Historical Ag Literature & Digital Archives

From: Steve Diver (steved@NCATARK.UARK.EDU)
Date: Tue Sep 24 2002 - 14:53:01 EDT


Here is a collection of web-based agricultural books,
digital archives of agricultural experiment station bulletins,
and historical books on agriculture....which I started back
in May in response to John Lozier and David Menne's
requests for online materials.

Each of these sites represent a tremendous amount of
work and forethought. So congratulations to Cornell
Library, Kansas State Library, Soil and Health Library,
National Ag Library, Journey to Forever, and all the rest!!

Regards,

Steve Diver
ATTRA
http://www.attra.ncat.org

===================================================
John Lozier asked about the status of web archives for old
agricultural bulletins. David Menne was looking for something
about "Olde Englishe Gardenere" in the agricultural literature.

On the general topic of agricultural books & bulletins archived
on the web, here are some online collections and documentation
sources that come to mind.

First, John Lozier pointed to Ed Rayburn's "Ye Olde Forage
Library" at West Virginia University.

Ye Olde Forage Library
http://www.caf.wvu.edu/~forage/library/index.htm.
        Ye Olde Forage Library, reproducing four old USDA and
        Agriculture Experiment Station Bulletins, is a brief but useful
        spot to bookmark.

West Virginia University also reproduced an old USDA bulletin
on ginseng.

Ginseng Culture, USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 1184 (1914)
http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/fldcrps/oldsang.htm

As well as a more recent USDA bulletin on ginseng:

Growing Ginseng, USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 2201 (1978)
http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/fldcrps/2201.pdf

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The following three sites stand out as distinctly *prominent* with
respect to online collections of digitized agricultural books
and bulletins (of special interest to sustainable agriculture).

The Core Historical Literature of Agriculture (Cornell)
http://chla.library.cornell.edu/
        Currently 815 Monographs have been digitized and made
        available online, featuring numerous classic agricultural
        titles from the turn of the century and early- to mid-1900s.
        Years of academic work, time, & effort went into this digital
        archive project, the foresight of Cornell Univeristy and
        collaborating institutions. Most of these books can only be
        found on the shelves of land-grant university libraries, so
        this online source is all the more remarkable and exciting.

The Soil And Health Library (Steve Solomon in Tasmania)
http://www.soilandhealth.org/ [Agriculture Library]
        Featuring about four dozen classic titles from the organic
        agriculture movement.

Kansas State University -- Historical Publications of the
Agricultural Experiment Station
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/historicpublications/
        Featuring an historical collection of state agricultural
        experiment publications; hundreds of scanned bulletins
        and circulars made available online as PDF's. This collection
        at K-State is a prime example of a complete online archiveal
        collection of agricultural bulletins. How did they do that?
        Do any other other universities and/or USDA-NAL have
        similar projects underway?

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Other Noteworthy Collections:

Journey to Forever Online Library (Keith Addison in Japan)
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html
        The Online Library at Journey to Forever provides web
        access to a number of classic titles in the organic agriculture
        movment, providing a complementary collection to the Soil
        & Health Library.

Making of America (MOA) / Michigan Site
http://moa.umdl.umich.edu
        The collection currently contains approximately 8,500 books
        and 50,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.

Making of America (MOA) / Cornell Site
http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/
        This site provides access to 267 monograph volumes and over
        100,000 journal articles with 19th century imprints.

At the Michigan Site, this example:

Plain and Pleasant Talk About Fruits, Flowers and Farming / by Henry
Ward Beecher (Derby & Jackson, New York, 1859; 420 p.)
Snippets which caught "my" eyes, from pages 10-11: "Our Creed"

"We believe in small farms and thorough cultivation"

"We believe that soil loves to eat, as well as its owner, and
ought, therfore, to be manured."

"We believe in good fences, good barns, good farmhouses,
good stock, good orchards, and children enough to gather the fruit"

"We believe in a clean kitchen, a neat wife in it, a spinning-piano,
a clean cupboard, a clean dairy, and a clean conscience"

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Online Books Page / University of Pennsylvania
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
        The subject heading for "S Agriculture" contains about 140
        online matches (mainly links "to" sites that host these
        materials, such as Soil & Health Library, MOA, etc).
        Related subject headings of interest include: QH Natural
        History and Biology | QK Botany | QL Zoology | Etc

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920
American Memory, Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/conshome.html
        "The collection consists of 62 books and pamphlets, 140
        Federal statutes and Congressional resolutions, 34 additional
        legislative documents, excerpts from the Congressional Globe
        and the Congressional Record, 360 Presidential proclamations,
        170 prints and photographs, 2 historic manuscripts, and 2
        motion pictures."

Example:
The Holy Earth, by L.H. Bailey (1915).
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?consrvbib:2:./temp/~ammem_tqVl::
        "Bailey was a professor of horticulture at Cornell University,
        the founder-editor of the periodical Country Life in America
        and the leader of the so-called Country Life movement, a
        leading advocate for the Nature Study movement, and an
        active conservationist. The Holy Earth was his most important
        work; its attempt to establish an ethic for the man-nature
        relationship helped lay the foundation for Aldo Leopold's
        revolutionary redefinition a generation later, and directly
        influenced Leopold himself."

The Lay of the Land, by Dallas Lore Sharp (1908)
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?consrvbib:1:./temp/~ammem_eQqi::
        Phenological notes and nature observations; one of my
        favorite topics.

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NAL - National Agricultural Library -- has these three indexes
to "USDA Serial Publications." These indexes, or bibliographies,
seem simple; but they did not appear until a few short years ago
when a surge in electronic bibliographical citation databases
(i.e., AGRICOLA on CD-ROM) made this sort of thing feasible
rather than the old card catalog typing and filing method.

Index to USDA Agriculture Handbooks (Numbers 1-720)
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ref/USDApubs/aghandbk.htm

Index to USDA Agriculture Information Bulletins (Numbers 1-775)
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ref/USDApubs/aib.htm

Index to USDA Miscellaneous Publications (Numbers 1-1581)
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ref/USDApubs/miscpub.htm

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As an aside, a bibliography from my own work, is this resource
listing which I developed with the aid of the aforementioned
USDA Indexes, assisted by some of my own library search
tricks and research hours.

USDA Bulletins on Soil-Related Topics: Soil Conservation,
Organic Matter, Crop Rotations, Cover Crops and Green Manures
Soil Biology, Tillage Systems
http://ncatark.uark.edu/~steved/USDA-soil-bulletins.html

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

One of the classic USDA bulletins, "Conquest of the Land Through
7,000 Years" by W.C. Loudermilk, leaves such an impressive
with its viewpoint of agricultural history -- accompanied by
reminders to "protect the land" -- that it appears in several web
locations, each with its own style of formatting.

Conquest of the Land Through 7,000 Years (NRCS)
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/ECS/agecol/conquest.html

Conquest of the Land Through 7,000 Years (Journey to Forever)
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/Lowd/Lowd1.html

Conquest of the Land Through 7,000 Years (Native Habitat)
http://www.nativehabitat.org/conquest-1.html

Conquest of the Land Through 7,000 Years (Core 4 / CTIC)
http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/Core4/CT/conquest/Contents.html

Conquest of the Land Through 7,000 Years (Soil & Health Library)
http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010119lowdermilk.usda/cls.html

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

United Nations University Press -- Full Text Publications
http://www.unu.edu/unupress
        Agriculture and Land Management | Environment and
        Sustainability | Food and Nutrition | Natural Resources
        Development

Example:
Bioconversion of Organic Residues for Rural Communities (1979)
http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80434e/80434E00.htm

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Laura Lengnick posted a link to an NRC publication, "Use of
Reclaimed Water and Sludge in Food Crop Production."
http://www.epa.gov/owm/biolib.htm

NRC reports, BOSTIC reports, Water Science and Technology
Board reports, NSF reports, etc... can be found online through
National Academy Press.

National Academy Press
http://www.nap.edu/index.html
        2,500 books online;

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

OTA -- Office of Technology Assessment published
a number of prominent books relating to agriculture
and the environment. These are available through a
special archive at Princeton Univ.

OTA Publications -- Office of Technology Assessment
http://www.wws.princeton.edu/~ota/ns20/pubs_f.html

        +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Just recently, I came across this collection at K-State.

Information Support Services for Agriculture (ISSA)
KSU Libraries
http://www.lib.ksu.edu/depts/issa/index.html

ISSA also provides access to:

Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education AND
K-State Information Support Services for Agriculture
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/

*Agroforestry and High-Value Crops
*Cover Crops
*Pests
*Soil Management

This website is the product of an SARE project that
reviewed historical documents contributing to the study
and practice of Sustainable Agriculture in Kansas.
Summaries of relevant articles in four categories are
provided, with links to full-text .PDF versions of cited
publications.

1.
Agroforestry and High Value Crops: A summary from KSU
circulars and bulletins 1908 to1956 by Lisa French
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/agroforestry/index.htm

Agroforestry and High Value Crops: Online Sources
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/agroforestry/sources.htm

2.
Cover Crops: A summary from KSU circulars and bulletins
1908 to1956 by Lisa French
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/covercrops/index.htm

Cover Crops: Online Sources
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/covercrops/sources.htm

3.
Agronomic Weed and Pest Management; A summary from
KSU Circulars and Bulletins from 1898 to1965
by Lisa French
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/pests/index.htm

Agronomic Weed and Pest Management: Online Sources
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/pests/sources.htm

4.
Soil Management: A summary from KSU circulars and bulletins
from 1899 to1965 by Lisa French
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/soil_manage/index.htm

Soil Management: Online Sources
http://www.ksu.edu/issa/sare/soil_manage/sources.htm

===================================================
===================================================


"Laura.Paine" wrote:

> Hi Megan,
>
> I worked on a similar project here in southern Wisconsin and have
actually
> done quite a bit of work with heirlooms and with native grasses. One
of my
> best sources of historic farming information was the Ag Library at our
land
> grant university. Here it's the University of Wisconsin. If you have

> access to the University of Tennessee, I'm betting they'll have an ag
> library. Then you'd want to look at the periodicals. Several of the
ag
> journals like Prairie Farmer and Wisconsin Agriculturist (there's
probably a
> Tennessee equivalent) go back to the mid-1800s and these libraries
will have
> them on the shelf. There's also reports of state agricultural
societies
> which would be located in the government documents section.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Laura
>
> Laura Paine
> Crops and Soils Agent
> Columbia County Extension
> 120 West Conant Street
> PO Box 567
> Portage, WI 53901-0567
> phone: 608/742-9682
> fax: 608/742-9862
> email: laura.paine@ces.uwex.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group
> [mailto:SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU]On Behalf Of Megan Cadwallader
> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 9:18 AM
> To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU
> Subject: [SANET-MG] Information on Historical Ag
>
> I'm a student at Warren Wilson College in Asheville NC presently
studying
> sustainable agriculture. I was hoping to find information about
historic
> farming, in case anyone had the hobby or knew of contacts. My senior
> project
> involves a small 1850's farm site in Northeast Tennessee called the
Exchange
> Place, and my plans include researching and implementing an heirloom
> vegetable
> garden, old breeds of livestock, and native grasses in the pastures.
I know
> these are general topics, but another large part of the project is
working
> out
> a financial plan for the farm, so information on relevant grants,
> organizations that buy and sell rare breeds of livestock, or any other
site
> that has recently been through this transformation would help. Thank
you!
> Megan (mcadwall@warren-wilson.edu)

.



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