USDA Bureau of Animal Industry Photograph Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS0178

Staff Only

Content Description

The USDA Bureau of Animal Industry Photograph Collection, also known as the Animal Science Institute (ASI) Archives, comprises black-and-white photographs, 531 glass negatives, and 1,220 acetate negatives of images covering many aspects of animal production. Subjects include animal anatomy, animal housing, products such as wool, meat processing procedures and equipment, cuts of beef, animal diseases, and research laboratories. Photographs document people involved in the work of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). The collection includes photographs of border patrol, quarantine, and vaccination efforts against foot-and-mouth disease along the United States-Mexico border.

Dates

Creation: 1913-1959

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Organizational History

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) was established in 1884. It combined responsibilities from the Veterinary Division that had been established a year earlier, and also from the program of the Treasury Department that regulated animal transportation. The BAI was the first bureau established in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The bureau placed its early emphasis on combating communicable livestock diseases that caused problems in cattle trade and production. The bureau was also responsible for enforcing the federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906. The BAI created two divisions for this task: one to conduct meat inspection and the other to oversee animal quarantine.

Throughout its history, the BAI had many other important divisions. Most notable of these were Animal Husbandry, Animal Nutrition, Animal Pathology, Dairy, and Zoological. These divisions were responsible for many facets of animal industry, including research, disease eradication, breeding, inspection, and marketing of animal products. As the research needs of the bureau changed, so did the divisions; many of them changed names and/or merged with others.

In 1942, BAI was placed under the Agricultural Research Administration, which was created to consolidate the work of the USDA's major bureaus. In 1953, the USDA established the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), which abolished the bureau system. The functions of the BAI were transferred to various branches of ARS, mostly to the branches of Animal Inspection and Quarantine, and Animal Disease Eradication. The majority of the original functions of the BAI are now the responsibility of Veterinary Services, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).