Show proposed national agricultural museum would tell story of the men who have contributed so much to greatness of america her farmers by ELMO SCOTT WATSON relented a by barte western warte union SOME COME day the united states may have a nations national I 1 museum lm ay the he purpose of which will be to tell the story of those americans who since this nation was founded have contributed so much to its prosperity and to its standing as the grant greatest nation on earth those these americans are our farmers when that museum is built a and ad p put u tinto into operation it will not b be e a place of st static abic exhibits a storehouse oi of ancient relies relics in g glass lass c cases a be with written or printed I 1 labels all s to explain their te meaning rang instead J it bwll will be a living v museum in W which h J h pr presents B sell grap graphically lacally n not at 0 only the fialty history of agricultures agri gric iturea cultures past but also the story of its present and its promise for the th future establishment the establishment of such a museum was forecast recently when the national agricultural jefferson Ri bicentenary centenary committee made a pilgrim pilgrimage age to charlottesville lottes ville va th there er e to VI visit the Un university universo ivers ol of vi virginia and ad monticello arginia bud and P pay a y t tribute b te tot to the lieman man who whom claude R secretary rotor 0 agriculture had and chairman of the a committee om cittee characterized as the founder of modern A american agriculture thomas jefferson another speaker on this occasion and the man who made the proposal for a national agricultural r museum was I 1 herbert ER racy A kellar director of the mccormick historical association in chica chicago g 0 S speaking akin g on the subject of living agricultural museums he said in part L let at us consider for a moment moi rient what should be the character of a national agricultural museum it should probably be located in washington in ton or other appropriate place in the united states housed ill in one or more large buildings and surrounded an tided with appropriate landscaping here outdoors outdoor and ral under glass should be shown in andl it tion representative trees shrubs fruits plants flowers and other the vegetation vegetation of the united states the outer walls of the buildings should present has relief showing the evolution of agriculture in this country from the primitive indian culture of the time of first settlement to the mechanized mec hamed farming of the present day on the inner walls 11 should be placed large mura murals 1 a depicting famous agricultural events and scenes beynes thus might be found eli eh whitney experimenting with his cotton gm gin elkanah watson holding io the first agricultural fair cyrus hall H 11 mccormick trying out his first reaper oper or lincoln signing the act creating the land grant colleges of equal interest would wool b be t the portrayal lypor of different types type of tural total operations such as th the production in of 11 wheat beat corn tobacco cut cot LOU ion sugar gar cane rice and it other field crops tin the cultivation of fruits and flowers and the raising of cattle ard and liv livestock stock in addition n to match bould bedat he dat there should be a g gallery all at J of paintings of agricultural lead painting ers am representing a a nug all 11 types of activity A theater should likewise be provided warre lectures music P plays ays ballets and moving pictures at agricultural interest might gh ad be presented dioramas and operating models the evolution of agricultural machinery rural architecture dec clee on far farni regin regions reginius its transportation milling turning tanning meat packing and nd other tapes of processing p should receive separate attention in appropriate exhibits including the use of 1 dior anaa operating mail models old and full sized originals original the m museum u should develop a special 1 1 li i beery include provision for publish bah iah ing magazines aga bul bulletins latine and ad books bouti house e and operate a radio tation station Tri maintain close relations wa with th the set crebs cooperate with the lot land giant colleges a re and possess bass a microfilm and photostat laboratory for reproducing copies of alte literature to I 1 a about the museum as well as i pictures of 0 its exhibits an important part of the museum a should hold d be the exhibits devoted to the a social octal aspect of agricultural it development a the life of the rural people pe bh should id be fully portrayed for a each eh e era ra and for all jeses classes and places the relation of agriculture to ge geology 0 logy geography climate and sous wals entomology biology chem chemis q X ve JA A TRIBUTE TO THE FOUNDER OF MODERN AMERICAN agriculture members of the national agricultural jefferson bicentenary nary committee meeting at in BY the a turned rotunda of the university of virginia in the e background 1 is g statue of thomas jefferson 1 lounder der of 1 the herbert university te ty seated directly behind the speaker at the microphone is herbert A kellar director of the mccormick historical association who on outlined t 11 in ad the PI plans to for a national agricultural raille museum aum try and engineering also merit adequate doli nile attention the national agricultural museum seum should serve ai aa the headquarters of important national farm a organizations Y and provide appo appropriate prism quarters for this pu purpose rade this would add prestige to the institution and increase the op opportunity P forturn ty for service an essential feature feather of the museum u seum would be to as establish close relations Us with c educational d aeu ai institutions and oil organizations 0 on it its part the museum sho should old offer ff general and special courses m the form to of lectures seminars and laboratory research pertaining to various phases of the history ot of agriculture and of technology in this and other countries these courses should be open to the public and qualified students should be permitted to take them for educational credits in addition the museum should provide internship internships intern ships for or individuals ill it desiring to ap specialize eci alize in the h history story 0 of f agriculture an and technology or to learn agricultural museum technique in reciprocity educational agencies should invite members of the museum staff to lecture rod and to give courses to the students of the institutions and to arrange for regular visits of students stude de ta to the museum for the purpose aodie of information and instruction in all the activities of the ands museum a its far facilities I 1 alan should be developed to promote a better understanding stan it ing of damoci democracy cy as illustrated in our agricultural al dev development 71 op ent e these and like act activities tv I 1 ties fully earned carried out would tied undoubtedly justi ty fy the designation ot of th the a natio national al agricultural museum as a living agricultural museum establish branch museums in 11 addition 1 to a national agri agricultural hafl museum located in washington h there should be associated with it branch museums museum at situated in it din IT erent parts ot of the united states these would be of such character as to merit the designation living agricultural museums museum to be an even greater degree than the national institution ution these branch museums should take advantage of the existence in numerous places in this country of notable sites of representative agricultural activities which flourished in a lormer former day and for a caino considerable d life period WIT where ere p pos sible such activities should be recreated a cre ted at the original locations among those which come to mind are the production c of f wheat role corn tobacco cotton rice sugar ug role cane indigo hemp flax vegetables vegetable fruits flowers cattle and livestock dairying stock farming maple sugar augar turpentine and lumbering be A As far as p practical ru c 1 in each dinst instance ce operations erat ions should be b c shown show for several periods period such as a the cola colonial is 1 post revolutionary iante ante helium bellum cv il 11 war Is reconstruction 1 and bar early ly 1 ath child century like likewise a wherever brove e earlier I 1 1 lar periods are B shown hoan some attention should b be a g given iven I 1 to 0 present fil addy y operations to show contrast and evolution contrast coo ean collections a ot physical 0 ob je acts c is such euch as implements and machines should also be assembled where pertinent P to the 4 activity the bonanca wheat farming of the dakotas from the 7 0 a to the SOs has long varn vanished ishad yet we know where the Dalrym ples plas were located and oil have information beat about them the lumber camps of the same pei nod in michigan and biscon wiscon wisconsin an 0 no i longer exist a I 1 yet we have voluminous nto ae records iod of particular v companies 0 in and a few tracts of virgin timber are still standing it would still be possible to acquire wheat land and timber and to reestablish and it oli operate a bonanza wheat farm or em an old time lumber camp there are a not number in bar of 0 well known mb tobacco c a cotton rice and sugar gar g cane plantations in the south bad and cattle r ranches anh as dairies and stock farms in the middle west and west where original ownership of land has passed and original agricultural activities are now changed some of I 1 these could be acquired and reestablished dished I 1 to operate as a formerly in other instances the ownership has changed but the original landholdings have been held together and still produce agricultural crops though not always the same as b before westover and curiae neck nark and claremont CIa remont on the lower james are plantations of this type again there are a surprising number of famous holdings which even today are owned by the same families which were in possession a hun hundred d red or more years ago shir Shi shiriel ley t the he carter cartel estate on an james river polly folly the cochran plantation in augusta august county walnut grove the mccormick farm in rockbridge county and berry barry hill the bruce plantation it near halifax all of which are located in virginia meet this pattern the same is in true of the middleton estate on the cooper river and hampton hall the ru rutledge ledge plan plantation t ai on the santee santa river both in S south 0 nth carolina in louisiana R rose it down own the bowman family estate and d th the C cottage 0 t t go long time residence dence 0 of f the th a bu butlers U ers should be added th the I 1 list Is could b be a considerably 0 n sider ably enlarged in other the cas cases e s such as an mount veto vernon washington was haig a estate stratford the lee plantation tation monticello the residence of jefferson and the hermitage home of andrew jackson memorial associations ciati clat ons ions operate these places a as museums with major attention given to the main in dwellings dwelling the notional national park service operates wakefield the washington house and arlington the lee residence as well as other well wall known places place in kee keeping P ing with the establishment of branch bl anh agricultural gro museums a basa m various r a parts fix of the united states it would be appropriate to set act up el a Jef jefferson filom agricultural memorial association which might operate in connection with the thomas jefferson memorial foundation at monticello shadwell poplar forest or other places directly associated with jefferson on one or more of these original jefferson plantations two types of activities might be on display one would be to carry out and reproduce the agricultural expel experiments recorded by jefferson I 1 in his garden carden book and his farm book including ills his development and trial of the moldboard plow A a second secand would be to re relate late these early e a to the latest and most advanced tig d agricultural cultural experiments of the arese prese present n t day set up side by mile aide on the same plantation they would ee 1 d provide striking contrast between tw n the early time and today and would indicate the evolution ot I 1 agriculture uh in the united states |