Description: This is a color print illustrating a pamphlet of the Warder, Bushnell & Glessner Company, ca. 1889-1893. The company, based in Springfield, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois, manufactured Champion harvesting machinery. The print depicts the exterior of their Springfield factory. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02732
Subjects: Agricultural machinery; Ohio Economy--Agriculture; Manufacturing industries--Ohio; Factories
Places: Springfield (Ohio); Clark County (Ohio)
 

Description: These two cartoons appeared in "The Ohio Farmer" on September 12 and 26, 1936. In the first, an elderly farmer rejects a salesman's corn harvesting machine in favor of an old-fashioned corn knife. He is unwilling to spend money "just to save a little work." At the end of an exhausting day in the fields, he has reconsidered and is calling the salesman to buy the machine. In the second cartoon, the same farmer and his two helpers are breaking their backs digging potatoes until he decides to buy a mechanized potato digger. Though still horse-drawn, this bit of technology makes his day much easier. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: 630_5_Oh5_v178_01
Subjects: Farming; Agricultural machinery; Agriculture--Ohio; Crops; Harvesting;
Places: Ohio
 

Description: This photograph shows a group of men at harvest time on the Goodhold farm in Mentor, Ohio, in the 1930s, and documents the increasing mechanization of farming that took place in the 20th century. Although horses were still being used as motive power for the wagons to bring wheat from the fields, steam power is being used for threshing, the process of separating the wheat from the chaff. This photograph was to be included in the Cleveland Guide, one of several guides on selected American cities to be published by the Federal Writers' Project. The Federal Writers' Project was a Depression-era program created to employ writers, under the umbrella of the Works Progress Administation. Most of the work for the Cleveland Guide was complete when the program was abolished in 1943, but the Cleveland Guide was not published. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1038AV_B01F04_01
Subjects: Agriculture--Ohio; Agricultural machinery; Farming; Federal Writers' Project;
Places: Mentor (Ohio); Lake County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph is part of a series of photographs taken by the Ohio Department of Agriculture documenting farms in Ohio. This photograph shows a barn and a horse-drawn machine on the Blackford farm owned by Frank Blackford near Eldorado, Ohio. Blackford owned about 200 acres of land, 47 of which were rented to other farmers. The Ohio Department of Agriculture records that the farm was in poor condition, particularly the fences and crops. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA726AV_B01F27_004_1
Subjects: Agriculture--Ohio; Farming; Barns; Rural Life; Agricultural machinery
Places: Eldorado (Ohio); Preble County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of men threshing hay, taken by James B. Scott of Circleville, Ohio. The photographer provided a caption reading: "Miami Valley Thresher's Steam Show and Reunion - Madison Co. Fairgrounds - London, Ohio." The image was one of ten to win Honorable Mention in the Amateur category of the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photo Contest. In August 1976, the Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Committee (OARBAC) began the Spirit of Ohio Bicentennial Photo Contest as part of a larger effort in Ohio to celebrate the 1976 American Bicentennial. The contest was meant to document "the spirit and character of the people and places which represent Ohio during [the] bicentennial year," and to create a permanent photographic archive of the year's festivity for use by future researchers. Both professional and amateur photographers submitted over 500 photographs for consideration, all taken within the state between January 1 and December 31, 1976. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA2734AV_B01_04
Subjects: American Revolution Bicentennial (1976); Agriculture--Ohio; Farming; Wheat; Harvesting; Agricultural machinery;
Places: Circleville (Ohio); Pickaway County (Ohio); London (Ohio); Madison County (Ohio)
 

Description: Mowing clover in non-tilled corn field, at author and conservationist Louis Bromfield's Malabar Farm, Richland County, Ohio, ca. 1950-1959. Bromfield (1896-1956) received the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Early Autumn" in 1927 and wrote 30 best-selling books during his 32-year literary career. In 1939, he created his dream, Malabar Farm, where he could demonstrate sound soil and water conservation practices and teach others about sustainable agriculture. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00644
Subjects: Agricultural machinery; Ohio Economy--Agriculture; Malabar Farm
Places: Lucas (Ohio); Richland County (Ohio)
 

Description: Plowing lines for planting at author-conservationist Louis Bromfield's Malabar Farm, Richland County, Ohio, ca. 1940-1949. Bromfield (1896-1956) received the Pulitzer Prize for his book "Early Autumn" in 1927 and wrote 30 best-selling books during his 32-year literary career. In 1939, he created his dream, Malabar Farm, where he could demonstrate sound soil and water conservation practices and teach others about sustainable agriculture. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00645
Subjects: Agricultural machinery; Ohio Economy--Agriculture; Malabar Farm
Places: Lucas (Ohio); Richland County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows a man milking a cow by means of a milking machine on a dairy farm in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Such machines were part of an overall mechanization of agriculture that began in the 19th century and continued to increase throughout the 20th century. Milking machines meant that farmers could milk cows more quickly. This streamlining of the milking process allowed some farmers to acquire more cows and to sell more milk to commercial dairies. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B06F02_016_1
Subjects: Agriculture--Ohio; Dairy cattle; Dairy industry; Livestock; Agricultural machinery
Places: Tuscarawas County (Ohio)
 

Description: The postwar era brought about great advancements in farming technology, including the corn combine seen here, photographed by Joe Munroe in 1975. These technologies led to greater yields from the land and increased production. Thanks to these advancements, corn production grew from 3 million bushels a year in the 1940s to 6 million bushels a year by 1975 . Joe Munroe's career began in 1939 at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He served in the Air Force during World War II and then joined Cincinnati-based Farm Quarterly magazine. Though raised in Detroit, agriculture became an important subject of Joe's photographs. He moved to California in 1955 and free-lanced, taking magazine assignments and selling his own work. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: P400_B11_F01_001
Subjects: Joe Munroe; Corn; Agricultural technologies; Corn harvesting machinery; Farm equipment
Places: Grand Island (Nebraska)