The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
CredoResearch digital collections in Credo

Collecting area: Agriculture

Massachusetts

Massachusetts Agricultural Surveys

1910-1965
25 boxes 18 linear feet
Call no.: MS 261

Studies were conducted by departments of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Massachusetts State College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus in conjunction with various other college departments and agencies of the state and federal governments. The surveys encompass a number of agricultural study areas such as land use, business and farm management, dairy farm and cost of milk production, tobacco and onion production, and poultry and livestock disease surveys. Supplemental statistical information and aerial photographs are also included.

Subjects

Agriculture--MassachusettsLand use--Massachusetts

Types of material

Aerial photographs
Massachusetts Agricultural Fairs

Massachusetts Agricultural Fairs Posters Collection

1852-1860
19 items
Call no.: MS 169

With one of the first agricultural fairs in the country taking place in Massachusetts in 1807, the state has a special place in the history of agricultural fairs in the United States. Twenty antebellum posters promoting agricultural fairs in western Massachusetts, primarily from agricultural societies in Hampshire, Hampden, Franklin, and Berkshire Counties.

Subjects

Agricultural exhibitions--Massachusetts--PostersAgricultural exhibitions--Rhode Island--Providence--PostersAgriculture--Social aspects--Massachusetts--HistoryAgriculture--Social aspects--Rhode Island--History

Types of material

Posters
Massachusetts Chicken and Turkey Broiler Test, Inc.

Massachusetts Chicken and Turkey Broiler Test Records

1953-1959
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 082
Depiction of Terry B. Kinney at groundbreaking, July 1954
Terry B. Kinney at groundbreaking, July 1954

An early example of cooperative research between industry and academia, the Massachusetts Chicken and Turkey Broiler Test, Inc. was founded in 1954 to conduct tests to improve poultry productivity. Taking advantage of the professional skills of the staff and students in the Poultry Science Department at UMass Amherst, the Test facility was located adjacent to campus and over its five year course of operations, gathered scientific data on a number of variables, including rate of growth, rate of feathering, age of maturity, and egg production and hatchability.

The records of the Broiler Test consist of minutes, financial documents, correspondence, and test results.

Gift of Thomas W. Fox, 1987

Subjects

Chickens--BreedingPoultry industry--MassachusettsTurkeys--Breeding

Contributors

Massachusetts Chicken and Turkey Broiler Test, Inc

Types of material

Photographs
Massachusetts. Department of Agriculture

Farmers’ Produce Market Report Collection

1935-1939
4 vols. 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 588 bd

Established by the Department of Agriculture, the Division of Markets was responsible for determining the demand of agricultural products, encouraging their growth in Massachusetts, and informing purchasers and distributors of the condition of the markets. The division’s daily—except Saturday and Sunday—report provided vital information about the supply and demand of produce in the state.

The Farmers’ Produce Market Report Collection consists of the division’s report for the years 1935-1939. Details recorded include the activity of the market, prices for specific produce, agricultural products shipped within the U.S., and weather forecasts.

Subjects

Agricultural economics--MassachusettsAgriculture--HistoryAgriculture--Massachusetts

Contributors

Massachusetts. Department of Agriculture
Maynard, Nathaniel

Nathaniel Maynard Exercise and Account Book

1801-1862
1 vol. 0.1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1063
Depiction of Front cover of the Maynard volume
Front cover of the Maynard volume

The farmer Nathaniel Maynard was born in Marlborough (Worcester County), Mass., on Feb. 27, 1780, the eldest of four children of Joseph Maynard and Lovina Barnes. By 1804, when he married Rachel (Hill) of North Brookfield, Nathaniel was already a resident of Leverett, where he had apparently moved with his brother William. Nathaniel and Rachel had four children: Ira B. Maynard (1810-1896), Alvin (1813-1818), Emeline Dudley (1815-1901), and Joseph Bartlett Maynard (1817-1881).

This small volume is a hybrid production. Roughly the first half of the volume consists of relatively standard exercises for learning arithmetic and business activities, including calculating weights, measures, currencies, finances, and interest rates. The remainder consists of accounts, recording a variety of work performed by Maynard, ranging from farm labor (sale of potatoes, plowing and planting, working with oxen, slaughtering, and chopping wood) to weaving (“sheeting”) and especially mending or making shoes.

McFall, Robert James, 1887-1963

Robert James McFall Papers

1918-1926
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 133
Depiction of Robert J. McFall<br />Photo by Frank A. Waugh, 1927
Robert J. McFall
Photo by Frank A. Waugh, 1927

A specialist in agricultural marketing, Robert J. McFall arrived at the Massachusetts Agricultural College in January 1920 to take up work with the Extension Service. A graduate of Geneva College and Phd from Columbia University (1915), McFall had worked with the Canadian Bureau of Statistics for two years before his arrival in Amherst.

The McFall collection includes a suite of published and unpublished works in agricultural economics, including an incomplete run of Economic Reports from MAC on business conditions (1921-1925), and papers on agricultural cooperation in Massachusetts, municipal abattoirs, business regulation in Canada, agriculture and population increase, and the New England dairy market. Of particular note is a monograph-length work co-authored by McFall and Alexander Cance, entitled “The Massachusetts Agricultural College in its Relations to the Food Supply Program of the Commonwealth.”

Subjects

Agricultural economicsCance, Alexander E. (Alexander Edmond), 1874-Dairy products industry--MassachusettsFood supply--MassachusettsMassachusetts Agricultural College--FacultyMassachusetts Agricultural College. Department of Agricultural Economics

Contributors

McFall, Robert James, 1887-1963
Miles, Manly, 1826-1898

Manly Miles Papers

ca.1882-1886
1 box 0.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 134
Depiction of Manly Miles
Manly Miles

A pioneer in scientific agriculture, Manly Miles was born in Homer, N.Y., in 1826. A naturalist by inclination with a strong practical streak, Miles took a degree in medicine at Rush Medical College (1850) and practiced as a physician for eight years. His interests in the natural sciences, however, soon left him to abandon medicine, and after accepting a position with the State Geological Survey in Michigan from 1858-1861, he turned to academia. An early member of the faculty at Michigan State College, and later Illinois State College, he was recruited to the agricultural faculty at Massachusetts Agricultural College by President Paul Chadbourne in 1882. Four years later, however, following Chadbourne’s untimely death, Miles returned to Lansing, Mich., where he remained until his death in 1898. During his career, he was noted for his interests in organic evolution and plant and animal breeding.

The Miles collection contains 8 notebooks containing notes on reading. In addition to a general notebook on scientific matters, the remaining seven are organized by subject: Breeds of animals, Farm buildings, Farm economy, Feeding and animals, Implements, Manures, and Stock breeding.

Subjects

Agriculture--Study and teachingAnimal breedingMassachusetts Agricultural College--FacultyMassachusetts State College. Department of Agricultural Economics

Contributors

Miles, Manly, 1826-1898

Types of material

Notebooks
Miscellaneous Manuscripts

Miscellaneous Manuscripts

1717-2003
6 boxes 5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 719

Miscellaneous Manuscripts is an artificial collection that brings together single items and small groups of related materials. Although the collection reflects the general collecting emphases in SCUA, particularly the history of New England, the content ranges widely in theme and format.

Subjects

Massachusetts--Economic conditions--18th centuryMassachusetts--Economic conditions--19th centuryMassachusetts--HistoryMassachusetts--Politics and governmentMassachusetts--Social conditions--18th centuryMassachusetts--Social conditions--19th centuryMassachusetts--Social conditions--20th century

Types of material

Account booksCorrespondencePhotographs
Miscellaneous Periodicals

Miscellaneous Periodicals Collection

1905-1910
7 boxes 3.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 373

This miscellaneous periodicals collections contains single issues or short runs of a variety of journals, such as: Farm and Home, Farm Journal, Red Men’s Official Journal, Home and Health, and The Ladies World.

Subjects

Agriculture--Periodicals
Montague, Holland

Holland Montague Diary

1857-1877
1 vol. 0.15 linear feet
Call no.: MS 257 bd

A lifelong diarist, Granby farmer Holland Montague wrote chiefly about life on the farm where he made a comfortable living supplying produce to surrounding towns. While most of his entries are bland accounts of the weather and agricultural duties, Montague occasionally offers a glimpse into his personal life, especially on the diary’s endpapers, where he records medicinal remedies for humans and livestock, purchases made and payments received, as well as a valuation of his property in 1872. Very few references are made to political events of the day, including the Civil War, although he does note on April 16, 1865 that President Lincoln is dead.

Laid into the volume is a manuscript copy of the 1826 document listing depositions to be taken from individuals in the petition of the town of Granby against the town of South Hadley relating to a dispute over the boundary line between the two towns.

Transferred from Dartmouth College Special Collections, July 1989

Subjects

Farmers--Massachusetts--GranbyGranby (Mass.)--History

Types of material

Diaries