Five years later the rice harvest passed the 1,000,000-bushel mark. Up until 1940
Arkansas was one of the four leading states in the production of rice, growing about twenty percent of the
country's crop. Today the state is the number one producer.
By the end of World War I, the agricultural economy of Arkansas, like much of the South, was devastated.
Records of the time show that many state legislators proposed sweeping changes to address the needs of
farmers, going so far as to suggest that the University be relocated to Little Rock. How such a move
would invigorate the economy was never fully outlined, but reflected the desperate conditions of the time.
However, in 1918 in a printed report entitled Arkansas, Farming Conditions and Farm Loan Needs, the
Banking Committee of the Little Rock Board of Commerce expressed optimism when it stated that: "We
have shown here that the spirit of progress has awakened in our state and that our farmers are taking
advantage of the opportunities of learning better farm methods... We have pointed out our excellent
system of co-operation of County Farm Demonstration Agents in place in 64 counties. These people
work under the supervision of the United States and of the state and are teaching better farming methods
and the diversification of crops and also developing the livestock industry." The report proved to be
somewhat prophetic. By the mid-1920s the state's agricultural bases showed improvement, largely due to
a favorable turn in the national economy.
However, the upswing in the economy was short-lived. The flood of 1927 had a devastating effect on
thousands of people along the Mississippi River. In 1930, the Arkansas banking system collapsed as the
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American Exchange and Trust, headquartered in Little Rock, with 72 branches throughout the state,
closed its doors. Farmers were particularly hard hit, and by the end of 1930, sixty-three percent of all
Arkansas farmers fell into tenancy. Farmers growing rice in Arkansas and Prairie counties, however, were
fortunate as their products could be sold. For those who planted cotton, it was an entirely different
matter. The drought of 1930-1931, coupled with the drop in price of cotton, was crippling.
In July of 1934, in a run-down school house near Tyronza, Arkansas, H.L. Mitchell and Henry Clay East
were among those who established the Southern Tenants Farmers' Union (STFU). The original
membership consisted of eleven white members and seven black members. Ironically, some of the
founders reportedly were former members of the Ku Klux Klan, and one of the blacks was a survivor of
the 1919 riot at Elaine, Arkansas. By the end of 1935 the STFU had a heavy concentration of members
in northeast Arkansas and claimed a total of approximately 30,000 members in neighboring states.
The deplorable conditions of farmers and sharecroppers drew national attention. Correspondents from
afar traversed the Delta country and reported on what they saw. English writer Naomi Mitchinson stated:
"I have traveled over most of Europe and part of Africa but I have never seen such terrible sights as I saw
yesterday among the sharecroppers of Arkansas." Eleanor Roosevelt, in a April 4, 1936 letter to Senate
majority leader Joe T. Robinson of Arkansas, stated: "Three share croppers, two of them from Arkansas,
came to see me in New York the other day and I was deeply troubled by the stories they tell...I am very
anxious about it and know you must feel the same way. I wonder if it would not be possible to send
some one down to try to get a better understanding between the people than there seems to be at present."
Titles such sd Recent Changes in Farm Labor Organization in Three Arkansas Plantation Counties, a
1939 report issued by the University's Department of Rural Economics and Sociology, document the
issues of the day.
The Dyess Colony was an attempt to reestablish impoverished farmers under circumstances that would
give them a reasonable chance for success. Named for W.R. Dyess, first administrator of the Works
Progress Administration in Arkansas, the colony was founded in 1934 in Mississippi County as an
experiment that was assisted by the federal government. Members of the colony, selected from state
relief rolls, were centered in dwellings around a community hospital, a bank, feed mill, cotton gin,
canning building, library, and other service facilities. Farms were worked on an individual basis, but
community tasks were often performed by members on a cooperative basis. The Colony received notice
in the national press because of such a large scale operation and support of the federal government.
Shortly before 1940 the Farm Security Administration assumed control of the Dyess Colony. To this
day some of the buildings still exist at Dyess, Arkansas.
Some students of the period credit the STFU for touching off a reaction that pushed the New Deal toward
far bolder action on the farm front than otherwise may have been the case. In Arkansas, Governor J.
Marion Futrell appointed a group of leading citizens to the Arkansas Tenancy Commission in 1936 to
review the plight of the sharecroppers. Most of their recommendations were incorporated in the
Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937. But the STFU wanted sweeping changes. In the June 1937
issue of The Sharecropper's Voice, the official organ of the STFU, the editor called for Arkansas
Governor Carl E. Bailey to repeal the poll tax law: "There can be no democracy in Arkansas so long as
thousands of sharecroppers--probably a majority of the citizens of the state--are denied the vote because
they are too poor to pay the poll tax."
As reflected in publications such as Land Tenure in Arkansas, a 1945 report issued by the Department of
Rural Economics and Sociology of the University of Arkansas, the great majority of Arkansans were still
on farms and dependent on them for a living at the beginning of World War II. And while politicians
had an impact on the life of the farm community, those outside of the political arena caused
revolutionary changes that would have a tremendous impact on agriculture and rural life. There were
engineers in Detroit who perfected the tractor to do more than a mule; botanists, entomologists, and
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chemists who found new ways to eliminate the enemies of crops; those in the Agricultural Extension
Service who spread the word across the state; soil conservationists who taught farmers how to terrace their
land to prevent topsoil from running off; the rural electric cooperatives who brought cheap electricity;
and John and Mack Rust, brothers near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, who built an odd looking machine that
could pick cotton. These developments combined to change the face of Arkansas forever.
The major portion of literature documenting agriculture and rural life is located at the University of
Arkansas Libraries in Fayetteville, in the Special Collections Division. Such materials have long been a
collecting focus. In addition to hundreds of University-related publications, Special Collections also has
many other publications pertaining to the state's rural history that were printed outside Arkansas, such as
Norman Thomas's The Plight of the Share-Cropper, published in 1939 by the League for Industrial
Democracy. Such publications were often found in manuscript collections and subsequently transferred
to the Division's Arkansiana Library, the richest source of published materials associated with Arkansas.
Other important materials are found at the Arkansas History Commission in Little Rock and at the
libraries at the campuses of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and the University of Arkansas at
Monticello.
Over the course of the project the University of Arkansas Libraries, in cooperation with other libraries in
the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Arkansas and the South. The project will employ a three-person scholarly
review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies, and
target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 9.000 volumes to be preserved in a
subsequent project. Details of the Libraries' project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.5.2 of the
proposal's Plan of Work.
6.3 CALIFORNIA
"The spring is beautiful in California. Valleys in which the fruit blossoms are fragrant pink and white
waters in a shallow sea. Then the first tendrils of the grapes swelling from the old gnarled vines, cascade
down to cover the trunks. The full green hills are round and green as breasts. And on the level vegetable
lands are the mile-long rows of pale green lettuce and the spindly little cauliflowers, the gray-green
unearthly artichoke plants." (John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, New York, Viking, 1939, p. 308)
Steinbeck's words epitomize the attraction of California to the Joads, and other Okies, and the millions of
settlers who came to the "Golden State" seeking the richness of the California earth. Generations of
settlers, ranging from the Spanish, the Mexicans, the Japanese, Chinese and Russians --as well as those
from other parts of the United States--came to a land first inhabited by the native Americans. From 1760
on, California became a mecca for agriculture, and the literature documenting its importance starts with
the diaries of the Spanish missionaries. In many ways the history of California's agriculture parallels that
of the rest of the United States, but over a much shorter time period. Claude Hutchison, in his History of
the University of California and the Land Grant Colleges (1946), notes that "crowded into a short span of
less than a hundred years, the commercial agriculture of California has passed through all of the stages
exemplified by several centuries of the world's agricultural history."
When the first settlers arrived in California, bringing their agricultural heritage with them, there were
virtually no native crops. The American Indians who roamed the region survived on fishing, hunting,
and seeds--principally acorns. Spanish missionaries cultivated the first crops, beginning with wheat, fruit
and nuts. Father Serra brought cattle and seeds, and the missionaries taught the Indians how to farm.
The Spanish also introduced cotton and actively experimented with crops--an activity vividly discussed in
the literature of the time. Mission gardens and orchards were begun and aqueducts and other forms of
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irrigation were started as early as 1797. The mission in Sonoma Valley was the first to produce wine
commercially, and by 1830, viticulture had already began to take on major commercial value. Agustin
Haraszthy, regarded as the father of the California wine industry, brought grapevines from Hungary to
San Diego (via Wisconsin) in 1849 and in two years had established vineyards. Many of the publications
of the early deciduous fruit growers are in desperate need of preservation.
At the time of the discovery of gold in 1848, California was principally occupied by native Americans
and Spanish settlers. Their leisurely, rural civilization was swept aside by the throng of Yankee Forty-
niners, and California began to be quickly settled by people from all over the world and every state in the
Union. Fiction such as The Grapes of Wrath, movies like This Earth is Mine (filmed at Beringer, one of
the earliest California wineries), and documentaries about the migrant workers in Carey McWilliams
Factories in the Field, reveal part of the history of California agriculture and rural life; the rest is found in
myriad primary research resources and published documents including the diaries and letters of settlers;
newspapers and ephemera; bulletins, circulars, reports and other publications of the University; land grant
publications; and in the publications of an incredible array of organizations such as the California Farm
Bureau Federation, the State Agricultural Society, the State Fish and Game Commission, the State Board
of Viticultural Commissioners, and the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station.
California's politics, economy, culture, society, environment and technology are inextricably tied to
agriculture. California Farmer, like its counterparts in other states, together with state agricultural society
publications, played a crucial role in the development of California's agriculture. There were editorials
on water rights issues, the concept of ownership of public lands, and perhaps most importantly (in
retrospect), the journal played a role in exempting grapevine owners from taxation. Eugene W. Hilgard,
noted for his critical work in soil science, provided the first comprehensive description of phylloxera,
which destroyed much of the grape crop in the 1870's and devastated rural communities. Pacific Rural
Press had two major publications in 1877 on .the coddling moth, an insect capable of destroying whole
orchards. Hubert Howe Bancroft himself wrote on this topic, and there were numerous articles on the
first infestation by the Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly) in the 1920's--a forecast of its return in the late
1980's. The publications of the California State Grange, which began in 1873, provided legislative and
labor information to its members.
What was so special about California that farmers risked all to come? The literature of agriculture and
rural life provides the answer--California's two-season climate (winter rain and summer drought) and
technological ingenuity in providing water to farm an arid and semi-arid region were virtually unique.
The six distinct growing regions: the North Coast, the Central Coast (including the Napa and Sonoma
wine regions), Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, Mountain (Shasta and Trinity), and Southern
California provided the state with the ability to raise an incredible diversity of crops. Forest and
rangeland, comprising 60% of California, supplied a mix of wildlife, watershed protection, timber, and
recreational possibilities unsurpassed in the nation. The literature also reveals the major controversies over
the land. The concept of publicly owned lands--a distinctive feature of California and other western
states--provoked the debates and struggle for resources that is reflected in the literature, including
exploitation of the forests, logging rights, and protection of endangered species.
The incredible diversity of crops that distinguished California agriculture early on continues to this day.
Almonds are grown only in California, and are second to grapes in importance. California's citrus crops
are world-renowned; in 1873 two navel trees were brought from Bahia, Brazil, to Riverside Colony--
ushering in a totally new crop for the state. California leads the United States in the production of many
crops, including avocados, asparagus, cauliflower, oriental vegetables, pistachios, lettuce, and processing
tomatoes.
The Gold Rush was a pivotal event for agriculture in California, and indeed elsewhere, as farmers picked
up and moved west with the tide. Rice was brought in for the Chinese laborers, who worked in the mines
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and on the railroads--and the crop was imbued with enormous political implications due to the concept of
"Chinese exclusion". Carey McWilliams, commenting on the "yellow peril," in Factories in the Field,
noted that "it is the farm labor history of California that illuminates the social problems and that places
them in the proper perspective." Japanese farm workers followed the Chinese, and colonies of Russian
immigrants brought their own crops and techniques. Only ten years after the Gold Rush began, wheat
had become a prominent commodity and cattle took on additional significance to supply hides and
tallow. The Mexican land grant system led to the development of enormous "ranchos"--a philosophy that
continued for another century. The dominance of large farms and ranches, as opposed to family farms
in the eastern and midwestern states, has always been characteristic of California. The distances, terrain,
and lack of transportation overland made it prohibitively expensive for most small farmers to market
their produce and livestock, although a few coastal farmers used the sea to transport goods.
The history of conflicts over agricultural labor also distinguishes the history of California agriculture and
rural life, and the literature of the day elucidates the economic, social and political implications. After the
controversy over the Chinese and Japanese laborers, the role of Mexicans as migrant laborers for the
seasonal harvests became a major issue. There is a wealth of literature in need of preservation that is
devoted to the rise of the braceross," and the creation of the United Farm Workers under the direction of
Cesar Chavez. One of the underlying concerns was the effect of pesticides on farm workers, (the Delano
grape strike was a significant example) and California's role in pest management has been widely
publicized. California was the model for federal law, and many of the important leaflets and special
publications of the California Agricultural Experiment Station, and Agricultural Extension (now
Cooperative Extension) Service are critical candidates for preservation and improved access. Many of
these publications were translated not only into Spanish but, more recently into Vietnamese, reflecting the
history of immigration into California. Paul Taylor's assessment of labor appears in numerous
publications which are highly regarded and important to preserve for the historical record. In the most
recent election in California, the issue of illegal immigrants was highly publicized, and has yet to be
resolved. Much of the background information about this controversy can be found in the agricultural
literature.
It is impossible to discuss California agriculture without mentioning the importance of water, irrigation,
and the constant battles over water rights. The creation of canals and waterways has been well
documented; California's irrigation system provides water to 7.6 million acres and the system has been
cited as so immense that it is the only other man-made undertaking besides the Great Wall of China that is
visible from the moon. California water laws, beginning in 1850, are comparable to the English common
law concept of "riparian rights," whereby water rights are given to owners whose land borders on water
courses. This created conflicts with the miners who had preceded the farmers and cattle owners. Even
today there are debates over the use of water for recreational purposes versus agricultural needs--rice
farmers in particular are criticized for flooding fields. The concept of water as a public utility is reflected
in the literature documenting the 1887 Wright Act, which established irrigation districts, and in
documentation for the Colorado River Project and the Central Valley Project.
The other area of literature that needs preservation is forestry and fisheries. The University of California
has filmed only one major title, and there are numerous publications from the California State Forestry
organizations, as well as two unique collections of photographs (Fritz/Metcalf and Sudworth) and
soil/vegetation maps of California forests in the 1920's. The Bibliography of Early California Forestry,
consisting of 69 volumes, exists in very few locations in California--one at the University and one in the
Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, which has limited public access. Hilgard's
writings include his experiments on tree culture. The control of wildfire is also well documented and,
ironically, Walter Mulford, who began the forestry program at U. C. Berkeley, saw his house burn in the
1923 Berkeley fire. The 1991 fire in the Berkeley/Oakland hills caused scholars to re-examine many of
the earlier photographs and documents.
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Over the course of the phase 2 project, the University of California-Berkeley, in cooperation with other
libraries in the state, will preserve and improve access to an additional 1,666 titles in 1,842 volumes
important to the study of agriculture and rural life in California and the West. These volumes were
selected for preservation from a bibliography of 7,366 volumes identified during the 1996/97 phase 1
project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The phase 1 project employed a four-
person scholarly review to rank the titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities
studies. Details of California's phase 2 project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.3 of the
proposal's Plan of Work.
6.4 FLORIDA
The unique significance of Florida's agricultural history and past rural life is rooted in the peninsula's
distinctive geography, its subtropical crops and the conjoined histories of its varied peoples. Floridians,
from the pre-contact indigenous peoples, through the Spanish, the British, the crackers, planters, slaves,
Seminoles, and Yankees, have wrestled with the often bewildering Florida environment. Like rural folk
and agriculturists everywhere, they were often hobbled by blind prejudice, benighted traditions, and false
prophets, yet unlike the peoples of more familiar places, they were challenged by a subtropical, year-long
agricultural environment that seemed to promise all yet delivered little. From these circumstances arose
an extraordinary epoch of agricultural experimentation that continues to the present day and is
documented in the collections of the state's principal land grant institution, the University of Florida.
While a major portion of the literature is located at the University of Florida, other important collections
of materials are found at Florida A&M University (a historically black land grant university), the other
Florida universities, and the Florida State Library. The University of Florida has been acquiring
agricultural monographs and serials since the 1880s and has been a regional depository for federal
publications, as well as a depository for state publications. In addition to the general collection, important
titles are found in the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, the Rare Books Collection, and the
University Archives.
Florida's first farmers were the Tumucuans, the Appalachees and other indigenous peoples who
significantly modified the natural landscape through the use of fire. Thus the first Europeans found a
relatively open forest criss-crossed with footpaths and broken by fields of native plantings of maize and
tuberous crops. With the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine in 1565, European livestock, crops and
agricultural methods began their slow but inexorable spread across the face of Florida. Oranges were
among the first fruits to be planted along with other, ultimately less successful, Mediterranean crops.
Spanish agriculture was severely limited, however, as the Crown had no wish to reward colonials for doing
that which could lead to self sufficiency. Only hardy cattle were allowed to thrive in the interior scrub
and marshlands.
A twenty-year period of British control (1763-1783) saw the establishment of more extensive plantations
of rice, long-staple (sea island) cotton, indigo, and oranges along the St. Johns River and the tidewater
bays and estuaries of the upper east coast. With the return of the Spanish, agriculture was once again
stymied by the centralized bureaucracy of a flagging empire along with the economic realities of Spanish
mercantilism. In 1819 Florida was acquired by the United States, but even under U.S. control the
population of Florida grew slowly. Native Americans from the Southeast region, along with escaped
slaves, were now amalgamated into a new group, the Seminoles, who fought a series of debilitating wars
against the white settlers and the United States Army. Because of this and the wilderness nature of the
Everglades, the southern two-thirds of the Florida peninsula was a sparsely settled area at the advent of
statehood in 1845.
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Documentary resources chronicling the decades of the 1830s, 1840s and 1850s reveal that the panhandle
and northern counties of the state came under the control of a landed class whose members migrated,
often with their entire entourage of slaves, from South Carolina, Virginia, and other areas of the
Southeast. They brought with them the slave/cotton planter culture, and along with cotton, cultivated
other crops associated with that culture such as tobacco for cash and fodder corn for hogs and cattle.
The published record shows that they also began to experiment with crops which they believed were
suited to the lower latitude of their new home, chief among these being sugar cane, in which some
planters invested heavily but with few rewards. These early U.S. settlers, like the Spanish and English
before them, were beguiled by the seemingly mild climate into planting crops that sooner or later
succumbed to unexpected and devastating freezes.
The Civil War resulted in relatively minor damage to Florida's farms and infrastructure and, in fact,
stimulated the cattle industry as the state came to be a major supplier of salted beef to the Confederacy.
The general destruction of the Southern economy, however, retarded the growth of Florida's agricultural
development during Reconstruction. It was not until 1884 that the state's first land grant college was
established at Lake City. The Florida Agricultural College, representing the core of what was to become
the University of Florida in 1902, was relocated in 1906 to Gainesville and thereafter vigorously
supported the state's farmers and farm communities through publications, research, demonstrations, and
educational outreach.
The literature of the post-Reconstruction era documents considerable growth and change in the
development of Florida agriculture--a portend to the twentieth century agricultural economy. As the
population of the middle peninsula grew, oranges began to emerge as a significant crop. Previously
restricted to waterfront locations, orange groves were now planted inland as railroad entrepreneurs
tentatively extended lines southward down the peninsula. Unperturbed by the ominous freeze of 1886,
growers, many fresh from the North, succumbed to orange fever and planted thousands of acres of
orange trees. After a nine-year honeymoon, the double freezes of the 1894/95 season killed trees deep
into the peninsula. Though some growers struggled on, most either left the state in disgust or moved
further south onto the high central ridge which in the next century was to become a virtual Masabi Range
of citrus production. But for a time, the open country of Central and South Florida was left largely to the
cattlemen whose annual forays into the scrub were more akin to the hunting of wild animals than cattle
round-ups.
In response to the growth and diversity of agriculture, the University of Florida, as did other land grant
colleges nationwide, established the Cooperative Extension Service and developed programs such as the
Farmers' Institutes, home economics programs, and 4-H. In separate programs for white and African-
American farmers, county agents (both white and African-American) worked with their respective clients
to teach the latest methods of growing crops for both cash and subsistence, as well as helping them to can,
cook, and sew--thus lending greater efficiency and savings to their often meager crops and earnings.
In addition to pertinent reports from Florida agencies and committees concerned with rural life, the
annual reports of the Florida Cooperative Extension Service cover aspects of rural sociology, including
agricultural education programs, the introduction of tropical plants, farm demonstration projects for
boy's clubs and men, home demonstration projects for girls and women's clubs, farmers and women's
institutes, Negro agents cooperative demonstration programs, state agents work, and farm home
economics.
Many monographs in need of preservation also deal with the sociological aspects of agriculture in the
state; e.g., Johnson's Crossing, an Institutional Analysis of a Rural Black Community (William J.
Simmons), Florida Farm Wives: They Help the Family Farm Survive (Masuma Downie), Off-Farm Work
and the Increase in the Florida Farm Woman's Relative Contribution to the Family Farm (Christina H.
Gladwin), Florida's Rural Hospitals (Richard Polangin), Rural Land Ownership in Florida (Daniel E.
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Alleger), On the Season: A Report of a Public Health Project Conducted Among Negro Migrant
Agricultural Workers in Palm Beach County, Florida (Robert H. Browning), Subsistence Food Production
Among Low Resource Farmers in Alachua County, Florida (John R. Butler), Financial Stress in
Agriculture: Policy Options and Financial Consequences for Farmers in North Florida (William G.
Boggess), Income, Resources and Adjustment Potential Among Rural Families in North and West Florida
(Lawrence A. Reuss), and Rural Farm Retirement: A Study of Rural Retirement in Five Florida Counties
(Daniel E. Alleger).
The published literature and primary research resources documenting the history of agriculture and rural
life in Florida reveal the major concerns of the day. With the rapid easterly spread of the boll weevil
across the face of the South, cotton declined between about 1910 and 1925 forcing many farmers off the
land. The World War I era saw the migration of tens of thousands of poor, rural Floridians to the
industrial cities to the north. The land boom followed by the bust in 1926 ushered in a long period of
rural poverty in the state which was not mitigated until World War II.
The key government publications needing preservation include those of the Florida Extension Service,
Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Services (UF), and the
Agriculture and Consumer Services Department of Florida, as well as a number of government
committees. In addition, over 30 Florida agricultural societies existed in the 1800s and there are
currently some 170 societies, all of which have contributed to the agricultural literature of the state.
Publications of the interwar period document the draining of much of the Florida Everglades, a epoch
that forever altered the landscape and ecology of the state. These extensive mucklands became the
newest area of experimentation with various exotic crops. The capital-intensive character of mucklands
farming reserved these lands for corporate agribusiness which by the 1930s had established sugar and
winter vegetables upon the drained acreage south and southeast of Lake Okeechobee. Also during this
period the satsuma industry of north and northwest Florida lived out its short existence along with the
tung oil industry which lasted several decades longer; both crops eventually succumbed to the
uncertainties of Florida's climate.
Florida's frontier-like character persisted well into the twentieth century. The freedom of the open range
was state law until 1949 when fencing was finally erected along Florida's highways. The darker side of
this rough-hewn culture is revealed by documents detailing the state's anachronistic penury laws which
assured agriculture and the naval stores industry of a plentiful and often cost-free black labor force until
the close of the Great Depression.
World War II represents a watershed in agriculture almost everywhere and no less so in Florida, ushering
in the era of agribusiness and encroaching urbanization. The application of chemicals developed in the
war effort to agricultural purposes inaugurated humankind's great technological onslaught against pests.
It was hoped that DDT would do for Florida crops what ice and air conditioning did for humans--make
life more livable in what is naturally a less than congenial environment. The literature shows that high-
powered but ephemeral chemical fertilizers entirely replaced animal manures, and chemical herbicides
supplanted much hand labor, thus reducing the year-round labor force, but not the harvest labor, assuring
that the state's agricultural economy was dependent on migrant workers.
Technological change gave rise concomitantly to changes in the economic structure of agriculture. The
new methods were well adapted to large-scale operations and as the average size of Florida farms
increased, their total numbers fell. Some family-owned farms were able to adapt to the changes and
grow, but many others sold out to corporate farming concerns which capitalized on the multiple
advantages of economy of scale; all the while overall farm output increased exponentially. Though this
trend was national in scope, the literature documents that in Florida it proceeded at a precipitous pace.
6. Descriptions of the Collections
Over the course of the phase 2 project, the University of Florida, in cooperation with other libraries in the
state, will preserve and improve access to 603 titles in 1,841 volumes important to the study of agriculture
and rural life in Florida and the Southeast. These volumes were selected for preservation from a
comprehensive bibliography of 3500 volumes identified during the 1996/97 phase 1 project supported
by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The phase 1 project employed a three-person scholarly
review to rank the titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies. Details of
Florida's phase 2 project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.4 of the proposal's Plan of Work.
6.5 HAWAI'I
Like thousands of others, my grandparents migrated from Japan as sugarcane laborers at the turn
of the century. They were searching for a new and better life for themselves and their family.
The sugar plantations also brought Chinese immigrants, followed by Portuguese and Filipinos.
To a very large degree, these plantations helped create the diversity in our society which makes
Hawai'i a unique and special place to live."
--Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Report to Hawai'i, May 1992
For well over a century, the plantation system that centered around sugarcane and pineapple cultivation,
dominated agriculture and rural life in Hawai'i. The social fabric of the islands was transformed by the
cultures and aspirations of immigrant workers who settled in the islands, interweaving their own traditions
with the Native Hawaiian culture.
Native Hawaiian agriculture sustained a large population, estimated to have been between 250,000 and
400,000 when Captain James Cook arrived in the islands in 1778. Hawaiians traditionally cultivated a
variety of crops from the shoreline to mountains in pie-shaped land divisions know as ahupua'a. They
grew bananas, breadfruit, and ferns in the mountains and planted wet and dry land taro and sweet
potatoes in the valleys. Man-made ponds ringed the shorelines for the cultivation of fish and turtles.
Epidemic diseases introduced into the Kingdom of Hawai'i by Westerners devastated the Native Hawaiian
population. By 1853, the population had dwindled to 79,600. Many Hawaiians moved to Honolulu to
find work and fewer than 20% percent lived in rural areas. Although Hawai'i was not exactly a "widowed
land," emptied of its indigenous people and traditions it was a wounded and vulnerable land. Land
reform, the Mahele, in 1848, changed traditional laws and made way for foreigners to own land. This
pivotal event enabled the development of large sugar plantations and the shift from traditional Native
Hawaiian crops.
The sugar industry was the major vehicle of change in Hawai'i's sovereignty, politics, economics, and
lifestyle. Sugar was introduced as a commercial crop in the Kingdom in 1835. By the 1860s, it was a
flourishing industry. Cane processing plants constructed in rural communities throughout the islands
literally changed every aspect of life. The salty fragrance of the sea was replaced by the thick smell of
molasses; the roaring of the waves pounding the shoreline was drowned out by steam engines and mill
machinery; and land and water were diverted from traditional taro patches to large plantation fields
linked to the mills by narrow gauge railroads.
City directories organized island-by-island provided an annual summary of the agricultural and
economic activities of the plantations and rural communities that sustained them. These scarce resources
are invaluable for researchers. Thrum's Hawaiian Almanac and Annual (1875-1940) is another critical
resource for statistics, and contains articles describing agriculture and rural life.
6. Descriptions of the Collections
From the 1850s, with changing land ownership and use, the Hawaiian Kingdom demonstrated a vested
interest in the success of large-scale agricultural development. The Transactions of the Royal Hawaiian
Agricultural Society (1850-1856) chronicle the interest of the Monarchy in agricultural research as well
as in exploring additional crops suitable for the islands' climate. The government also promoted its
agricultural products at 19th century international expositions. For example, the catalog published for
the Paris Exposition in 1889 highlights the success of the sugar plantations.
Hawai'i's sugar industry was an economic monolith dependent on the American market. The Reciprocity
Treaty of 1876 allowed sugar and other products grown in the islands to enter the U.S. market duty free.
Preferential treatment for agricultural products from Hawai'i lasted until 1891 when the treaty was
repealed by the McKinley Tariff. American businessmen associated with sugar plantation interests were
instrumental in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, thus paving the way for annexation by
the United States in 1898 and the restoration of a favorable sugar market. Annual reports of sugar
companies and plantations that provide insight into these political and economic developments are in
critical need of preservation in the collections of the University of Hawai'i Library and Lyman House
Memorial Museum in Hilo.
In the isolated rural communities of Hawaii, the plantation defined rural life and its owners controlled
most aspects of daily life. By the mid 1860s, the decline in the Hawaiian population precipitated a search
for plantation laborers. The Hawaiian Kingdom created the Bureau of Immigration in 1864, leading to
the establishment of a contract labor system. The government was concerned not only with the needs of
the sugar planters, but also wanted to find workers who might settle in the islands and marry Hawaiians to
"strengthen the race." The Biennial Report of the Board of Immigration (1879-1899) includes statistics
on the plantations and the number of people of each race employed, as well as reports by the Inspector-
in-Chief concerning specific immigrant groups. The Planter's Labor Supply Company (1882-1895) and
later the Hawaiian Sugar Planter's Association (HSPA) published reports on labor issues as well as current
developments in technology and agricultural research in the Planters' Monthly (1882-1909).
Contract workers lived in plantation housing segregated by ethnic group. Single Chinese men were the
first group of immigrants, arriving in the late 1850s. Upon completion of their contracts, many laborers
stayed in the islands and married Hawaiians. They raised taro and rice in traditional taro fields taking
advantage of existing irrigation systems. For a brief time in the 1860s and 1870s, rice was also produced
as an export crop. Rice cultivation was considered picturesque and illustrated articles about rural life
were found in the jounals such as Paradise of the Pacific (1888-1966) and the Mid-Pacific Magazine
(1911-1954).
The first Japanese workers came to the island in 1868, but large-scale immigration did not begin until
1885. By 1890, the Japanese comprised more than 42% of the plantation work force. As Japanese
workers completed their contracts, they often married picture brides from Japan and settled in rural
communities. Employment centered around the plantations and immigrants established a variety of small
businesses--from photograph studies to barber shops. Plantations controlled most of the prime
agricultural land and thus there was limited opportunity for independent farmers. Coffee, however, was
not suited to plantations, and by 1920 virtually all of the commercially-produced coffee was grown by
Japanese tenant farmers in Kona, on the island of Hawai'i. Japanese-American prominence in the coffee
industry has continued for three generations.
Significant works of Japanese literature produced in Hawai'i prior to World War II survive in limited
numbers and are in critical need of preservation. The literature--from poetry to politics--was based on
experiences on the plantations and in rural communities. Literary clubs were popular social groups and
they published the work of their members. One of the first histories of the Japanese in Hawai'i, Shin
Hawai'i (1900) by Hidegoro Fujii, contained a section of poetry including the following poem by
Sasakura Ushu:
6. Descriptions of the Collections
Yu na yu na nakumushi no ne no yukashisa ni,
Kibi no hitomura karinokoshitsutsu.
[Every evening, touched by the nostalgic sound of chirping insects,
I left a stand of sugarcane for them while cutting the rest.]
The Japanese community played a key role in the rural life of Hawaii. Among the most important
resources about this community are the Japanese language directories (1927-1941) published by the
newspaper, Nippu Jiji. These rare, paperbound volumes provide in-depth information on the community
and its social and business activities.
Until U.S. annexation in 1898, both the Hawaiian Government and the sugar planters continued to seek
contract immigrant plantation labor as well as skilled workers. The Portuguese arrived from the Azores
and skilled workers came from Scotland, Denmark, and Germany to operate sugar mill equipment and
plantation trains. The published literature documents that the cacophony of voices and cultures often led
to difficulties and misunderstandings between workers, plantation management, and the government.
Pigeon English (incorporating Hawaiian, English, and the native tongues of the laborers) became the
standard for communication. Today, Pigeon English is not only a part of daily interactions, but a unique
island voice in poetry and literature.
Annexation in 1898 ended the indentured contract labor system in Hawai'i. U.S. immigration laws,
including the Chinese Exclusion Act, took effect immediately. However, Japanese were allowed to
immigrate as free laborers until 1924--no longer bound by contract to work on plantations. With stricter
immigration laws, plantations began to look for new sources of labor--particularly from other newly-
acquired U. S. territories such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico. In recognition of Hawai'i's diverse
culture, the University of Hawai'i established the Social Research Laboratory in the 1920s, publishing its
findings in the journal Social Process in Hawaii (1935-1960).
Plantations were also a major staging ground for the development of labor unions. Prior to 1900, labor
strikes were spontaneous and disorganized, but in 1909, organized Japanese laborers struck against Oahu
sugar plantations. Japanese language newspapers published throughout the islands were instrumental in
sustaining the strike. However, organizing multi-ethnic strikes was difficult and the first unions--formed
around national identity and "ethnic unionism"--gave management an advantage in strike breaking. It
was not until the late 1930s that efforts began to organize all agricultural workers under one union and it
was not until 1945 that the International Longshoreman's and Warehouseman's Association (ILWU)
secured a sugar industry contract that established it as the bargaining agent for sugar workers. Japanese
language publications provide insight into these early labor struggles. The 1909 strike is detailed in a
number of published histories including Senkyuhyaku-nkunendo Hawai Sato Lichi Rodo Undo Shi
(1921) [An account of the labor movement on sugar plantations in Hawaii in 1920] by Motoyuki
Negoro, a college graduate and labor sympathizer.
Hawai'i's dependence on a single crop, sugar, left the economy vulnerable. Research to improve the
productivity of sugar plantations was a major focus of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA)
founded in 1895. Under HSPA leadership, Hawai'i's sugar industry became part of a worldwide network
of sugar research. HSPA also represented their membership in labor-related issues. By the 1920s, it was
increasingly clear that worker well-being was important--if only to ensure their commitment to the sugar
companies. HSPA provided leadership in workers' health issues and published the journal Plantation
Health (1936-1964).
Shortly after Hawai'i became a territory in 1901, the U.S. Department of Agriculture established an
agriculture experiment station. It was soon followed by a second station established by the Territory at
the University of Hawaii, the newly-founded land grant institution. In 1928, the extension stations
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merged into the Hawai'i Cooperative Extension Service. Publications of the Extension Service reflected
the changing interests and research needs in Hawai'i's agricultural industries. The recent closing of sugar
and pineapple plantations, as well as a renewed interest in crop diversity, has created a demand for early
publications of the Extension Service, such as the Press Bulletin (1903-1919) and the Hawai'i
Cooperative Extension Service (1929-1964). Increased use of these research resources has highlighted
the need for their preservation.
Pineapple, grown commercially on a small scale up to 1900, became a significant crop during the
territorial period. After annexation, the 35% duty on Hawai'i canned pineapple was removed and it was
feasible for island pineapple to compete in the American market. Pineapple cultivation developed along
the sugar model; it was grown on large tracts and workers were housed in plantation communities. In
1912, the Hawaiian Pineapple Packers' Association formed its own research station, eventually becoming
the Pineapple Research Institute and publishing Pineapple Quarterly (1931-1937) and the Pineapple
Men's Conference Proceedings (1927-1928).
In the early 20th century, Hawai'i developed a new crop--tourism. Travel literature from the period
provides an interesting perspective on rural life and agriculture prior to World War II. In the 1930s,
agriculture teamed up with the tourist industry to promote Hawai'i and its products. Their advertising
agency hired well-known American artists, including Georgia O'Keefe, to come to the islands and create
images. Advertising campaigns culminated in a flurry of travel publications such as Hawai'i U.S.A. by
Bob Davis and George T. Armitage (1941).
While sugar and pineapple dominated, and "paradise" was being promoted, Native Hawaiians were
increasingly destitute and separated from the land. By the turn-of-the-century, many lived in tenements
in Honolulu. In 1921, the U.S. Congress passed the Hawaiian Homes Act and set aside 200,000 acres for
Native Hawaiians. While there were many controversial aspects to the legislation, the intention was to
rehabilitate Hawaiians by granting them leases to land for homesteading. However, most of the available
land was rocky, had no access to water, or was otherwise unsuitable for agriculture. The Report of the
Hawaiian Homes Commission to the Legislature (1921-1959) provides insight into the program and the
political, social, and economic concept of agricultural homesteads for native peoples.
As part of the current cultural and political renaissance, Native Hawaiians are again interested in
cultivating their traditional crops. Agricultural practices have largely been reconstructed from oral
tradition--since there are few published sources. Hawaiian historians Samuel Kamakau and John Papa Ii
were published in English in the 1950s. Native Planters in Old Hawai'i (1940) by anthropologist E.S.
Craighill Handy was based on interviews with "the older generation of country natives (who) still had an
extraordinarily intimate and thorough knowledge of many varieties of taro, sweet potato, sugar cane, and
banana still cultivated."
Over the course of the project the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library, in cooperation with other
libraries in the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography important to the study of agriculture and
rural life in Hawai'i. The project will employ a four-person scholarly review panel to rank titles
according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies. The Library will preserve access
to the most important 25% of the estimated universe of materials, or approximately 560 titles in 875
volumes. Details of the Library's project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.5 of the proposal's
Plan of Work.
6. Descriptions of the Collections
6.6 IOWA
Iowa is agriculture. Since its first settlers crossed the Mississippi River in the 1830s, Iowa's history has
been shaped by the richness of some of the best soil in the world. Bordered by two major river systems,
Iowa's gently rolling countryside was originally covered by thousands of acres of prairie grass, some of it
so high that to see over it required a rider to stand on top of his horse. To further bless this land, nearly
35 inches of rain falls each year, and although it can get very hot and very cold, the average annual
temperature hovers around 50 degrees, which guarantees Iowa with a growing season sufficient to raise
abundant crops.
The Native Americans whom the French fur traders first encountered in the 1700s were the loway, whose
name means "beautiful land" or "this is the place." Others, including the Sac, Fox, Winnebago,
Pottawattamie, Otoe, and Illini tribes came into Iowa after losing their homelands to the westward
advancing white settlers. These varied groups blended the woodlands culture of the northeast with the
existing plains and prairie civilization to produce a semi-nomadic lifestyle that relied primarily on
hunting, fishing, and gathering of nuts and berries. In their small garden plots the Native American
peoples also grew maize, tomatoes, potatoes, squash and other vegetables. These "New World" crops were
an important addition to the European food base and served as the foundation for future agricultural
developments.
By 1833, most of the Native Americans had been displaced and the territory was opened to new
settlement. The nearly treeless prairie provided little hindrance to the wave of pioneers that moved
inexorably across what would soon become the 29th state in December 1846. Like their counterparts in
other Midwestern states, Iowa's nineteenth-century settlers were a mixture of pioneers and foreign-born
people. After the Civil War, many families moved westward from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana,
stopping in Iowa some settled permanently while others stayed only a short while before moving on. By
1890, nearly 20 percent were foreign-born, almost entirely from northern and western Europe, with the
majority being of German ancestry. In the early part of the twentieth century the burgeoning coal-mine
industry would attract immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.
Yet it has always been the land that has shaped Iowa, its people, and its history. The men and women who
toiled long days in the sun, or shivered in winter's icy blasts, developed a soberness, hardiness, and strong
work ethic that buttressed them from the vagaries of the marketplace. They took their work seriously,
their religion quietly, and their politics with a good dose of moderation. Perhaps Dorothy Schwieder has
best summarized the essential characteristics of Iowans as people of the "Middle Land", not only
geographically, but socially and politically as well. From the middle of the nineteenth century to the
middle of the twentieth, most Iowans seldom strayed from within the fold of the Republican party. Even
when the Populist Party chose a native son, James B. Weaver, as its presidential standard-bearer in the
1890s, Iowa farmers tended to look the other way and stayed with the
tried and true Republican Party.
It was one thing to raise a crop; it was another to get it sold. In the early years, most Iowans were unable
to grow much more than they needed to support their homestead. But as agricultural methods improved
and machinery began to assert its impact on productivity, the issue of transportation became significant
for Iowa farmers. They needed to acquire ways of getting their surplus to market to generate the capital
necessary for future success on the land. Fortunately, the two major rivers which serve as Iowa's east and
west boundaries functioned as efficient and regular conduits for agricultural products. Despite the
importance of water transport, it was the advent of the railroad that especially spurred sustained growth of
Iowa's rural economy. By 1870, four major lines crisscrossed the state linking the countryside with the
rivers while establishing nodes of embryonic towns and villages along the way. These small communities
often consisted of only a grain elevator, a few stores, a church or two, some private dwellings, and, of
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course, a public school; yet they were an essential ingredient in the integration of rural and urban life
during the nineteenth century. It was not until 1918 that the first concrete highway opened. For several
decades farm traffic moved from field to market along roads made either of dirt, or in some places, of
wooden planks.
In the beginning Iowa farmers grew mainly wheat, with some barley, rye, oats, and corn on the side.
Additionally, they maintained a few head of cattle, some hogs, and--especially in the pre-Civil War
period--sheep. By the 1870s, Iowa farmers began to raise corn and hogs, which provided the diversified
basis for agricultural production that is still in effect today. To assist farmers in their quest for improved
farming methods, the Congress passed the 1862 Morrill Act which gave federal support to the creation of
land-grant agricultural and mechanical arts colleges. Established by the Iowa General Assembly in 1858,
the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm was designated the nation's first land-grant college when
Iowa became the first state to accept the terms of the Morrill Act in 1864. The school--also the first land-
grant institution to be co-educational from the beginning--opened its doors in the fall of 1868, and
established firm connections with its rural citizenry. This relationship was enhanced by the'creation of
the Agricultural Experiment Station at Ames as a result of the 1887 Hatch Act. Earlier in 1879 the
college had established its Department of Veterinary Medicine. In 1906 another important service to
Iowa's rural constituency commenced with the founding of a Department of Extension, whose mission
was to inform farmers in every corner of the state about new agricultural developments.
From the start the college enjoyed dynamic leadership in its agricultural programs with leaders in
agriculture such as James "Tama Jim" Wilson, who later became the longest-serving Secretary of
Agriculture, with appointments in the McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft administrations. Such leadership
attracted able students, such as Iowa State's first African-American alumnus, George Washington Carver,
who went on to a distinguished career at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
To the academic triad of college, experiment station, and extension should be added the prominent role
that agricultural publications such as the Wallace's Farmer--edited by the redoubtable "Uncle" Henry
Wallace, whose son and grandson would later succeed James Wilson as secretaries of agriculture in the
twentieth century. Beginning in 1893, Wallace's Farmer promoted scientific agriculture coupled with an
emphasis on practical application and a concern for the entire rural community. The Iowa Homestead,
launched in 1856 and later absorbed by the Wallaces into their publication in 1929, also served as an
effective vehicle for information about Iowa agriculture.
The combination of education, outreach, and readily available dissemination of current agricultural
research instilled a desire in Iowa's farmers to constantly improve their farming methods. Agricultural
press titles such as Wallace's Farmer, Iowa Agriculturist (1903- current), Iowa Homestead (1856-1929),
Iowa Farmer (1925-28), Western Stock Journal and Farmer by Seaman Knapp who later became IAC
president (1893-1899), and Progressive Farmer by IAC's first president Adonijah Strong Welch (1975-
76) provided the latest scientific farming methods as well as the commentary of the day on the economic,
political, and social conditions of the Iowa farmer. This is just a glimpse of the range of productive Iowa
publishers that document agriculture and rural life in the state.
Since the state's inception in 1846, Iowa has had a rich tradition of agricultural publishing. The National
Agricultural Library in Maryland holds approximately 2,000 Iowa titles. Many more exist in Iowa's
public and private colleges, public libraries, and historical societies. Iowa State University Cooperative
Extension Service and Experiment Station published more than 500 titles. The State of Iowa departments
of Agriculture, Public Instruction (Education), Natural Resources, and Highway Commission
(Transportation) all produced publications relating to Iowa agriculture and rural life. These include the
Annual Iowa Yearbook of Agriculture (1900-1951) and Annual Report of the Stallion Division of the
Department of Agriculture (1921-1951), among others.
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In addition to university publications and the agricultural press, agricultural organizations and
agribusiness played a key role in disseminating agricultural information. Groups like the Iowa Farm
Bureau, the Iowa Grange, the Iowa Agricultural Society (which was instrumental in founding Iowa State's
forerunner, the Iowa Agricultural College (IAC) in 1859), the Iowa State and County Fairs Association,
and the Iowa Beef Producers Association published information aimed at improving farmers' agricultural
productivity and quality of life. Commercial agricultural interests provided this service as well. Dorr's,
who produced the Dorr's Iowa Seeds Catalog (1881-1886) is a premier example of a publication that
documents the range of agricultural supplies that were available over one hundred years ago.
It is this published record that Iowa State University Library seeks to identify and preserve for future
scholars interested in Iowa and U.S. agriculture and rural life. An extensive collection on the history of
Iowa agriculture is held by the Parks Library at Iowa State University including Iowa State Department of
Agriculture publications such as its Bulletin (1907-1949) and its Annual Iowa Yearbook of Agriculture
(1900-1951). Also included are prominent statewide periodicals like the Official Proceedings of the
Iowa State Grange (1874-1977). Another group of important materials in need of preservation are
Extension publications, of which Parks Library has over 100 individual cataloged series. The Library
also contains extensive holdings of serials relating to research conducted in agricultural engineering,
home economics, and animal and plant sciences. These titles all contain irreplaceable historical
information about the story of agriculture in Iowa, and their identification and preservation is a challenge
and a responsibility to future generations.
Over the course of the project, Iowa State University Library, in cooperation with other libraries in the
state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Iowa and the Midwest. The project will employ a five-person scholarly
review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies, and
target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 12,000 volumes to be preserved in a
subsequent project. Details of the Library's project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.6 of the
proposal's Plan of Work.
6.7 MINNESOTA
The history of agriculture and rural life define the history of Minnesota. Until about 1920, Minnesota's
population was primarily rural and depended directly on agriculture. Even today, agriculture remains
Minnesota's largest industry. The economic growth of early Minnesota was related closely to exploitation
of its natural resources: soils, timber, and iron ore. Farming, lumbering, and mining stimulated the
growth of such ancillary activities as railroads, processing of agricultural products and natural resources,
and services. The role of agriculture in the early state economy is explored in materials published early
in this century such as Early Economic Conditions and the Development of Agriculture in Minnesota
(1915) by Edward V.D. Robinson.
Minnesota east of the Mississippi River was part of the original Northwest Territory. West of the
Mississippi River, Minnesota was part of the Louisiana Purchase. Minnesota became a territory in 1849
with territorial boundaries reaching as far west as the Upper Missouri River, but most of its 4,000 white
settlers were located in the Fort Snelling area in the eastern part of the territory. Until the mid-1800s, two
major Indian tribes occupied what is now Minnesota: the Ojibwas (Chippewa) in the north and east and
the Sioux (Dakota) in the south and west. Though primarily hunter-gathers, Native Americans did some
farming in the Mississippi River Valley and harvested wild rice in the northern regions for generations.
The first permanent U.S. settlement at Fort Snelling was established in 1819. When Minnesota became a
state in 1858, its boundaries were cut back from the Missouri River to the Red River. Settlement was slow
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during the first half of the 19th century. However, once the value of the forest lands and rich soils was
realized, farmers and lumbermen from New England led the first large wave of permanent white settlers.
In 1860, Minnesota was home to only 172,000 but the population increased rapidly. The first major
immigrant groups in the latter half of the 19th century were German, Swedes, and Norwegians. By 1870,
the population had increased to 439,000, and by 1880 there were 92,386 farms in Minnesota. The most
rapid period of settlement was during the 1880s when homesteaders rushed into western and southwestern
Minnesota. During the same period, lumbering was at its peak and flour milling was becoming
important.
Beginning in 1854 and until about 1870, agricultural experimentation, instruction, extension and
recreation was carried out by agricultural societies through state and local fairs. The first territorial fair
was held in 1854 and that same year saw the organizational meeting of the Minnesota Territorial
Agricultural Society, later the Minnesota State Agricultural Society. The Minnesota Horticultural Society
was founded in 1866 and the State Farmers' Club in 1868. Similar organizations quickly followed for
poultry, stock breeding, dairy, and butter and cheese. The effect of these organizations on rural life and
the economy of the state is documented in publications such as the Annual Report of the Minnesota State
Agricultural Society (1887-1923), History of the Minnesota Horticultural Society (1873), and The
Minnesota Horticulturalist (1866-present).
By 1890, more than 1,300,000 people lived in Minnesota. Additional immigrants arrived from Finland,
Poland, Ireland, France and French Canada, Holland, Belgium, and Iceland. Danes, Swiss, and Welsh
settled in scattered pockets. Immigrants changed Minnesota from a raw frontier to a thriving agricultural
state. The tremendous appeal of Minnesota to the foreign born is demonstrated by the fact that census
figures during the period show that more than two-thirds of the population were foreign born or the
children of foreign born. Minnesota's pioneer days and life on the homesteader's farm are remembered
in the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Ole R^lvaag.
Agriculture during the early years was subsistence farming, but as farmers cleared land, they increased
the acreage they could devote to crops. In 1858, wheat was shipped commercially from the state for the
first time. Extreme climate conditions in Minnesota--bitter cold, heavy snowfalls, and long, hot summers-
-fostered the development of hardy crop strains and other innovations. German immigrant Wandelin
Grimm developed an alfalfa acclimatized to Minnesota and superior to other forage plants for the
Northwest. Peter M. Gideon moved to Minnesota in 1853 and spent forty-five years developing fruit that
could withstand the cold weather--including the Wealthy apple. When the hard spring wheat from the
Minnesota prairie could not compete with the winter wheat grown further south, the traditional flat
grinding process was replaced with smooth millstones that ran more slowly, minimizing heat discoloration
and bran specks. Other techniques to improve processes and profits followed, including scientific
methods of testing wheat and flour and new procedures for bleaching. Works such as The Earth Brought
Forth: A History of Minnesota Agriculture to 1885 (1949) and Grimm Alfalfa and Its Utilization in the
Northwest (1911) describe the early years of agriculture.
Wheat was king in Minnesota and was shipped by rail and boat to markets all over the East and Europe.
From the 1880s to about 1920, Minneapolis was known as "the Mill City," producing more flour than any
other city in the world. The early mills--General Mills and Pillsbury--evolved into multi-national
conglomerates. Important resources detailing this era include The Northwestern Miller published in
Minneapolis 1873-1973, The Decline of Northwestern Flour Milling by Victor G. Pickett and Roland S.
Vaile (1933), and The Medal of Gold: A Story of Industrial Achievement by William C. Edgar (1925).
The Minnesota wheat crop was 2 million bushels in 1860 and reached 95 million in 1890--far more than
the yield from any other crop.
Profits in wheat raising created a special kind of farmer in the prairie lands of western Minnesota. Access
to the railroads, improvement of the flour industry, and improved machinery made it both possible and
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profitable to devote thousands of acres to wheat. "Bonanza farms" flourished in the Red River Valley
where as many as forty plows in a row would turn the soil and a dozen reapers work the same field--until
the gradual exhaustion and erosion of soil caught up with farmers. This era is detailed in works such as
The Wheat Market and the Farmer in Minnesota (1926), by Henrietta M. Larson.
As soil was depleted, the wheat frontier moved west and farmers turned their attention to other crops. In
the 1880s, dairy products took the lead in the state's agricultural economy--enhanced by the invention of
the cream separator in 1878. Other advances, such as the discovery of the Babcock test for butterfat,
improvements in refrigeration, and better methods of stock feeding* made dairy industries profitable.
Within a few years, butter and cheese factories, both privately and cooperatively owned, appeared in most
of the communities of southern Minnesota. Along with the growth of dairying came an increased
emphasis on stock raising. Large packing plants were built in South St. Paul, Austin, and Albert Lee.
Stock raising and dairying necessitated greater attention to the growth of forage crops, including corn.
The literature of agriculture documents a gradual shift as farmers embraced crop diversification and soil
conservation to make it possible to continue to raise big crops on acres worn out by wheat.
Diversification was encouraged by scientists at the College of Agriculture and Minnesota farmers
displayed a readiness to change to new crops. Wheat hit its peak in 1898 and was surpassed by oats in
1902. Corn surpassed wheat in 1905 and oats in 1941. Soybeans, first introduced in 1934, have risen
phenomenally. University extension services established county agents, sponsored institutes, conducted
farm management demonstrations, and helped organize 4-H clubs. In 1888, the University opened the
School of Agriculture, a two-year agricultural high school in St. Paul. In 1894, its doors were opened to
women--under pressure from farmers who saw no reason why women should not be admitted.
By 1900--under the leadership of Theophilus Haecker in dairying, Willet M. Mays in crop science, and
other great teachers of diversification and improved farming--Minnesota agriculture swung toward a
balanced crop program. Research conducted and published at the University experiment station included
the development of crops resistant to cold and disease such as Thatcher spring wheat, stiff-strawed
varieties of oats and barleys that do well in heavy soil, and the many hybrids of the corn family. In 1920,
Elvin Stackman began to chart the trails of all the wheat rusts from Minnesota to Mexico, documenting
how the fungi are propagated and suggesting how they could be controlled. New techniques were
promoted by county and extension agents and the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation created by the
Minnesota Department of Agriculture in 1919 published its Minnesota Farm Bureau News (1922-1946),
to help spread the word.
Minnesota railroads developed in large part to meet the needs of agriculture and lumbering. Before
1862, transport depended on the river, which was frozen out in the winter months and hampered by low
water during some summers. By the end of the decade, more than 1,000 miles of railroad track had been
built in the state and by 1867, Minnesota wheat could be shipped by rail to primary markets such as
Milwaukee and Chicago. Railroad companies became land offices to encourage settlement, promoting
the rich farmland and ease of transport. The Northern Pacific, for example, had local agents in England,
Wales, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden to sell land and promote immigration. The
1862 Homestead Act was a major impetus to settlement, and in 1867 Minnesota established a State Board
of Immigration to persuade potential settlers. Both the Board and the railroads published pamphlets in
many languages to promote farm land and the quality of life in Minnesota.
With the coming of the railroads, the Minnesota lumber industry developed rapidly. Major sawmills were
built at Stillwater on the St. Croix River and at the Falls of St. Anthony on the Mississippi River in the
1860s. However, lumbering quickly depleted the pine forests and the natural regrowth of birch and
aspen were not commercially viable. Concern about the decline (and its effect on railroads and the
economy) led Leonard B. Hodges of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad to establish the Minnesota State
Forestry Association in 1876, the first such organization in the United States. The association's founders-
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-leaders of banks, businesses, and the railraods--promoted agricultural settlement and the planting of trees
to break up the endless horizon and provide pioneers with fuel, fencing, and shelter.
By the 1890s, the Forestry Association had expanded its position to embrace "scientific forest
management." Publications in need of preservation address the concerns of the day--that widespread
deforestation affected the soil, water, and climate adversely; that public lands belonged to all people in
perpetuity; and that forests should be "cropped" and managed with appropriate scientific and economic
principles. For the next fifty years, the Forestry Association labored to impress upon Minnesotans the
benefits of tree planting and forest conservation. Important resources on the history of forestry and
lumbering include The Forest Tree Planters' Manual (1879), The Pioneer Woodsman as He Is Related to
Lumbering in the Northwest (1914), Minnesota Forester (1908-1911), and North Woods (1911-1923).
The Minnesota pioneer press played an important role--as news organ, literary medium, forum for
boosting Minnesota, and leadership in politics and culture. The first agricultural periodicals were
published in Minnesota in the 1860s including Minnesota Farmer and Gardener (1860-1862), Farmer's
Union (1867-1873), and Minnesota Monthly (1869-1870). Others followed, such as The Minnesota
Farmer (1877-1896) and Independent Farmer and Fireside Companion (1879-early 1900s). These
periodicals are a treasure trove of information on not only agriculture, but economic, social, and political
history of Minnesota.
The cooperative movement in Minnesota is an essential element of Minnesota and U.S. history. Carle C.
Zimmerman and John D. Black describe farmers' attitudes toward cooperatives in The Marketing Attitude
of Minnesota Farmers (1926). From the earliest days, farmers banded together to sell and ship their own
grain. Between 1866 and 1869, farmers in Vasa Township formed the Scandinavian Transportation Co.
of Red Wing and the first cooperative elevator was formed in 1876 in Meeker County.
The history of rural cooperatives lies at the intersection of political history, economic history, and the
history of immigration and ethnicity. Minnesota's rural cooperatives performed essential functions in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries--and they did so in an egalitarian, democratic manner that fit rural
society. They helped to preserve ethnicity by enabling immigrant farmers to handle many of their
economic transactions through their own member-owned, ethnic-language cooperative. They helped to
complete the network of trading centers by significantly aiding the construction of many small
crossroads communities. They served as important auxiliaries of agrarian protest movements. They
brought needed services to rural communities when private investors did not regard it as profitable to do
so. They helped parts of rural Minnesota diversity agriculture in response to declining wheat yields and
wheat prices.
The cooperative movement achieved its greatest penetration into American life in rural communities
dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Between 1865 and 1917, local Minnesota cooperatives
were organized by farmers without significant governmental assistance or help from any outside
institution apart from sponsoring groups such as the Grange and the Farmer's Alliance. After World War
I, local cooperatives increasingly joined together to form sizeable regional cooperatives such as Land O'
Lakes and Midland Cooperatives. Agricultural experts at the University of Minnesota, such as
Theophilus Haecker who promoted Danish cooperatives, were encouraged by state government to initiate
the organization of cooperatives at the local level.
The first major cooperative sponsoring organization in Minnesota was the "National Grange of the
Patrons of Husbandry," popularly known as the Grange. The Grange was successful in uniting farmers
(primarily "Old Stock" farmers, who had come from New England) into one statewide quasi-political unit
with many democratically-run local units. For Minnesota, the Granger period began in 1868, when
Oliver Hudson Kelly returned from Washington, D.C. Between 1868 and 1878, the Grange grew--from
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an idea in the fertile mind of a failed farmer from Itasca, Minnesota, to a vigorous agrarian movement
with 538 local units, thousands of members in Minnesota, and thousands more around the nation.
The Grange had four features that made it especially appealing--secrecy, an elaborate ritual,
exclusiveness, and full participation by women. The Grange was intended to benefit the farmer through
education, brightening of social life, and protection of members against discrimination by the big
corporations. The Minnesota Grangers took up the plea of farmers for reasonable railroad rates and
fought for regulation through state laws. Their interest resulted in the the establishment of .the office of
state railroad commissioner in 1871--a first step toward the regulation of public utilities.
The second major force behind cooperatives in Minnesota was the Farmers' Alliance, launched in
Chicago in 1880. The Alliance was much more successful in recruiting immigrant farmers than the
Grange and Minnesota's eighty Alliance locals in 1881 grew to almost 1,000 by 1890. The Farmers'
Alliance was initially apolitical but moved into indirect political action by the mid-1890s and allied with
the Knights of Labor.
Late 19th century Minnesota witnessed the development of a "culture of cooperation" in which earlier
successes, such as the township fire insurance mutual, encouraged and facilitated later attempts such as
cooperative creameries and cooperative stores and rural telephone associations. Through organizations
that grew out of a desire to improve their lives, farmers learned the lesson of cooperation and gained
experience in public life. This tradition of citizen involvement, originating in the early farming
communities and documented in the literature of agriculture and rural life, is manifested today in the
many neighborhood and community organizations in the state, the active and progressive political
environment, and the large number of Minnesotans of national political prominence.
A wealth of published resources document the history of agriculture and rural life in Minnesota.
University Regents' documents from 1868 first mention a University Library in 1868 and an agricultural
library in 1872. The growing agricultural collection was moved to the College of Agriculture on the St.
Paul "farm campus" in 1895. The St. Paul Campus Libraries now house over 628,000 volumes. While a
major portion of agricultural literature is located at the University of Minnesota, other important
collections are found at the Minnesota Historical Society and other Minnesota universities and colleges.
The University of Minnesota has been acquiring agricultural monographs and serials since the 1870s and
has been a regional depository for federal publications, and repository of state publications.
Over the course of the project, the University of Minnesota Libraries, in cooperation with other libraries
in the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography of published materials important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. The project will employ a three-person
scholarly review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities
studies, and target the most important 25% of a universe of approximately 12,000 volumes to be
preserved in a subsequent project. Details of the Libraries' project staffing and costs are found in Section
5.7 of the proposal's Plan of Work.
6.8 MONTANA
From its beginnings as a territory, residents of the state of Montana have depended on its abundant
natural resources for survival. The American Indians were the first hunters and gatherers followed by the
fur traders and missionaries in the decades between 1820 and 1850. The fur trade increased as American
Indians traded pelts at British and French posts and trappers from the eastern states arrived to take
advantage of the plentiful supply of fur-bearing animals. A decline in the fur trade grew from conflicts
between trappers and American Indians, a shrinking market in the eastern states and Europe and the
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exploitation of fur-bearing animals. As the fur trade languished in the 1840s, Jesuit priests in the
Bitterroot Valley launched Montana farming and a new era began.
During the early 1860s, the gold rush and other mining enterprises drew thousands of fortune-seekers to
Montana. The increased population and resulting need for food launched agricultural enterprises as
farmers quickly took up residence in response to the demand. In the mountain valleys of southwestern
Montana, livestock herds, dry land and small-scale irrigated farming became well-established. If farmers
protected their crops from late spring and early fall frost, they were successful in harvesting grain,
vegetables, and some fruits. Small farms dotted the Jefferson, Ruby, Madison, Bitterroot, Deer Lodge,
Prickly Pear and other valleys along the Continental Divide. The broad and beautiful Gallatin Valley
surpassed all others in the Montana Territory in productivity and housed three flour mills by 1867.
As the population slowly moved from the southeastern areas of Montana, so did agriculture. Farming
developed along the rich river bottoms, while the marginal plains and bench lands were dedicated to cattle
and sheep grazing. The livestock industry had moved beyond the Rocky Mountains into the north-
central part of Montana by the mid-1870s. The greater abundance of grass lured these stockmen from
Montana's southwest to its eastern plains. The first Montana agriculture newspaper, Rocky Mountain
Husbandman, follows this same movement; first published in the southeast Montana town of Virginia
City, it later moved to White Sulphur Springs in central Montana. During the 1870s and early 1880s
stockmen from the south, mainly Texas, entered the eastern plains of Montana. All across the plains,
cattle and sheep ranches thrived on the free grass in the public domain. During the last decades of the
nineteenth century, the open range dominated Montana. The image of the cowboy and the values of
freedom to roam, fierce independence, and living for the moment had its roots in this era and are
documented in the literature of the day.
The literature also documents the political and social issues surrounding agriculture. Beginning in the
early 1870s, Montana ranchers tried, without success, to create a territory-wide organization to pursue
their interests. To deal with Indian theft of cattle, northern ranchers formed the Shonkin Association in
1881, the territory's first effective cattleman's association. It was followed by the Eastern Montana
Livestock Association in 1883 and the two merged in 1885 to form the Montana Stockgrowers
Association. The Association wielded economic and political power in stiff competition with large
mining interests. During the 1885 legislative session, cattlemen were successful in establishing the all-
important Board of Stock Commissioners, which would conduct brand inspections at marketing points
and supervise the range industry. Montana sheepmen also organized speaking out as a political force
and demanding--among other programs--a protective tariff on wool.
While prior to 1880 most Montana ranches were family-owned, after 1880 most of the livestock
enterprises were large, corporate ranches both west and east of the Continental Divide. In 1881, two
books appeared that brought attention to eastern Montana rangelands: James Brisbin's The Beef Bonanza:
or How to get rich on the plains and Robert Strahorn's Montana and Yellowstone National Park. Inspired
by books, pamphlets and articles, investors joined Montana's livestock industry from all parts of the world
but especially Texas, England, and Scotland. Foreign capital continued to support the sheep and cattle
industries until Congress passed a law in 1887 denying foreign investors the right to own property in U.S.
territories.
Open range declined after the hard winter of 1886/87 while the acreage devoted to hay crops nearly
tripled in the 1890s. Even so, large, unfenced ranches persisted-thriving in the Milk River Valley and
other choice northern areas. Sheep weathered winter better than cattle giving cattlemen an incentive to
diversify. In 1890, Montana ranked sixth in sheep production in the U.S. and by 1900 had climbed to
first. However, the literature of the day documents that the conflict with homesteaders over choice
grasslands was coming--eventually it would put an end to the open range.
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Montana became a state in 1889 and in 1893 established its land-grant college and agricultural
experiment station (and later extension service) in the Gallatin Valley at Bozeman--the state's premier
agricultural center. While westward moving farmers passed by Montana heading for the inviting valleys
of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Coast, all that changed in the early 1900s. Boosters lobbied to
Congress to finance the conversion of rangeland to farmland through irrigation. However, when federal
irrigation projects provided proof that Montana would benefit little from irrigation, promoters turned to
dry farming as the next promise for Montana's eastern semi-arid plains. Promotional campaigns
emerged from such diverse groups as chambers of commerce, bankers, newspaper editors, real estate
firms, state agencies, the state college, and last, but not least, the railroads. Pamphlets and brochures
published by the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Burlington, and Milwaukee railroad lines all promoted
Montana farming--some accurately and some not so accurately.
The literature also documents the conflict over dry-farming. Researchers at Montana Agricultural
Experiment Station in Bozeman favored diversity in livestock and crops and the development of drought-
resistant crops. They were overpowered, however, by the promotional efforts of James Hill, owner of
three railroad lines, who held a well-attended "Dry Farming Congress" in 1909 embracing dry farming
techniques. Montana and dry farming was aggressively promoted in the U.S. and Europe--especially
Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The barrage of propaganda peaked in 1911 and the
homestead rush climaxed in 1914. Grains were cultivated successfully, but most other crops familiar to
the new homesteaders weren't sustainable. Immigrants to Montana brought their agricultural heritage and
also their social customs and values--enriching the social fabric of the region.
The homestead boom kept the Agricultural Extension faculty busy educating the farmers of Montana
and advising the ranching industry. There were numerous breakthroughs in animal diseases and control;
discoveries in new wheat, barley, and potato varieties; and research into cropping systems. Controls for
pests were developed--especially for grasshoppers and Mormon crickets. Faculty members took to the
road, conducting Farmer's Institutes to deliver the latest agricultural information and four regional
experiment stations were created between 1907 and 1913 to help the one in Bozeman.
The land rush of homesteaders and "sod busters" from 1904-1918 created the rural life in Montana of
small towns with their focus on churches and schools. Other organizations followed including Garden
Clubs and the Women's Society which was active in the Montana temperance movement. Rural life in
Montana is documented through the activities and publications of these organizations and reflects the
settling of the last agriculture frontier. Extension programs also benefited farm families. Faculty
research found preservatives in sausages and meats to be unsafe and convinced Montana butchers to
discontinue their use. Faculty also lead efforts to improve nutrition for rural children through hot-lunch
programs and dietary education and promoted their views in Extension Service publications.
The lumber industry in Montana developed alongside mining and represented another rural subculture.
Wood was needed to power smelters and other machinery as well as to provide lumber for construction
and railroads. During World War I, union workers with antiwar sentiments started a wildcat strike at the
Eureka Lumber Company in western Montana protesting working conditions. Other strikes followed,
including the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) strike that shut down the entire lumber industry in
the Northwest. Montana's two largest lumber mills were closed until the federal government stepped in
and arrested IWW leaders. Eager to avoid further work stoppages, the Montana Lumber Manufacturers
Association agreed to make some desperately needed improvements in working conditions.
In 1917, a severe drought and the concurrent decline of farm prices produced a depression that launched
a mass exodus from Montana during the years 1918-1925. The cycle of drought, typical of the Great
Plains climate, coincided with a bust economy after World War I. Even Montana's lumber industry was
affected. The literature of the day reflects the effects of drought, wind, and poverty on Montana's
collective persona. The spectacular growth that ended the frontier period ushered in an era of economic
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stagnation and population loss. Between 1919 and 1925, approximately two million acres ceased
production and 11,000 farms were vacated--20 percent of Montana's family farms. During the same
period, over half of Montana's commercial banks failed.
The rains returned in 1925 for in a brief period of prosperity that ended with a drought in 1929 and the
crash of the stock market. Once again drought and depression marked Montana's agriculture and lumber
industries and resulted in a mass exodus of farmers. The experience of two major depressions in the
space of less than twenty years taught the remaining farmers and ranchers to diversify... In addition,
farmers and ranchers would acquire more property, mechanize their operations, experiment with new
scientific methods, and, inevitably, require aid from the federal government to make a living.
Documentary resources chronicling the decades of the 1920s and 1930s reveal that Montanans were
pioneers in agrarian reform. Research resources that are candidates for preservation include scholarly
materials documenting the innovations introduced by the Montana Extension Service and the
Agricultural Experiment Station at Montana State College and how these efforts affected rural life. By
using such imaginative techniques such as "farm success" studies and the "Fairway Farms" project (which
set up experimental farms around the state) scientists, economists, and county extension agents generated
ideas that gained nationwide attention. In 1931, Helen Mayfield published the results of her pioneering
research on the vitamin content of common vegetables including potatoes, carrots, green peas, and
cabbage.
Other notable Montana rural programs contributed greatly to the social and economic well-being of the
state including a land classification tax assessment program that enhanced unified county planning, and a
plan to retire sub-marginal farmlands and relocate the impoverished families who had been working
them--the first resettlement plan of its kind in the United States. Montana also introduced model
programs in ranching. In 1928, Montana created the first cooperative grazing district, leasing public and
private land to a group of ranchers who carefully managed the rangelands. The program was the model
used for Congress's Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. Last but not least, the literature of the era documents
that Montana contributed greatly to developing the mystique of the western way of life. By 1930, over a
hundred dude ranches--former working ranches--had opened their arms to tourists and outdoor
enthusiasts. Easterners and Europeans on vacation in Montana learned to ride western style, do cowboy
work, and hunt game.
Articles in agriculture journals provide a key to the impact of FDR's New Deal on rural life and document
the important roles that Montanans played in the reform movement. The ambitious Agricultural
Adjustment Administration began operations in 1933 with Montanans prominently involved. Montana
State College Professor M.L. Wilson helped plan the AAA and a Bozeman farm editor, Chester Davis,
directed the agency. AAA paid price supports to farmers and ranchers to not work the lands. For some,
this was their first income in years and the program breathed life into families and communities all across
Montana. Equally important was the building of rural electrification systems; the Civilian Conservation
Corps which employed thousands of young men on forest and range lands to plant trees, seed lands, and
eradicate groundhogs and gophers; and the Works Progress Administration which employed over 14,000
Montanans. However, the greatest New Deal boost to Montana was the construction of the Fort Pick Dam
on the Missouri River. Research resources chronicling this period show that Montana state politics and
government were stimulated by support from the federal government--creating new boards and agencies
and building additional dams and reservoirs across Montana--but also came to rely heavily on the federal
government for assistance.
As Montana and the nation started to recover from the Great Depression, ample rainfall and the start of
World War II created an agricultural boom. While labor shortages were common, the war ushered in an
era of prosperity. The literature of the era documents the concurrent growth and change in Montana
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agriculture and ranching with increased consolidation and mechanization and their corresponding
impact on rural life.
Over the course of the project the Libraries of Montana State University-Bozeman, in cooperation with
other libraries in the state, will develop a comprehensive bibliography important to the study of
agriculture and rural life in Montana and the Western United States. The project will employ a four-
person scholarly review panel to rank titles according to their priority as research resources for
humanities studies. The Libraries will preserve access to the most important 25% of the estimated
universe of materials, or approximately 100 titles in 500 volumes. *Details of the Libraries project staffing
and costs are found in Section 5.8 of the proposal's Plan of Work.
6.9 NEBRASKA
Bugeaters, Cornhuskers, Tree Planter's, and the Great American Desert, are all words found in the
literature that describe the people and region of what is now Nebraska. As these words imply, and the
documentary record confirms, the history of the state is inextricably interwoven with its agricultural
development. The early settlers came not for gold, but rather for land to farm and ranch. Nebraska is
now one of the chief farming states in the U.S. with 92% of its land in crops and pasture a higher
percentage than any other state.
Overland trails across Nebraska, including the famous Oregon Trail, were well established by the 1840's.
Over the next 25 years, thousands of emigrants from eastern states and foreign countries traveled in
covered wagons through Nebraska--and some stayed on to farm. The first large groups of settlers were
Germans. Later came Czechs, Swedes, Danes, and Russians. While much of the initial investment capital
in the territory was by speculators seeking big returns, by 1860 agriculture had proven to be a
dependable way of making a living. The Free Homestead Act of 1863 further encouraged
homesteading--by paying a small fee, any citizen who lived upon the land for five years could claim 160
acres. Nebraska was the site of the first United States homestead claimed by Daniel Freeman on January
1, 1863.
After the Civil War, the state's population rapidly increased and Nebraska achieved statehood in 1867.
The soil was good and agriculture and rural society flourished. Sod corn, flax, and forage crops were
typical crops along with potatoes and other vegetables raised for food. Later crops included spring
wheat, and sorghum for making molasses. Wild fruits and wild game, along with chickens, hogs and
cattle, helped feed rural families. The new state received 3,370,000 acres of land from the federal
government for public use, including the establishment of the University of Nebraska (UNL) and its
Agricultural College. The College vigorously supported farmers, ranchers, and the farm community
through publications, radio programs, field days, and demonstrations such as the Nebraska Tractor Tests,
begun in 1921.
Materials selected for preservation in the phase 1 project include scholarly materials that describe the
history of agricultural research and cooperative extension work in Nebraska. Fifty-two serials titles were
microfilmed in the 1980's as part of UNL's contribution to the National Agricultural
Library's land grant publications microfilming project. An additional 267 serials (5,048 volumes) were
identified in phase 1 and 45 titles (1,1021 volumes) selected for preservation. Scholarly monographs
authored by members of the UNL College of Agriculture faculty and the Nebraska Hall of Agricultural
Achievement will also be preserved.
The completion, in 1869, of the Union Pacific Railroad across Nebraska was a critical factor in the
settlement and development of the state and profoundly affected rural life and agricultural economy.
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The railroads advertised the great wonders of the state but made no mention of the hardships the settlers
might encounter. The vast prairie ocean was well suited to raising cattle and horses, but it could also just
as easily turn into a lake of fire--a constant fear of homestead families. The lack of trees, the depth of the
water table, and the distance to streams were major obstacles. Crude sod houses and dugouts were
common because of the scarcity of wood.
Representative railroad company pamphlets designed to sell farmland and to attract settlers to the new
West will be preserved in the project, including Guide to the Union Pacific Railroad Lands, 1870,
"12,000,000 acres, best farming and mineral lands in America, for sale by the Union Pacific Railroad
Company, in tracts to suit purchasers and at low prices," and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad's
publication, Great Opportunities for Farmers, Business Men and Investors in Nebraska, Northwestern
Kansas, and Eastern Colorado.
The published literature and primary research resources documenting the history of agriculture and rural
life in Nebraska reveal the major concerns of the day--prairie fires, access to water, the lack of trees, the
periodic frightening invasions of grasshoppers and locusts, the battles between farmers and ranchers, and
the constant struggle to learn and adapt to an unknown land. Unknowing pioneer farmers plowed up the
prairie grasses for crops, but often hard rains and winds carried off much of the rich topsoil. The
response to these challenges by Nebraska's people, rural communities, and agricultural economy formed
the character and politics of the region.
Early Settlers had little money to buy clothing or supplies because of limited markets for their
agricultural products. They made do with what they grew or gathered from their immediate
surroundings. The coming of the railroads not only created a market for farming, but also enabled the
establishment of large ranches. Cattle ranching grew quickly with access to eastern markets, "cattle
barons" ruled the range. Cattle raising on a large scale became very profitable since the range was free
and there were no taxes. The literature reveals the conflicts that arose and festered between farmers and
ranchers when livestock invaded fields and ruined crops. The Herd Law of 1871, enacted to protect
farmers, required cattle owners to pay for damages when livestock overran planted fields. The literature
of the day reflects these fierce battles for resources, including the notorious battles of "Old Jules" Sandoz,
a Nebraska homesteader and early leader in horticulture who encouraged and supported the settlement of
land by farmers rather than cattlemen.
The pioneers found Nebraska to be a vast expanse of treeless plains. In 1872, J. Sterling Morton, a
journalist who later became the United States Secretary of Agriculture, presented a resolution to the State
Board of Agriculture..."to urge upon the people of the State, the vital importance of tree planting, hereby
offer a special premium of one hundred dollars to the county agricultural society of that county in
Nebraska, which shall upon that day, plant properly, the largest number of trees; and a farm library of
twenty-five dollars' worth of books to that person who, on that day, shall plant properly, in Nebraska the
greatest number of trees." Literally millions of trees were planted on that first Arbor Day. With seedlings
easily gathered from the belt of timber lining the rivers and from the sandbars, the state began to bring
trees to the prairie, forever altering the landscape and ecology of the region. Partly as a result of this early
conservationist tradition, Nebraska's soil still yields an abundance of crops, although soil erosion and
drought continue to be major concerns.
Historians of the agrarian West and the Gilded Age find rich materials in the writings of J. Sterling
Morton. His published speeches on farming, farm finance, and Arbor Day are found in the Special
Collections at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and will be included in this project--including a speech
delivered at Nebraska City upon the occasion of the First Nebraska Territorial Agricultural Fair,
September 21-23, 1859. It is a measure of his influence that Lincoln, Nebraska, is still home to the
National Arbor Day Foundation. Corn is King!: Corn, its Origins, History, Uses and Abuses, by R.W.
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Furnas (editor of the Nebraska Advertiser in Brownville, and later Governor of Nebraska) is another
example of a publication of interest to historians.
The published literature also documents the struggle of early farmers to learn and adapt to an unknown
climate and land. Coming from eastern states or Europe, settlers knew little of planting crops suited to a
dry, harsh climate and the prairie topography. Dry years in the 1870's and 1890's caused many farmers
to fail and return east provoking literature such as Starving to Death on a Government Claim, which
expressed the frustrations of the time. However, the drought years also ignited interest in irrigation
techniques and the development of the systems of irrigation that have transformed the West.
If the droughts didn't cause farmers to fail, grasshoppers and Rocky Mountain locusts, often did. Great
clouds of these pests traveled hundreds of miles to devour anything in their paths. Between 1857 and
1875, eight such infestations were recorded: corn fields were eaten in a day, buds and bark were eaten off
trees, and potatoes and onions were devoured in the ground. The literature documents that panic and fear
of starvation were the norm as the devastation continued. After the July 1874 infestation, many settlers
sold or simply gave away their claims and returned east, signs hung from their wagons, "Eaten out by
grasshoppers. Going back east to live with wife's folks."
After the early 1900's the state experienced a steady growth in population. The Kinkaid Homestead Act
of 1904 encouraged settlement of the western part of the state, especially of the sand hills region. 640
acres could be acquired by living on the land for five years and investing $1000 worth of improvements.
Although 8,000,000 acres were available, most of the land was sandy and rough. Well-intentioned
homesteaders plowed the land and tried to raise the crops with which they were familiar. Damage caused
from blowing led to severe conservation problems and caused many to sell their claims to the cattlemen.
Others adapted and began raising cattle for themselves. As the early settlers found out, the land of
Nebraska varies greatly, each region requiring a different set of farming and ranching practices. The
University of Nebraska Agricultural College led the way in publishing and teaching farmers and ranchers
how best to use and preserve the land. Few areas of the country were so free of stones and so easily tilled,
making Nebraska's soils its greatest natural resource.
The wartime prosperity between 1910 and 1920 produced substantial increases in prices for corn and
other crops, and while the depression of the 1930's did little to advance agriculture, the literature
documents the farmer's experience during this pivotal event in United States history. With many farmers
under severe debt, government programs developed to carry the farmers through the hard times stayed to
shape government's role in regulating agricultural economy. Post-depression agricultural technology
developed at the College of Agriculture and promulgated throughout the state formed the foundation for
Nebraska's modern agricultural economy, including strains of wheat suited to the soil and rainfall of
Nebraska, sugar beets and beans that thrive in the sandy soil of the western part of the state, and forage
crops suited to low moisture and cattle grazing. Eventually, meat packing emerged as a significant
industry and by the late 1930's the Omaha Stockyards--represented by the packing houses Swift, Cudaly,
Wilson and Armour--were one of the largest in the world.
The continued growth and development of agriculture in Nebraska lead to profound changes in rural
society, developed the foundation for modern agribusiness, and formed the basis for current
environmental and ecological concerns. Important serial publications needing preservation that
document the evolution of agriculture and rural society include the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture
Annual Report (1859-1945), the Nebraska Brand Book (1908-1945) displaying horse and cattle brands
registered with the Nebraska Secretary of State's Office, and the Nebraska Farmer, a popular farm journal
that illustrates rural life of Nebraska farmers from the late 19th through early 20th centuries.
Although Nebraska is known for agribusiness, it is also noted for alternative farming. In recent years, the
legislature has demonstrated its support of family farming and rural communities with passage of key
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legislation to preserve the family farm. Nebraska is also home to the Center for Rural Affairs in Walthill,
a nationally-known ecologically-concerned alternative farming center.
Over the course of the phase 2 project, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in cooperation with other
libraries in the state, will preserve and improve access to 114 titles in 1,125 volumes important to the
study of agriculture and rural life in Nebraska and the plains states. These volumes were selected for
preservation from a comprehensive bibliography of 5,539 volumes identified during the 1996/97 phase 1
project supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The phase 1 project employed a
three-person scholarly review to rank the titles according to their priority as research resources for
humanities studies. Details of Nebraska's phase 2 project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.9 of
the proposal's Plan of Work.
5.10 TEXAS
With 267,339 square miles of land stretching from the High Plains of the Panhandle to the Gulf of
Mexico, Texas is a giant among the states and, along with Hawai'i a state that was first a sovereign nation.
From El Paso on the Rio Grande, to Texarkana on the Arkansas border, is a journey of nearly 800 miles.
Within this vastness are three distinct physical divisions, the Atlantic-Gulf Coastal Plains, the Great Plains
and the Rocky Mountain system. These three can be further divided by soil and climate differences into
nine natural regions, all having different agricultural characteristics and thus a distinct rural history.
Average annual rainfall decreases from fifty-six inches in the extreme eastern part of the state to only
eight inches at El Paso. It is not surprising that Texans are known to boast that everything is bigger,
further, hotter, colder, wetter and dryer in Texas. The documentary record of agriculture and rural life in
Texas confirms that the extreme differences in the land had great influence on the people who settled the
various regions.
At the time the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Texas had already had contact with Africans and
Europeans for nearly ninety years. When the Anglo-Americans settled in Texas they deluded themselves
into thinking that they were bringing civilization to the frontier. In fact, the Mexicans had an established
culture with social, political, educational and religious institutions and when Mexico became an
independent country in 1821, Texas became an independent state. After the establishment of a colony of
Anglo-Americans by Stephen Fuller Austin in 1821, similar settlers came in increasing numbers. While
the new settlers did not come determined to wrest Texas away from Mexico, they had little or no interest
in adapting to the new culture. Instead they came for land. The rich primary sources of the period such
as The Austin Papers (edited by Eugene C. Barker) bare abundant testimony to the clash of these
cultures.
Despite cultural conflict that would eventually lead to revolution and the raising of the Lone Star flag
over the Republic of Texas in 1836, Anglo-Americans eagerly absorbed the Mexican's concept of
bigness in land. The New England concept of a few acres and a cow had no value in the vastness of
Texas. In fact, the plantation model of the cotton south was too small a notion for land hungry
immigrants. By agreeing to abide by Mexican law and becoming a Roman Catholic one could secure
4,605 acres of land. A successful colonizing impresario could garner upwards of 184,000 bonus acres of
land for himself by bringing in large numbers of colonists. Impresarios like Austin, Haden Edwards and
Green Dewitt, driven by their own self interests, fueled the great land grab by publishing countless tracts
touting the agricultural potential of Texas. Soon land hungry immigrants from both the United States
and Europe began pouring into Texas. Immigrant agents like the Texas Emigration and Land Company
contracted for whole colonies. By the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836, Anglo-Americans already
made up sixty percent of the population. The Republic and later the state continued liberal land policies
to bring in even more settlers.
6. Descriptions of the Collections
From 1836 until the Civil War, the most common occupation in Texas was farming, and cotton was the
most important cash crop. Production increased rapidly, spreading from eastern Texas into the
Blackland Prairies of Central Texas. With cotton came the institution of slavery and an ever increasing
demand for more and more slaves. Prominent citizens of the state demanded that the slave trade be
reopened. In 1860 there were 182, 566 slaves in Texas valued at $108,688,920. The value of slaves was
greater than the value of all the farms in Texas. By 1861 the cotton culture of the eastern and central
part of the state tied most of settled Texas to the Old South. However, unlike the rest of the old South,
Texas still had a large and active frontier making it also a part of the New West. These factors, along with
a diverse immigrant population, helped to create a pluralistic society with distinct regional differences.
While the cotton and slave culture imported into Texas had an enormous impact on rural life, in the pre-
Civil War period the plantation lifestyle and economy was something to which most farmers only aspired.
There was a lot of land but very little else. Farmers were largely self-sufficient, depending on the fruits of
their own labor for nearly all of their needs. The most common dwelling was not the big house of the
plantation. Instead it was the small double log cabin known as a "Dog Run," for its open central porch
that connected the two structures. Seasonal calamities, poor transportation, isolation and Indian attacks
along the frontier made life on the early Texas farm hard and uncertain--as vividly described in Rupert
Richardson's The Frontier of Northwest Texas, 1846-1876: Advance and Defense by the Pioneer Settlers
of the Cross Timbers and Prairies.
Even though cotton was the major cash crop, corn was a basic necessity to both humans and animals. It
was easy to grow and it thrived in an area from the Gulf of Mexico to the Red River. In regions where
the climate and soil would support production, farmers grew wheat, sugarcane and sweet potatoes. There
were even early attempts at improving the quality and quantity of these crops. To this end, the first
agricultural exhibition was held at Corpus Christi in 1852 with prizes totaling three thousand dollars. In
1858 the first state fair was held in Dallas, beginning a long tradition of exhibiting the quality of Texas
agricultural products. By 1843, Texas had formed the first of a long succession of agricultural societies
dedicated to improving the lot of farmers and sharing information.
The aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction left Texans impoverished, with little remaining but the
land. There was, however one resource that had never been exploited--millions of cattle on the open
range almost free for the taking. From almost the first Spanish exploration, cattle had been left to run
wild on the open range and multiply on an endless sea of grass. By the end of the Civil War there were
nearly four million head. With no way to move them to markets in the north they were of little value.
The coming of the railroads to Colorado and Kansas quickly made these herds a vast resource. The
cattle kingdom and cowboy culture began with the opening of such famous trails as the Sedalia,
Chisholm, Dodge City or Great Western and the Goodnight-Loving or Pecos. Between 1866 and 1884
over five million cattle were driven to the railhead for shipment to northern market and inspired a
uniquely American literature.
The day of the great cattle drives ended almost as quickly as it began. Barbed wire fences and the
extension of the railroad into West Texas ended the big cattle drive and ushered in the era of the great
ranches. With railroad transportation now available, entrepreneurs and syndicates from the East and
Europe purchased large tracts of land, fenced it, and began the business of raising cattle on a grand scale.
The King, the J A, the Shoe Bar, the Matador and the X I T were all enormous ranches of a truly Texas
scale. Fence cutting, cattle rustling and powerful land barons were grist for the history and legend of a
period that still looms larger than life. While many of the ranches would eventually be broken up, cattle
raising remains one of the state's most important agricultural industries to this day.
During the last decades of the 19th century a revolution took place in Texas agriculture. Farmers
gradually moved from self-sufficiency and subsistence farming toward commercial agriculture. Cotton
6. Descriptions of the Collections
came to dominate all other crops, outstripping even the cattle industry. By 1910, almost half of the state's
cultivated acreage was planted in cotton. Unlike the experience of the southern states, boll worms and
weevils, root rot and bad weather decreased production but it hardly slowed the expansion of the crop
acreage. It did not matter that farm organizations and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas
all preached diversification and crop rotation. Bulletins, leaflets and pamphlets of the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station and the Texas Agricultural Extension Service for the period are full of subtle and not
so subtle hints to plant other crops. It fell on deaf ears as farmers persisted in planting nearly every inch
of their land in cotton. In the farmers defense, cotton was the only cash crop that yielded at least the
promise of a return on investment. However, cotton was more than a cash crop. It was a culture and a
lifestyle. Everything was subordinated to the rhythm of the cotton plant. It dictated land holding
systems, bank credit and divisions of labor. It bound many poor whites and minorities to share cropping
and stoop labor in the fields.
The Great Depression of the 1930's took a serious toll on Texas farmers and ranchers. The price of
cotton dropped from eighteen cents a pound to less than six in another downturn of the agricultural
depression that began in 1920. Most Texans hardly noticed the Wall Street crash of 1929, but thousands
of small farmers and ranchers lost their lands as the depression of the 1930's deepened. In Texas as
elsewhere, the Depression would change the face of agriculture and begin the slow demise of the family
farm. Not until World War II would agriculture make an economic comeback. The literature of the day
documents the impact of this pivotal event on the rural community and economy.
Texas is known as the land of the cowboy and the oil well. However, the impact of the discovery in 1928
of the giant East Texas oil field by Columbus ("Dad") Joiner on agriculture has not been well
documented. It did help to provide work and ease the plight of displaced agricultural workers during
the 1930's. The oil and petrochemical industry would make its major economic impact on the
diversification of the states economic base in the period after 1945.
It is not surprising that there is no comprehensive history of agriculture in Texas. Indeed, there is no
overall analysis of the role of agriculture in the development of the state. While there are many good
studies on individual crops, livestock production, the cotton culture and the cowboy, it is not at all
surprising that there have been few attempts to gather all of the many disparate sources it would take to
produce synthesis. Indeed, no one has even attempted to compile a complete bibliography on so
important a subject. For example, there is much valuable material buried in early unpublished theses and
dissertations. Here one can find information on almost every aspect of the history of agriculture and
rural life. Public opinion, rural life, farm mechanization, immigrant communities, and crop improvement
are just a few of the topics preserved in the records of long forgotten scholarship.
Additionally there have been few attempts to preserve and make available the materials documenting this
rich heritage. In the early 1970's Texas A&M University joined with the National Agricultural Library to
microfilm the documents of the Experiment Station and Extension Service. While this was a ground
breaking and valuable project, it left untouched numerous other research sources. Unless these materials
are preserved, these valuable resources will be lost.
Over the course of the phase 2 project, Texas A&M University, in cooperation with other libraries in the
state, will preserve and improve access to 800 titles in 2,575 volumes important to the study of agriculture
and rural life in Texas and the Southwest. These volumes were selected for preservation from a
comprehensive bibliography of 12,213 volumes identified during the 1996/97 phase 1 project supported
by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The phase 1 project employed a four-person scholarly
review to rank the titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies. Details of
Texas's phase 2 project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.10 of the proposal's Plan of Work.
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