History Commons^™

Heirloom And Hybrid Corn In The American Corn Belt: An Ethnography Of Seed Saving Practices, Rachelle Halaska

Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic study examines the practices and context of contemporary heirloom corn seed saving practices and projects in the American Corn Belt. It examines heirloom corn conservation and hand pollination practices at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa in 2015. From there the study extends to interviews with heirloom farmers, breeders and gardeners in Wisconsin and Illinois. The findings indicate that the lines between the mainstream and the margins of corn production are highly blurred, and that there is a considerable amount of cross-pollination of ideas and practices between alternative corn farming and dominant industrial hybrid production in the American …

Swagriculture: A Qualitative Examination Of Women’S Participation In Samoa’S Agriculture Industry As Farmers And Growers, Charlotte Crandall

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study is an examination of how women participate in agriculture in Samoa as farmers and growers, what hardships women encounter and how they overcome these, and the organizations that influence people’s experiences. Censuses have historically undercounted the number of women in agriculture in developing countries, largely due to rigid international definitions of what counts as labor, which overlook cultural nuances, and this study aims to fill this gap in research. Data was collected through nine Talanoa-inspired interviews with women involved with farming or growing in Samoa, and overarching themes were analyzed. The themes have been grouped by the specific …

Feeding Victory: 4-H, Extension, And The World War Ii Food Effort, Katherine Sundgren

Online Journal of Rural Research & Policy

4-H and the Extension Service were instrumental in contributing to the nationwide increase in food production that sustained the United States and its armed forces during World War II. At the onset of the war, the Extension Service distributed essential information at the national, state, and local levels through universities and the 4-H program. 4-H drew upon the intellectual and cultural tradition that they had cultivated to motivate and organize the food effort and help the allies win the war. 4-H’s national influence and resources provided eager allies to war-oriented programs. The war had a lasting impact on 4-H as …

The Farmers' Millennium: The Ideology Of Agricultural Improvement In Iowa, 1855 To 1865, Michael Belding Iii

Michael Belding III

The Morrill Act of 1862, a piece of federal legislation enacted a century and a half ago, lives on today. That law allocated thousands of acres of federal land to state governments, based on the size of their congressional delegations, so they could establish colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts and give a college education, liberal and practical, to students who could not otherwise afford one. The Morrill Act lives on because the "land-grant colleges" it endowed with financial resources still exist today, operating on billion-dollar budgets and enrolling tens of thousands of students. Further, at least at Iowa …

Young Dairymen, Mammoth Cave Chapter (Mss 662), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scans of scrapbooks (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 662. Scrapbooks (scanned copies only) and newsletters for the Young Dairymen, Mammoth Cave Chapter which was located in south central Kentucky and organized byH. Bland Dorris, Jr. The scrapbooks chiefly contain photographs of the group’s activities. Also included are the Chapter’s newsletters, 1982-1986.

The Farmers’ Federation: Regional Racial Mythologies As Agricultural Capital, Jama Mcmurtery Grove

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 1927, the Farmers’ Federation agricultural cooperative in Western North Carolina launched an organization to solicit funds from wealthy donors. The money raised through philanthropic campaigns enabled the cooperative to fund large-scale agricultural projects, which helped members navigate the dramatic agricultural transformations of the early twentieth century. Although the cooperative advocated a progressive program of business-minded, scientific farming, its leadership modified programs to reflect farmer members’ limited resources and the realities of mountain production. As a result, the co-op provided a crucial bridge between white farmers and new methods of agricultural production that reached deep into peoples’ familial and productive …

Edens, William Jeptha, 1898-1969 - Relating To (Sc 3404), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3404. Report of an interview conducted by WKU student Mary Helen Jenkins of William J. Edens, a former WKU agriculture professor and Arkansas State College president who was then serving as attaché with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The interview discusses his education and career, particularly as an agricultural advisor overseas.

Nunn, Louie Broady, 1924-2004 (Sc 3405), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 3405. Letter, 25 October 1971, to “Fellow Kentuckian” from Kentucky Governor Louie B. Nunn. Preparing to leave office, he provides a report on his administration’s accomplishments with respect to agriculture in the state. Much of the detail is set out in a report to Nunn from the Commissioner of Agriculture that is included with the letter.

George Finley Ledger 20, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

George Finley Ledger 16, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

George Finley Ledger 15, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

George Finley Ledger 10, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

George Finley Ledger 8, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

George Finley Ledger 7, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

George Finley Ledger 6, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

George Finley Ledger 5, George Finley

Deeply Rooted

This item has been aggregated as part of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL)'s "Deeply Rooted: The Agricultural & Rural History of the American South" project.

The Impacts Of Tourism On Subak, Sawah, And The Environment, Reiley Adelson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper I wish to explore the topic of Sawah, Subak, and the impact tourism has on both of these important parts of Balinese culture. By starting with the history of subak, moving into the Green Revolution, then into the start of mass tourism, and coming all the way up until today, I would like to see how subak has changed and developed or how it hasn’t. I would also like to get a sense of what people see for the future of farming in Bali. To go about this, I talked with rice farmers, who are being directly …

Local Perceptions Of Cannabis And Cannabis Laws In Morocco: Unpacking Past Laws, Moroccans' Perceptions, And Exploring Organizational Efforts, Shadae Tingman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In Morocco, cannabis production and consumption are illegal, both medicinally and recreationally. The cultivation of the plant is among the top five in the world. This research will explore many aspects of cannabis in Morocco. There is much literature that exists surrounding the agricultural, economic, and political implications of cannabis, but this research will focus on social perceptions of cannabis and cannabis laws of local Moroccans. This research will explore past government attempts to legalize marijuana and why they did not pass. It will also explore the work of local youth organizations (that focus on cannabis) to understand what they …

Minton, John Dean, Sr., 1921-2008 (Mss 660), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 660. Letters written by John D. Minton, Sr. to his brother, Layton Minton, while both were in military service during World War II. The collection also contains a small amount of Minton family correspondence and some vocational agriculture notebooks kept by the brothers while in high school.

How The “Ploughman Poet” Jumpstarted Highlandism:, Allison Ward

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Begging the question of how the Scottish society has been reduced and commercialized to the romanticized, Scottish fantasy we see Scotland as today because of a process labeled ‘Highlandism’. The eighteenth-century poet Robert Burns became the focal point because of the impact of his major role in this creation and spread of this Sottish fantasy. Burns used his poetry as a method of delivery to sell nostalgia for a fictional, romantic, and exotic Scotland that had been created from symbols once associated with the Highlands to a now global audience.

Breaking down the historical, economic, and cultural shifts occurring around …

Blasting The Farm: Chemical High Explosives And The Rise Of Industrial Agriculture, 1867-1930, Patrick Benjamin Swart

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.