Clair Elman Terrill Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS0251

Staff Only

Content Description

The Clair Elman Terrill Collection contains proofs and photographs for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) bulletins and circulars, sheep and goat registry and breeding records, a card catalog of publications on rabbits, and black and white photographs of rabbits and related subjects. There are papers related to the U.S. Rabbit Experiment Station in Fontana, California, and the U.S. Fur Experiment Station in Ithaca, New York. Also included are photographs, glass and acetate negatives, equipment, and wool samples used in Hardy's work for the U.S. Animal Husbandry Experiment Station (part of the USDA Division of Animal Husbandry) and his thin cross-section device. There are records of the Sheep and Fur Animal Research Branch, Animal Husbandry Division, Agricultural Research Service. Additionally, the collection contains over 200 wool samples from 1950 to 1960 labeled with sheep identification number, location, and date. Samples were obtained in Beltsville, Maryland, and other locations in the United States.

Dates

Creation: 1912-1978
Creation: Majority of material found within 1930s-1960s

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Biographical Sketch

Clair Elman Terrill (1910-2001), a worldwide leader in sheep production research, was the chief of USDA's Sheep and Fur Animal Research Branch, Animal Husbandry Division, Agricultural Research Service, from 1955 to 1972. He developed a strategy for increasing the efficiency of meat production from sheep without increasing feed demands, which consisted of a three-pronged approach: genetically increasing the birth rate, removing low-producing adults at an early age, and reducing lamb mortality.

Total Size of Collection

30 records_box

1 letter_document_box

52 boxes (4 boxes, 24.75 x 20.75 x 1.5; 3 boxes, 4.75 x 10.75 x 4.5; 27 boxes, 8.5 x 12 x 5.5; 4 boxes, 6.5 x 12 x 4.5; 7 boxes, 5.5 x 12 x 3.25; 3 boxes, 6.25 x 12 x 9.25; 2 boxes, 8 x 12 x 5.75; 1 box, 5.5 x 12 x 6.25; 1 box, 4.5 x 8 x 5.75)

66 Linear Feet (83 boxes)