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Alfred H. Baumhover Papers
Scope and Contents
The collection spans the years 1917 to 2002, and contains materials relating to Baumhover's involvement in the screwworm eradication through his work as a field entomologist and as a consultant. There are personal work records, research data, correspondence, memoranda, meeting materials, reports, publications, photographs, and ephemera.
The bulk of the materials relate to the screwworm eradication efforts in several geographical locations. The majority of the materials correlate to the Southeast and Southwest regions of the United States. Materials pertaining to varying screwworm research projects can be found in Correspondence (Series II), Memoranda (Series III), Research Data (Series V) and Reports (Series VI). Baumhover's personal work records can be found in Series I. The Public Information materials (Series VIII) include items produced by both federal and state governments for public education on the screwworm eradication efforts. In this series, one can find USDA publications, bulletins, press releases, and advertisements regarding the screwworm eradication efforts. Fly release cartons can be found in Series XI.
In addition to doing research, Baumhover attended conferences, programs, and dedication ceremonies regarding the screwworm eradication program (Series IV). Photographs from these meetings, as well as ones which depict research, can be found in Series X. Baumhover's writings, along with the manuscripts he reviewed or received, can be found in Series VII. Personnel directories are in Series IX.
Baumhover was involved in the screwworm eradication efforts during the same time that Raymond C. Bushland, Edward Fred Knipling, Arthur W. Lindquist, and Andrew J. Graham were participating in screwworm research. One can find correspondence, memoranda, and reports from these individuals. In addition, one can find reports from scientists Wesley G. Bruce, Billy Gene Hightower, and Donald E. Hopkins, among others.
Dates
- Creation: 1949-1997
Conditions Governing Access
Contact Special Collections for access.
Biographical Sketch
Alfred H. Baumhover was born on June 12, 1921, and raised on the family farm in Carroll, Iowa. At the age of 16, he assumed the responsibility of running the farm after his father suffered an accident. Nevertheless, Baumhover pursued his education and received his bachelor of science from Iowa State College in 1949.
Upon graduation, Baumhover went to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). He spent two years as the area supervisor of the USDA Grasshopper Control Division in Great Falls, Montana. In 1951, his position was abolished due to the commercial availability of insecticides for grasshoppers. Baumhover chose to join Raymond C. Bushland and work on farm pests at the USDA's new laboratory in Kerrville, Texas.
Baumhover arrived when the finishing touches were being completed on Edward Fred Knipling's Sterilized Insect Technique (SIT), an autocidal theory of total insect population management, to be tested on the screwworm. The screwworm is a notorious flesh eating parasite of warm blooded mammals. Baumhover became the lead field agent for the experimental efforts to control the screwworm. His base of operations was transferred from Texas to Florida. From there, he worked on the Sanibel Island, Florida, tests and was selected to lead the landmark Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, Experiment in 1954, which proved the efficacy of SIT. For his part in the eradication of screwworms on Curacao, Baumhover was conferred knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1955 by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
After Curacao, Baumhover returned to Florida to participate in the successful screwworm eradication efforts there and across the Southeast United States. By 1959, screwworms had been eradicated from that region. He then went to Texas to participate in the even more daunting anti-screwworm campaign in the Southwest United States. Even though the Southwest was declared screwworm free in 1966, it was not until 1982 that eradication truly occurred. In 1964, Baumhover accepted a position with the USDA's Tobacco Insects Investigations and continued there until his retirement to Minnesota on February 4, 1984. Throughout his tenure with the Tobacco Insects Investigations, Baumhover continued to serve as a consultant for the screwworm eradication campaign.
Timeline of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Screwworm Research Highlights
- 1858
- First reported screwworm cases on Devil's Island, French Guiana
- 1933
- Emory Clayton Cushing and Walter S. Patton recognized screwworm fly as its own species, Cochliomyia hominivorax (different from the blowfly species)
- 1934
- USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) established research station at Valdosta, Georgia (closed 1936) to conduct research on screwworms by scientists Ernest William Laake and Edward Fred Knipling
- 1935
- ARS secured funding for research on screwworms. Raymond C. Bushland began research on artificial diets for rearing screwworms
- 1937
- Bushland and Knipling are transferred to ARS laboratory in Menard, Texas. Bushland began research on controlling screwworms through chemical means. Knipling began research on sterile male technique, an autocidal theory of total insect population management
- 1938
- USDA developed Smear 62, an insecticidal wound treatment
- 1939
- Bushland is transferred to Orlando, Florida, to conduct research on mosquito control
- 1940
- Knipling is transferred to Orlando, Florida, to conduct research on insects affecting man
- 1946
- Bushland transferred to ARS laboratory in Kerrville, Texas. Knipling transferred to USDA-ARS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
- 1950
- Arthur W. Lindquist introduced Knipling to Hermann Joseph Muller's research on genetic mutations in fruit flies by radiation. Bushland and Donald E. Hopkins began tests on sterilization of screwworms using radiation.
- 1951
- Alfred H. Baumhover arrived at Kerrville, Texas, to work on screwworm eradication using sterile male technique. Sanibel Island, Florida, was the first field test to use the sterile male technique.
- 1954
- Baumhover traveled to Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, and began successful screwworm eradication campaign using sterile male technique
- 1955
- Baumhover returned to Orlando, Florida, to work on eradication of screwworms from the Southeast United States. Mass rearing techniques were developed.
- 1955-1957
- A mass fly production facility for rearing screwworms is built in Bithlo, Florida. Screwworms successfully eradicated in a 2000 square mile field test area near Orlando, Florida.
- 1958
- ARS built mass fly production facility near Sebring, Florida
- 1959
- Screwworms successfully eradicated from the Southeast United States
- 1962
- ARS Southwest United States screwworm eradication program began with flies produced at the Kerrville, Texas, ARS laboratory. Mass production facility built at Mission, Texas.
- 1963
- ARS developed program specializations. Billy Gene Hightower studied screwworm ecology in Texas. Alfred H. Baumhover studied sterile fly distribution. Leo E. LaChance studied screwworm genetics. Maxwell M. Crystal studied chemosterilants.
- 1964
- Baumhover transferred to Oxford, North Carolina, to work with the Tobacco Insects Investigations
- 1966
- USDA declared screwworms eradicated from Southwest United States, except Texas continued to be infested until 1982. United States and Mexico conducted a feasibility survey for a screwworm eradication program in Mexico, which resulted in the establishment of a screwworm eradication program in Mexico.
- 1974
- The Lincoln-Eden Report, "The Southwestern Screwworm Eradication Program: A Review," is published. Charles G. Lincoln and William Gibbs Eden were tasked with evaluating the Southwestern United States Screwworm Eradication program after poor results spanning 1972-1974. They concluded that the program was a success despite some minor faults and the research should continue.
- 1977
- The ARS Screwworm Research Unit relocated from the Mission, Texas, laboratory to a sterile fly production facility near Tuxtla Gutierrez in Chiapas, Mexico
- 1984
- A new gelled diet is developed by ARS for use in mass rearing screwworms
- 1990
- "Severn Run's Cazador," a German wirehaired pointer, is trained by John Bertram Welch to detect screwworm larvae and screwworm infested animals
- 1991
- Mexico was declared screwworm free
- 1994
- Screwworms eradicated from Belize and Guatemala. Panama City, Republic of Panama, became the headquarters for the USDA-ARS Screwworm Research Unit.
- 1995
- Screwworms eradicated from El Salvador
- 1996
- Screwworms eradicated from Nicaragua
- 1999
- Screwworms eradicated from Honduras
- 2000
- Costa Rica declared screwworm free
Total Size of Collection
24 letter_document_box
1 half_letter_document_box
2 legal_document_box
1 half_legal_document_box
2 boxes (1 box, 22.2.5 x 15.25 x 2; 1 box, 30.5 x 24.5 x 3)
17 Linear Feet (30 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Content Description
The Alfred H. Baumhover Papers include reports, correspondence, publications, public information materials, photographs, awards, notes, and artifacts. Baumhover collected the materials during his involvement in the eradication of the screwworm from the United States and the island of Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles.
Baumhover (b. 1921), an entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is known for his contributions to the screwworm eradication programs of the 1950s and 1960s. He began his career in 1949 in the USDA Grasshopper Control Division and worked with Raymond Bushland in Texas studying agricultural pests. Bushland and Edward F. Knipling were preparing to begin field experimentation on their sterile insect technique for biological control of screwworm infestation. Baumhover became the lead field agent of these experiments. In 1954, he led the program in Curacao that eradicated screwworms from the island. For this work, he was knighted by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Baumhover also worked with the screwworm eradication programs in the Southeast and Southwest United States. Although he continued to advise the screwworm program throughout his career, Baumhover worked primarily with tobacco insect research from 1963 until his retirement.
Alternate Call Number
aSF810 .S3 B38
Accruals
This is a growing collection.
Bibliography
The following sources were used to write the biographical sketch, historical sketch, and the scope and content sections:
- Baumhover, A.H. "A Personal Account of Programs to Eradicate the Screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, in the United States and Mexico with Special Emphasis on the Florida Program." Accessed October 3, 2005 from http://www.flaentsoc.org/webbaum/baumhover.html.
- Baumhover, Alfred H., Papers: Screwworm Eradication Program Records. Manuscript Collection 266. Special Collections, National Agricultural Library.
- Oral Histories: Screwworm Eradication Program Records. Manuscript Collection 305. Special Collections, National Agricultural Library.
- Screwworm Research Unit. "History of USDA-ARS Screwworm Research and the USDA-ARS Screwworm Research Unit." Accessed October 3, 2005.
Genres
agricultural art and memorabilia, photographs
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- The papers were donated to Special Collections, National Agricultural Library on November 25, 2002. Description and processing of the collection was initiated by Sarah Durling, a graduate student in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland, June 2004. Processing and production of the finding aid were completed by Kate Richards, Project Manager, October 2005.
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the National Agricultural Library Special Collections Repository
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Avenue
Room 309
Beltsville Maryland 20705 USA
301-504-5876