USDA National Agricultural Library History Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS0113

Staff Only

Content Description

The USDA National Agricultural Library History Collection includes correspondence, reports, regulations, agreements, budget hearings, clippings, articles, newsletters, manuals, and photographs on library-related activities. Of particular note are the records from 1907 to 1940, when Claribel R. Barnett was not only head librarian for the USDA library, but she was also active in library-related organizations. The archival material includes papers relating to past directors of the library, such as Ralph Robert Shaw (1940-1954), Foster E. Mohrhardt (1954-1968), and John Sherrod (1968-1973).

Dates

Creation: 1867-2016
Creation: Majority of material found within 1867-1980

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Organizational History

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the act that established the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). One year later, through a donation of over 1,000 volumes of agriculture-related materials from the Agricultural Division of the U.S. Patent Office, the library mandated by the act establishing the USDA came to life. The purpose of the library was to gather agricultural information from a wide array of sources and make it available to the people of the United States. In the century that followed, the library was located in various USDA buildings in Washington, D.C. Also during this time, the library employed a succession of librarians who were recognized leaders in their profession.

In 1962, Secretary of Agriculture Orville J. Freeman named the USDA's library the National Agricultural Library (NAL). This designation placed the library alongside the other national libraries, and also affirmed its distinction as one of the world's foremost institutes of agricultural information. In 1960, plans were begun to build a new dedicated facility for the library. In 1969, the NAL moved from the USDA South Building in Washington, D.C. to its new site and current location, the Abraham Lincoln Building in Beltsville, Maryland.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, NAL developed many agriculture-related information resources and centers. Notable among these resources were the Dictionary Catalog of the National Agricultural Library, 1862-1965; the National Agricultural Library Catalog, 1966-1970; CAIN (CAtaloging and INdexing) and CAIN-ON-LINE (later renamed AGRICOLA); and the Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC).

Total Size of Collection

34 records_box

60 letter_document_box

2 flat_pamphlet_box

19 boxes (5 boxes, 15.5 x 10.5 x 3; 2 boxes, 12 x 10.5 x 3.5; 1 box, 18.75 x 15 x 3; 1 box, 12 x 10.75 x 8.75; 1 box, 28.75 x 22.75 x 3; 2 boxes, 24.75 x 20.75 x 1.5; 6 boxes, 5.25 x 12 x 10.5; 1 box, 25.25 x 19.25 x 2.5)

95 Linear Feet (118 boxes is total entered in Access, but the subtotals of box types add up to 115)