Browse Items (1402 total)

Migrant farmworker tossing what appears to be potatoes onto a conveyor belt at the Roy Gibson Farm in Wayland, NY. Gibson was a long-time member of the Steuben County Potato Growers Association and had a reputation as a relatively fair employer and…

Dressing flax was a complicated, labor-intensive process to remove seeds and stems so as to separate out the plant's valuable fibers. This image appears in an extensive advertisement for a mechanical dresser--or rather, three different models--that…

Illustration accompanies a suggestion by editor of the Country Gentleman, perhaps Luther Tucker, as to a simple and cheap method for picking apples. Its extremely detailed description appears overly fussy, yet shows the careful thought behind even…

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…