O Say Can You See?

Personal stories are key in telling the story of agricultural innovation

American agriculture has changed dramatically since World War II, impacting many aspects of American life. Curator Peter Liebhold has been collecting stories from individuals to help document this change. In this post, he answers questions about the progress of the Agricultural Innovation and Heritage Archive.

How many stories have been collected so far?

The Agricultural Innovation and Heritage Archive has already collected about 40 stories from individuals and families in states around the country. By the end of the month, anyone will be able to browse all of the stories that have been accepted so far into the archive.

I'm reading every story and looking at every photo and video clip that comes in and am excited to make these available online for all to read soon—they're too interesting to keep to myself. 

 

Cate and Mat E from Vioqua, Wisconsin, shared a story about the importance of energy on their farm. "This past summer during the August rains, when our area was hit hard by straight-line winds, power was knocked out for 3 days... Growing vegetables on a small scale, sustainably, is difficult but it's also what our community supports," they wrote.

What's your initial reaction to the process of using the web to collect these stories?
We created the Agricultural Innovation and Heritage Archive thinking that digital tools and social media could change the tools of the curator (and maybe history itself). In the past, curators independently researched topics and found objects for museum collections largely through personal contacts. Inviting the general public into part of the process is an attractive innovation in collecting history.

So far it seems to be working.

By that, I mean that the public is helping to fill in parts of the story of American agriculture. In her story "Walking the Beans," Sharon C. from Illinois provides interesting insights into an important story that never makes it into the history books. It seems simple but to hear it first hand from a participant is really important.

Sharon even provided a list of her morning activities before walking the beans which, she notes, begins "about daylight:"

1. "Get out of bed.
2. Put on some light weight clothing
3. In kitchen, breakfast, make lunch-get thermos with ice water (very important)
4. Take some cutting device—long handle hoe, or homemade–long handle with cutting device attached for cutting weeds from between plants in each row
5. Get in the truck—Time to head to field and get started"

With each submission of a story from the public, there's always more to learn. What changes have you noticed in agriculture that affect your life, landscape, and what you eat? Do you have stories related to farm auctions, crop insurance, or buying seed? How has your family seen farm financing change?

I hope people will dig into their photo albums, think about their past, and reflect on how agricultural life and work have changed.

One thing that has struck me as I read the entries to the archive is the diversity of agriculture. This sounds silly, of course; I know farming happens in every state of the Union and the experience is broad. But reading these stories makes it more real. It keeps me humble as a curator. We shouldn't just look at big or well-known history, we need to think about everyone's experiences.

What kinds of stories are you looking for?

We want to understand agricultural innovation and many people have responded with stories of change sparked by innovations, inventions, and new processes. Stories about insect proof sprinklers, cow waterbeds, self-propelled sprayers, and crop tracking systems are a testimony to the diversity of American innovations.

Within the theme of innovation, I am less interested in stories that celebrate a particular product or service. Instead, we are interested in the personal experiences related to these innovations. How did they change life on an American farm or ranch? What was the motivation for a new idea? We don't want just new products but how those changes affected people, your community, and you individually.

A photo from Myra G's story

Myra G. in Californian really hit a homerun with her story "Two Generations Realizing the American Dream." Hearing about the relationship between daughter and father and the surprising transfer of knowledge from commercial jewelry manufacturing to salad green production is amazing. For an historian of technology, this looks like a great possible dissertation topic or a fascinating book endeavor. Here's a quote from her story about washing and bagging organic salad greens with the help of her mechanically-savvy father:

"My dad separated our salad packing into individual steps and figured out how to do each one most efficiently. With materials that came mostly from the junkyard, he quickly created a very efficient system: As the washed and dried salad was inspected, it was pushed down into a basket that rested on a scale. The scale was rigged to a bicycle bell that would ring when it hit four ounces so no one had to watch the scale."

Walter P's reminiscence of being sent to his grandparents farm in Pace, Mississippi, is incredibly vivid and moving. Sharecropping is a topic that many historians have examined but this personal perspective of the experience is rarely told. I hope that he can find some photographs of the participants to give it even more power.

"I also remember my day in the sun picking cotton with my grandparents and other pickers dragging a long sack, listening to the work sounds of my African American heritage," wrote Walter. 

Any advice for those who would like to add their story?

I hope to encourage more people to follow the example of people who have submitted oral histories they have collected from friends or community members. This interview with Masa K., a Hawaiian cowboy, is a great example. Get the photo album out of the attic and sit down with a relative or friend and talk about the past. Maybe some teachers can have their classes do this as a project. History is interesting and important. Share those photographs and stories with us. Some will be stories of success, some failures, and some just everyday experiences. We really want to hear about all your personal experiences of farming in America.

Peter Liebhold is the chair and curator of the Division of Work and Industry. Don't forget to share your story with the Agricultural Innovation and Heritage Archive. You can also sign up for e-mail updates. For more background on the project, see Peter's last blog post.

Why we've got "Natitude"

Museum staff flaunted serious "Natitude" last year as we rooted for the Nationals. Why were their wins such a big deal? As Archivist Cathy Keen explains, winning was a new feeling for Washington, D.C., locals.

In 2012, the Nationals had the best record in baseball, and while their World Series hopes ended abruptly and disappointingly in the Division Series, Washington baseball fans celebrated an amazing season. Since moving to Washington from Montreal in 2005, the team did not have a winning season until last year, when, led by Manager Davey Johnson, they finished with 98 wins and 64 losses.

Throughout most of its history, Washington's baseball teams have only rarely enjoyed winning seasons. The American League Washington Nationals who played from 1900-1960, before relocating to the Twin Cities, achieved the feat only 16 times, with their best years falling during the 1910s and 1920s under Managers Clark Griffith and Bucky Harris. The Washington Senators, who played here from 1961-1971 before they were relocated to Texas to become the Rangers, had only one winning season, in 1969, managed by the legendary Ted Williams.

Thirty-three dark years would pass following the 1971 season, before the Nation's Capital saw diamond action again with the Expos' relocation to the District.

1925: A dramatic year for Washington, D.C.'s baseball fans

The year 1925 was one of only three times in which the city of Washington saw its team go to the post season, when they posted a 96 win, 55 loss record. The program illustrated here is from the World Series, in which the American League Nationals (sometimes called the Senators) faced the National League Pittsburgh Pirates, who'd finished with a 95-58 record. There were no divisions within leagues in those days, so teams that won their league's pennant went straight to the World Series.

 

The 1925 American League Champion Washington Nationals. Want to see the details of this image? Check it out on Flickr.

The previous year, Washington had won the only World Series they would ever win, beating John McGraw's New York Giants in seven games. The win in the final game came in sudden death on a hit in the bottom of the 12th inning by Earl McNeely, scoring catcher Muddy Ruel from 2nd base. Ruel had reached base on a double following a dropped foul by the Giants' catcher Hank Gowdy, who'd failed to make the play when he'd tripped on his own mask.

 

The 1925 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates

 

Things looked promising for Washington's team as 1925 World Series began in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field.

Game 1 featured future Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson dominating the Pirates, with Washington winning 4-1. The Pirates took game 2 with a score of 3-2. Washington took a lead of three games to one as the Series came to Washington’s Griffith Stadium for the middle games. They won 4-3 in game 3, and Walter Johnson dazzled fans again in game 4, shutting the Pirates out 4-0 on six hits, with Goose Goslin and Joe Harris each hitting homers. Game 5, in Washington, and Game 6, in Pittsburgh, saw the Pirates come back to tie the Series, with scores of 6-3 and 3-2.

In the final game, Johnson hoped to win three games in one World Series. It was not to be.

The final game, originally scheduled for October 14, was cancelled due to rain, and rescheduled for the 15th, even though conditions on the field were terrible. Author Roger Treat, in Walter Johnson: King of the Pitchers, described the pitching mound as "a quagmire" and compared the playing field to "soft, brown ice cream." Fog, smog and chilly temperatures further complicated things.

 

An endorsement for Griffith Oil featuring Washington's star pitcher Walter Johnson

 

At first, things looked good for the Nationals and dismal for the Pirates as every man in the Washington lineup batted in the top of the first inning and Washington took a 4-0 lead, knocking out Pittsburgh starter Vic Aldridge. An on-and-off drizzle turned into a steady soak as the first inning ended, and intensified as the game progressed. Johnson found it almost impossible to grip the baseball or to throw strikes. The Pirates scored three times in the third inning and another in the fifth, but Washington had scored twice in the fourth.

Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, seated next to team owner Clark Griffith, wanted to stop play but was talked out of it by Griffith. By the 7th inning, with rain falling harder, enough outs had been recorded to make it a legal game, and again Landis made the decision to call the game and let the score stand 6-4 in Washington's favor. Again he was overruled by Griffith, who feared that people would say that the Commissioner gave the series to Washington.

The last of the seventh inning saw Washington lose the lead. It started with an error on a routine pop fly, a disputed call on a line drive (apparently foul but called fair) resulting in a run, and a triple hit by Pie Traynor that he attempted to stretch to a home run. Though out at the plate, he'd driven in the Pirates' 6th run.

Sheets of rain continued to fall.

Shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, who'd committed the error, atoned with a home run in the top of the eighth, but the Nationals' one run lead was brief.

The Pirates tied it 7-7 on a pair of doubles followed by another error by Peckinpaugh that should have been the third out, but instead put a second man on base. A disputed call on the next batter, future Hall of Famer Kiki Cuyler (a ball that appeared to be a third strike, but called a ball) was followed by a double by Cuyler, which scored both runners, giving the Pirates the lead, 9-7, a lead they would hold as three consecutive future Hall of Famers, Sam Rice, Bucky Harris and Goose Goslin, were retired by Pirate reliever John Oldham, with both Rice and Goslin striking out.

The city of Washington would see post season baseball just once more before the 2012 season. In 1933, the World Series was a rematch with their 1924 opponents, the New York Giants. The Senators lost the World Series in five games. That Series also featured several future Hall of Famers, including Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott for the Giants, and for the Senators, Joe Cronin and Heinie Manush.

We're already flaunting our Natitude this season and putting the disappointemnts of past seasons behind us. But all 30 teams begin with a blank slate.

Cathy Keen is an archivist in the museum's Archives Center. This post originally appeared on the Smithsonian Collections Blog. 

In Memoriam: Jane Nebel Henson, 1934-2013

Jane Henson died on April 2, 2013, after a long illness. In today's post, we remember her accomplishments and contributions to this museum. 

Kermit is wearing a black armband in honor of the memory of Jane Nebel Henson. He is on display in "American Stories" on the museum's second floor.

Jane Nebel met Jim Henson in the mid-1950s in a puppetry class when they were students at the University of Maryland. While still undergraduates, they teamed as performers, puppet designers, and puppet builders, eventually developing a group of oddball characters called the Muppets.

The Muppets made their broadcast debut in 1955 on a five-minute program called Sam and Friends, seen in Washington, D.C., on local NBC affiliate WRC-TV. They went on to become an international phenomenon on stage, on TV, and in motion pictures, winning acclaim for their zany sense of humor, a reflection of their creators' perspectives.

Jim and Jane married in 1959 and had five children: Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, John, and Heather. As the Jim Henson organization prospered, Jane was actively involved with a number of Muppet projects, including traveling exhibits and stage shows. In 1992, two years after Jim's death, she founded the Jim Henson Legacy to preserve her husband's work and to promote the art of puppetry.

Jane Henson died on April 2, 2013, after a long illness. She was a generous donor to the collections at this museum. Among her contributions are some of the original Muppets, including the first Kermit the Frog. At a 2010 donation ceremony at the Museum, she remarked how glad she was to have the Muppets back in Washington, D.C., where they first appeared: "Now they get to greet old friends and meet new ones."

Giant grasshoppers plague Kansas!

Sorry. Just an April Fool's Day gag—and there's more where that came from. Curator Shannon Perich shares historic exaggeration photos in the museum's collection.

"We can either laugh about it or cry about it," is an often used platitude to help some cope. We often use humor to deflect and ease painful or uncomfortable situations and these exaggeration postcards were created in that same vein.

 

Ride-Em Cowboy, exaggeration postcard by E.D Conrad, Garden City, KS, 1934 Sent from Ted Warren to Mr. George Layman, Box 68, Newberg, Oregon, postmarked August 9, 1938. The message on the back: "Dear George – Received your card and was glad to hear that you got along so well. You can see by this picture how the grasshoppers grow in Kansas. Ha. Thanks for your card and good luck to you George. So long – Ted Warren."

Clearly manipulated and collaged to create oversized insects, animals and vegetables, these photographic postcards were most popular in the United States between 1900 and 1917. Americans have a history of using tall-tales, like "Johnny Appleseed" and "Babe and the Big Blue Ox" to reinforce ideas that Americans are independent, strong-willed, and can tame any landscape.

 

Harvesting a Profitable Crop of Onions, exaggeration postcard, Wm. H. Martin, published by The North American Post Card Co. Kansas City, U.S.A, 1909

Combining ideas associated with tall-tales making giant grasshoppers and oversized food was one way of easing the farming and economic concerns associated with the Dust Bowl and Depression eras. Some of these exaggeration postcards were used as advertisements, and some were just plain silly.

 

The Bass I Caught, exaggeration postcard, Canadian Postcard Co., Toronto, 1910

Missouri apples, exaggeration postcard, Wm. H. Martin, 1909 Sent from N.E. Hillock to Mrs. Fred Reinhardt, Merriam, Kansas. Postmarked: Lexington, MO, June 24, 1909. Message on the back: "All's well in Lex- I have not forgotten you Lily. But have been so busy and it has been so warm I have never had time to write. But will write soon. With best wishes From N.E. Hillock"

Bringing in the Sheaves, exaggeration postcard, Wm. H. Martin, 1908. Sent from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Wm. Klapper, Cecil, Wisconsin Message. On the back: "Hello there: I am staying with Schatz but I think I will go to N. Dak, there is too many men here looking for work. M.K." In the upper left hand corner is that sentence, "I got here last night." (not dated)

Watermelons grow big in Wash., exaggeration postcard, Wm. H. Martin, 1908, published by The North American Post Card Co. Kansas City, U.S.A. Sent from Arthur Wayne Webber to Miss Clara Hancock, Vincentown, New Jersey. Postmarked Nov 21 , Spokane, WA 1910. Message on the back: "Dear Friend, How's the cranberry business. I work for Chas Whelen Wholesale Comm Spokane Wash. 923 RR Ave. Your th only out of six names that I wrote to. (Please write me) P.S. I’m 19 ½ yrs red hair wght 159"

You Don't Stick These Bunnies in Your Hunting Coat Pocket, exaggeration postcard, F.D. Conrad, 1930s. Message on back: "Let's go rabbit hunting!!!"

Potatoes grow big in our State, exaggeration postcard, Wm. H. Martin, 1908

Shannon Perich is Associate Curator for the Photographic History Collection at the National Museum of American History.

Finding female pioneers in mathematics

Before World War II, few women received PhD's in mathematics. Museum staff and volunteers tracked many of them down, and today we share their collections online.

The focus of Women's History Month this year was the history of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Smithsonian scholars have been pondering the topic for decades. The fruits of their work can be seen in a group of artifacts recently made available online.

Some of the artifacts in the Women Mathematicians and Museum Collections group were collected in connection with a day-long meeting held in August 1981 that honored American women who had received PhD's in mathematics prior to World War II.

 

University of Chicago Mathematics Graduate Students Julia Bower, Abba Newton, and Frances Baker in 1933. Gift of Julia Bower.

In 1886, Columbia University awarded the first PhD in mathematics granted to an American woman, Winifred Edgerton. During the next 40 years, 99 other American women received PhD's in mathematics. One of those who received her degree in 1926 was Christine Ladd-Franklin, who, as Christine Ladd, had completed all the requirements for a PhD at Johns Hopkins in 1882 but was denied the degree solely because she was a woman.

The 1981 meeting honoring women mathematicians was sponsored by the Museum's Division of Mathematics and was presided over by Uta C. Merzbach, then curator of the division. In preparation for the meeting Jeanne LaDuke and I, both mathematics professors and Honorary Research Associates of the division, sent approximately 100 women the information we had collected about them. We asked them to verify, correct, and supplement what we had found, and requested photographs.

About 50 of the questionnaires were returned and these form the basis for the Early Women Doctorates Collection. They also provide personal information that Jeanne LaDuke and I used in our book Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's.

 

Eighteen Women with PhD's in Mathematics at the museum in 1981

Many of the other items in the object group were collected from women who were among the invitees to the meeting. These include items donated by Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, whose distinguished career in computer science began in the Navy; by Sister M. Helen Sullivan, whose career centered around teaching; by Frances E. Baker, who was part of a mathematical family; and by Grace Shover Quinn, who was a friend of Olive C. Hazlett, a leading mathematician of the 1930s.

These women, like mathematicians generally, differed widely in background, interests, and accomplishments.

 

Olive C. Hazlett’s Tenor Recorder. Gift of Grace Shover and Robert Quinn.

Olive Hazlett was interested in music, puzzles, and photography as well as in mathematics. Some of her puzzles are also included in the object group.

 

"Nanoseconds." Gift of Grace Murray Hopper.

Grace Hopper's nanoseconds are pieces of wire that represent the distance an electrical signal travels in a nanosecond—a billionth of a second. In her later years, Hopper lectured widely and distributed thousands of nanoseconds to her listeners. Eventually, she used grains of pepper to represent the distance an electrical signal travels in a picosecond—a trillionth of a second.

Dr. Judy Green is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Marymount University and a Behind-the-Scene Volunteer in Mathematics at the National Museum of American History.