Series IV. Miscellaneous, 1910 - 1930

The 26 photograph albums that compose the USDA Agricultural Research Service Photographs of Poultry and Livestock reflect a small portion of the output of USDA photographers and agents as they helped to document research and promote agricultural advancement during the first part of the twentieth century. The photographs are black and white with identifying captions, arranged in groupings of four per page, and were taken between the 1920s and 1940s.

The majority of the photographs were taken on the farms located at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Maryland from the 1920s to the 1930s. These albums provide an excellent visual overview of activities and developments at one of the world’s premier research farms during the first half of the twentieth century. Many of the pictures include significant background detail on farm life and human activity beyond the experimental arena. Other locations on which the pictures were taken include USDA sites, related commercial enterprises, farms, and arenas across the United States, as well as Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

Many of the pictures were used for the USDA's educational outreach. They appeared as part of slide displays and in USDA publications, such as the Farmers' Bulletins. Individual photographs within the albums are typically described on standard form A.H. Form 133 and identified by a distinct File Number.

As shown in the Series Description that follows, the albums are grouped under four topics: Poultry, Sheep, Swine, and Miscellaneous, which includes cattle and exhibits. Pictures do not necessarily follow a chronological pattern. Instead, they may be organized according to an underlying theme, event, or slide presentation. Sample sub-topics include: purebred versus mixed breeds, feeding grounds, procedures for preparing carcasses, experiments, diseases and defects, exhibits, posters, charts, plans, and machinery. Though classification sheets included in the front of every album show that there were once over a hundred albums; only 26 are extant and have been accessioned by NAL.