This guide describes manuscript and
archival resources documenting the history of agriculture and rural life held by the Iowa
State University Library’s Special Collections Department. Since the
Department’s beginnings in 1969, agriculture has been a central focus
of its manuscript collections and the university archives. The Department
collects nationally with regard to the records of agricultural and
scientific organizations; its central core of collections documents
agriculture in the Midwest, and more specifically in Iowa.
The Department currently holds over
700
collections (as of 2004) relating to agriculture and the majority are described in this guide. They are
divided into fifteen categories: business, agribusiness, and marketing; cooperatives;
engineering and technology; extension; farmers and farming; farmers organizations and
protest groups; government agencies and public officials; historians and social
scientists; journalism and broadcasting; producer and distributor organizations;
professional and scientific organizations; scientists and scientific research; soil,
water, and wildlife conservation; town and rural life; and veterinary medicine and animal
welfare.
USAIN Project:
The Iowa State University Library also participated in a U.S.
Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) Preservation project to
identify rural life literature in the state of Iowa. Please see:
Iowa Agriculture and Rural Life: A Bibliography of Materials
Published Between 1836 and 1945 (Published by the Iowa State
University Library, 2004) (pdf)