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During the first half of the 1800s, a boom in wheat powered growth in the Genesee Valley--especially after construction of the Erie Canal enabled its shipping as a worldwide commodity. This item combines two engravings to better visualize the rise…

A beehive, traditional symbol of industry and an orderly community, organizes four images of farming around its center. In clockwise order from the top, we see the arts of landscaping and decorative gardening; a barnyard with various farm animals…

"The radical error of the American system of farming," this handbook argues, is that "throughout the greater part of the country, the attention of farmers and planters has been almost exclusively devoted to the cultivation of a few staple articles"…

Washington is depicted as a beneficent gentleman farmer of his Mt. Vernon estate in Virginia, surrounded by a well-ordered operation, its overseer, happy workers, and two children playing in the foreground. The image is part of a five-part series…

While others had previously submitted patents for harvesting machine, this one designed by Obed Hussey in 1833 is considered the first workable farm implement of its kind. Two horses and two workers could harvest grains at a much faster rate than…

During a time when wheat and other grains were hand-sown, there were debates as to the most effective methods. This illustration accompanied a description of a "sowing-sheet," which was a piece of square linen folded into a kind of sling, "having an…

The Geneseo Migrant Center began as an education initiative during the 1960s. Even after its programs expanded into other areas, students at SUNY Geneseo continued to work directly with children and sometime publish their research. It's possible that…

Caption suggests this photo was taken at the Gibson Farm in Wayland, NY, and a migrant labor camp run by Carl and Lucille Moore. While accommodations look extremely basic--a shared kitchen and refrigerator for perhaps dozens of farmworkers--Moore had…

George N. Comer was founder, in 1840, of a Boston "Commercial College" bearing his name. The subjects it taught were eclectic: penmanship, bookkeeping, commercial correspondence and computations, navigation, engineering, and surveying. The…

Two horses and a farmer working the fields.