U.S. Agricultural History: A Guide to Information Sources

Excerpts from the Introduction: The history of agriculture in the United States is fascinating from so many aspects, including agronomic, business, demographic, economic, ethnic, horticultural, international trade, political, scientific, and sociological aspects. This resource guide is designed to help the interested researcher uncover sources for his or her U.S. agricultural history research project. The guide presents a wide range of sources, many from the collection of the USDA’s National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland, but it is intended for use by researchers everywhere. The guide is not limited to information about production agriculture, but includes titles concerning horticulture, forestry, and rural life, as well as all types of farming. The guide is organized by type of resource: guides to the literature, organizations, chronologies, printed and online library catalogs, bibliographies, reference books, indexes and abstracts, periodicals, books, and electronic resources. Most of the titles listed under “Books” date from 1999, and were found mainly by searching the National Agricultural Library’s AGRICOLA catalog and the journal Agricultural History. National Agricultural Library call numbers are included when available. Additional resources were searched to compile the items in other categories, and some older items were included.