USDA Forage Crop Investigations Notebooks

Collection

Identifier: MS0325

Staff Only

Content Description

The USDA Forage Crop Investigations Notebooks consist of field notes written by William J. Morse from 1909 to 1930 while he was working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forage Crop Investigations. There are 55 handwritten ledgers documenting Morse's discoveries of foreign plants throughout his international travels. Almost half of the field notes relate to the Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition of 1929 to 1931. See also the Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition Collection (collection number MS 51) for journals and photograph albums related to the expedition.

Dates

Creation: 1909-1930
Creation: Majority of material found within 1929-1931

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Organizational History

William J. Morse (1884-1959) was a soybean specialist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of Forage Crops. He was a junior team member on the Dorsett-Morse Oriental Agricultural Exploration Expedition and was charged with the collection of soybean materials.

The Division of Forage Crops and Diseases operated under the Bureau of Plant Industry of the USDA. Its main purpose was to research crops that are grown specifically for livestock consumption. It started in the 1900s as the Office of Forage-crop Investigations, and was re-designated the Office of Forage Crops in 1926. In 1929 the office took on research related to forage disease from the Office of Vegetable and Forage Crops, and became the Office (Division in 1931) of Forage Crops and Diseases. This division became a divisional component of the Field Crops Division of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Research in 1946. After the USDA reorganization of 1953, the Division became the Forage and Range Section of the Field Crops Research Branch, Agricultural Research Service.