., 1940

The Class File consists of articles, unpublished and published papers, research notes, bibliographies, clippings, obituaries, book reviews, serials, reports, pamphlets, booklets, conference programs, correspondence, memoranda, maps, charts, postcards, curricula vitae, and photographs. The items date from the early 19th to the late 20th century, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1900 to 1995. Records dating before 1900 are generally copies or transcriptions. Most materials are in English although there are some items in Spanish, French, German, Italian, and other languages.

This file was started by historian and editor Everett E. Edwards in the 1920s and maintained by the staff of the Agricultural and Rural History Section (ARH) until the mid-1990s. It covers agricultural and rural history in a more general way than the Documentary Files (filed in Series I), which concentrate on the work of the USDA.

The focus of the Class File is primarily the United States, but there are also files relating to the history of agriculture throughout the world. Headings such as Primitive agriculture, Roman agriculture, Prehistory, and the names of more than forty foreign counties can be found in the folder list. Among the headings for individuals and agricultural subjects, there are about 45 state names; entries for ethnic and religious groups, such as Hispanic Americans, Amish, and Quakers; wars: Civil War, Revolutionary War, and World War II; and the names of serials and other publications, including the Living Historical Farms Bulletin, The Palimpsest, and The Digest.

Subjects with substantial amounts of material include Cattle, Cooperatives, Corn, Cotton, Dairying, Machinery, Museums, Tobacco and Wheat. There are significant collections of writings by G. E. Fussell, Paul W. Gates, T. Swann Harding, Arthur G. Peterson, and Ulrich Bonnell Phillips.

A number of folders contain information on George Washington and on Thomas Jefferson, focusing largely, but not exclusively, on their agricultural interests. The Jefferson material is extensive and includes excerpts from his writings on gardens, farming, and Virginia; excerpts from his autobiography; a copy of his published will; and transcriptions of correspondence with many individuals, including James Madison, Thomas Mann Randolph (Jefferson's son-in-law), and Dr. John P. Emmett, Natural History professor at the University of Virginia. In some letters Jefferson is neither the writer nor the addressee, although the correspondents are generally Jefferson's contemporaries.

There is also correspondence and other records about the celebration of the Jefferson Bicentennial, including the April 13, 1944, "Pilgrimage" to Monticello; information on Monticello and the Jefferson Memorial; and photographs and diagrams of his plow mold-board. An original manuscript letter dated December 1800 from John Sinclair, which does not, however, mention Jefferson by name, was found among the correspondence. This has been moved to Series X, Historical Manuscripts.

There is one folder containing copies of correspondence of Dr. George Washington Carver, with Dr. C. L. Shear of the USDA, and others.

Over one cubic foot of photographs were included in the Class File. The bulk of these were filed under the heading "Photographs, [subject]," but a number were found in other folders throughout the series. These have been separated and filed in Series VII, subseries 1. The folder titles indicate that they were removed from Series II and include the name of the original folder. The photographs include images of USDA buildings, portraits of prominent individuals in USDA and agricultural history, photographs of animals and agricultural commodities, and general historical images.