The historical status of Black employees in the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has been documented in multiple ways, but a key document and a landmark event from 1965 provide a unique perspective. This brief survey of that year will provide a glimpse into the lives of several ARS Black employees of that time.
Black Employees of USDA: 1965 Read More »
The “family-size, handy-weight” turkey developed by Stanley J. Marsden and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry had a brief period of popularity once it was released to the commercial market in the 1940s, but became an obscure oddity by the 1970s, and is now labeled as critically endangered by the Livestock Conservancy. This short review will describe the rise and fall of the Beltsville Small White through a sample of documents located both inside the National Agricultural Library, located in Beltsville, MD, and in other external repositories relevant to agriculture.
The Beltsville Small White: A Heritage Turkey Read More »
About Agricultural Humanities 1 October 2020 Written by Emily Marsh Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam viverra consectetur ullamcorper. Sed et ipsum lobortis, ullamcorper eros in, elementum urna. Mauris id mollis enim, vel commodo ex. Nulla facilisi. Cras cursus lacus ultrices turpis facilisis, eu efficitur orci aliquam. Maecenas sit amet ornare lectus,
About Agricultural Humanities Read More »
In response to the Great Depression, a Federal housing program was created in 1933 that aimed to improve the living conditions of people coming from overcrowded urban centers, while simultaneously giving them a new opportunity to experience small-scale farming and home ownership.
Subsistence Homesteads Read More »
This short review addresses the many roles played by the lima bean in culture, cuisine, and agricultural science. It also includes a small sample of the many publications produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to document the scientific development of lima beans and also to help farmers establish, grow, and manage this crop.
At the beginning of the 1900s a specific cooking appliance gained prominence and was advocated by cookbook authors and U.S. Department of Agriculture home economists as a way to make delicious meals with minimum effort. This review will describe the development and rise of the fireless cooker, its status as a commercially marketed home kitchen appliance, and the fireless cooker’s re-emergence within low-income countries.
The Fireless Cooker Read More »
This short review shares the small amount of evidence to support the tradition of cranberries with Thanksgiving and early American cuisine, along with the ways in which the U.S. Department of Agriculture supported farmers as they established, grew, and maintained this unique food crop.