6. Descriptions of the Collections


came to dominate all other crops, outstripping even the cattle industry. By 1910, almost half of the state's
cultivated acreage was planted in cotton. Unlike the experience of the southern states, boll worms and
weevils, root rot and bad weather decreased production but it hardly slowed the expansion of the crop
acreage. It did not matter that farm organizations and the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas
all preached diversification and crop rotation. Bulletins, leaflets and pamphlets of the Texas Agricultural
Experiment Station and the Texas Agricultural Extension Service for the period are full of subtle and not
so subtle hints to plant other crops. It fell on deaf ears as farmers persisted in planting nearly every inch
of their land in cotton. In the farmers defense, cotton was the only cash crop that yielded at least the
promise of a return on investment. However, cotton was more than a cash crop. It was a culture and a
lifestyle. Everything was subordinated to the rhythm of the cotton plant. It dictated land holding
systems, bank credit and divisions of labor. It bound many poor whites and minorities to share cropping
and stoop labor in the fields.

The Great Depression of the 1930's took a serious toll on Texas farmers and ranchers. The price of
cotton dropped from eighteen cents a pound to less than six in another downturn of the agricultural
depression that began in 1920. Most Texans hardly noticed the Wall Street crash of 1929, but thousands
of small farmers and ranchers lost their lands as the depression of the 1930's deepened. In Texas as
elsewhere, the Depression would change the face of agriculture and begin the slow demise of the family
farm. Not until World War II would agriculture make an economic comeback. The literature of the day
documents the impact of this pivotal event on the rural community and economy.

Texas is known as the land of the cowboy and the oil well. However, the impact of the discovery in 1928
of the giant East Texas oil field by Columbus ("Dad") Joiner on agriculture has not been well
documented. It did help to provide work and ease the plight of displaced agricultural workers during
the 1930's. The oil and petrochemical industry would make its major economic impact on the
diversification of the states economic base in the period after 1945.

It is not surprising that there is no comprehensive history of agriculture in Texas. Indeed, there is no
overall analysis of the role of agriculture in the development of the state. While there are many good
studies on individual crops, livestock production, the cotton culture and the cowboy, it is not at all
surprising that there have been few attempts to gather all of the many disparate sources it would take to
produce synthesis. Indeed, no one has even attempted to compile a complete bibliography on so
important a subject. For example, there is much valuable material buried in early unpublished theses and
dissertations. Here one can find information on almost every aspect of the history of agriculture and
rural life. Public opinion, rural life, farm mechanization, immigrant communities, and crop improvement
are just a few of the topics preserved in the records of long forgotten scholarship.

Additionally there have been few attempts to preserve and make available the materials documenting this
rich heritage. In the early 1970's Texas A&M University joined with the National Agricultural Library to
microfilm the documents of the Experiment Station and Extension Service. While this was a ground
breaking and valuable project, it left untouched numerous other research sources. Unless these materials
are preserved, these valuable resources will be lost.

Over the course of the phase 2 project, Texas A&M University, in cooperation with other libraries in the
state, will preserve and improve access to 800 titles in 2,575 volumes important to the study of agriculture
and rural life in Texas and the Southwest. These volumes were selected for preservation from a
comprehensive bibliography of 12,213 volumes identified during the 1996/97 phase 1 project supported
by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The phase 1 project employed a four-person scholarly
review to rank the titles according to their priority as research resources for humanities studies. Details of
Texas's phase 2 project staffing and costs are found in Section 5.10 of the proposal's Plan of Work.