A National Preservation Program for Agricultural Literature

Abstract

ABSTRACT Much of what defines the national character of Americans, as well as the nation's social structure, landscape, environment, and economy, is rooted in our agricultural past This remarkable story of the American experience is captured in a broad band of documentary resources that include the memoirs and transactions of early agricultural societies and almanacs, extension service publications, archives, photographs, oral histories and periodicals for farm families and the agricultural “trade.” However, older materials, especially those printed on poor-quality paper, are often severely deteriorated, brittle and fragile. To lose these materials would be to lose an invaluable record of American values and the nation's scientific and business enterprise. The united States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) proposes a national program to preserve in the original or in an archivally sound format–and make readily accessible to scholars, researchers, students, and scientists–the most important pre-195...