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"I recently found a piece of Massey-Ferguson self-propelled sweet corn harvester sales literature," he says, "which I put into my own collection."
Nostalgia plays a key role for many folks.
"For many of today's collectors, they like what they grew up with," Clarence says. "Usually the bigger the tractor or implement, the better."
"Much farming history is contained in USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Ag Bulletins," he says, "many of which have been destroyed and are no longer stocked by the government. They cover things like how to raise livestock, how to plow, and planning farmsteads. Extension agents and ag teachers used them, and some are still found at farm auctions." Other sources?
"College texts contain similar information, and usually contain historical pictures, such as farmers and their machinery in action," he says. "Then there are the older farm magazines, like Farm Mechanics, not just well known ones like Farm journal." The USDA also produced The Yearbook of Agriculture, which sums up the prior year's U.S. agricultural production, marketing and other activities. No longer in production, older copies of the yearbooks have sold for up to $25 each.
The yearbooks gave a frank and detailed appraisal of agriculture, on everything from development of more efficient machinery to Dust Bowl/drought conditions of the 1930s.
Such collectibles can pop up in unexpected places. While leafing through a collection of LIFE magazines in a booth at an Iowa antique mall, one collector stumbled onto a cover photo of a woman standing in a cornfield, arms full of ear corn. The accompanying article, dated Sept. 27, 1943, focused
A full-page ad in that issue is titled " America's Meat Front," and spotlights issues surrounding use of meat in the household, and for service personnel in the war effort. The housewife, the meat man, the meat packer and the farmer are prominently featured.
Even the venerable National Geographic is a good source of farm paper collectibles. Issues from World War I present domestic agriculture updates, complete with top-notch photography.