The organized corn husking contests: conduits of industrial culture in the rural Midwest, 1922-1941

The organized corn husking contests of the 1920s and 1930s facilitated the spread of scientific farming methods and contributed to farmers\u27 increased reliance on scientists, technicians, and agribusiness suppliers. The efforts of agricultural leaders, bolstered by the enthusiastic boosterism of midwestern towns, made the corn husking contests annual composite snapshots of the growing industrialism in agriculture and rural life through this period of time. The associational relationships developed through participation in the corn husking contests encouraged rural residents to adopt the values, beliefs, methods, and technology of industrial culture;The groups that organized and sponsored the corn husking contests and the rural people who participated in them are the main focus of this study: the midwestern farm journal editors, agricultural extension agents, agricultural college scientists and the staff of experiment stations, manufacturers of agricultural machines, members of Chambers of Commerce and other civic groups of small midwestern towns, and individual farmers. Corn culture was the glue that held these groups together. Each group had a unique interest in the corn husking contests and was able to realize this interest because of the diversity of activities involved in planning, preparing, advertising, and holding the contests. In spite of their individual motivations, these contest sponsors shared a common, industrialized, vision of Midwestern agriculture, a vision based on organizational association, efficient methods of production, and the application of modern science and technology

The Upland Monitor: September 2, 1915

The September 2, 1915 edition of The Upland Monitor.https://pillars.taylor.edu/monitor-1915-1916/1038/thumbnail.jp

Spartan Daily, February 10, 1937

Volume 25, Issue 78https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/2563/thumbnail.jp

Junior agricultural extension work

Typescript

Making machines of animals: the international livestock exposition, 1900-1920

This dissertation examines the establishment and influence of the International Livestock Exposition, an annual show that began in Chicago in 1900 and that served as the central hub of the national livestock improvement movement. Industrial meatpacking firms and land-grant university professors worked together to transform the genetic composition and physiology of American meat-producing animals. Packers hosted the Exposition at the Union Stockyards to address market irregularities in quality and supply. University researchers intended to solve a larger set of problems that included rural population decline, the need for more food output to feed a growing population, and diminishing soil fertility. These unlikely partners created the International to eliminate inferior, or “scrub,” livestock. The International played a pivotal role in remaking livestock genotypes and phenotypes. Its organizers and participants favored “improved” animals descended from purebred, British livestock with recorded ancestries—a preference rooted in the reformers’ pseudo-scientific belief in eugenics. Purebred animals had standard bodies with a narrow set of physiological outcomes, which amounted to biotic technology. But genetic homogeneity was only a building block for improvement. The International also employed contests, demonstrations, and advocacy to reconfigure American livestock by making them smaller, more compact, and early-maturing. This study also analyzes the larger shift in American agriculture toward the Corn Belt model of grain feeding. Treating animals as dynamic historical agents, it suggests that machinery, tractors, seeds, and implements did not alone accomplish the industrialization of agriculture. Meat-producing cattle, sheep, and pigs were a requisite component in an emerging industrial sequence. These grain-fed modern livestock and their farmer caretakers fit into a developing web of mutually dependent agricultural specialists. The International united this movement into a singular body at the end of each year in Chicago, and in the process, shaped American agricultural practices and encouraged farm specialization until the show closed in 1975. Sources consulted include land-grant university research and publications, meatpacker records and propaganda, and newspaper and agricultural journal articles

Santa Fe New Mexican, 06-19-1912

https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/sfnm_news/1861/thumbnail.jp

Farmers' Week, January 3-7, 1916

The University of Missouri presents herewith the complete schedule of the Farmers' Short Course together with announcements of the meetings of various state associations and a forecast of the evening programs-all making up what is fitly known as "Farmers' Week."--Page 3

Prospectus, October 25, 1978

HAPPY HALLOWEEN; Editorial ---- Is bookstore nonprofit?; Tobacco chewers. a minority; Gaybars, no interest to straights; letters to the editor: Bulldozed trees anger teacher; Bridge tourney to be Dec. 7; PC debaters attend tourney; Foreign language clubs have dinner; Parkland activities for Oct. 25-31; Christie hosts program; Final night for mime workers; PC speech team places tenth; Visitation day set at Parkland; PC board meeting: Parkland is in top ten in financial aid provided; Dance held for shelter; Illinois harvest \u2778; After the Illinois Harvest; Unspectacular season; Halloween gained popularity by potato famine; PC to celebrate Halloween; Women\u27s program is a success; African student gives his opinions of America; WPCD Top Ten Singles, Top Five Albums, Top Five Country Singles; Electronic club visits computer of Busey Bank; Free Classifieds; Tourney is this weekend; Little Feat better than ever; Volleyball to play six games; CC to run at state; Hartman places 3rd; Fast Freddy Contest; Seven score perfect in Fast Freddyhttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1978/1006/thumbnail.jp