Correspondence, 1954

Contains correspondence between individuals and employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) involved in the Screwworm Eradication Program, as well as between program employees and individuals outside of the USDA. Correspondence within the USDA covers discussions regarding the evolution of the eradication effort from surveying the extent of the screwworm infestation across the southeastern United States to the eradication experiments in Curacao to the development of the eradication program in Florida. A substantial amount of the correspondence is between program employees and outside entities, including employees of other government agencies, state officials, university professors, and staff of private companies that developed and marketed treatments for the eradication of the screwworm. The correspondence takes the form of both typed and hand-written letters, memorandum, and telegrams. The series is arranged chronologically by date. Some items of various dates are grouped together in their original order to retain the thread of discussion. These groups are arranged chronologically by the earliest letter. Photocopies of the remaining correspondence in the group are placed in their proper chronological order throughout the series. There are also photocopies of correspondence from other series chronologically arranged within Series I.