National Cotton Council of America (NCC) Photographs, Film, and Publications
name: label: Creator
content: National Cotton Council
topic: label: Topic
content: Cotton textile industry
label: Topic
content: Cotton industry
label: Topic
content: Cotton growing
label: Topic
content: Cotton picking
label: Topic
content: Cotton manufacture
label: Topic
content: Trade associations
label: Topic
content: Textile industry
label: Topic
content: Cotton
label: Topic
content: Cotton farming
label: Topic
content: Clothing -- American
label: Topic
content: Clothing and dress
label: Topic
content: Children's clothing
label: Topic
content: Cotton gins and ginning
label: Topic
content: Boll weevil
label: Topic
content: Textile mills
label: Topic
content: Fabrics, including spinning and weaving
label: Topic
content: Fashion
label: Topic
content: Fashion -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Men's clothing
label: Topic
content: Agriculture
label: Topic
content: Beauty contests -- United States
label: Topic
content: Contests -- United States
label: Topic
content: Television advertising
label: Topic
content: Television advertising -- 1950-1960 -- United States
label: Topic
content: Television advertising -- 1950-2000
label: Topic
content: Product demonstrations
label: Topic
content: Fashion -- United States -- History -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Clothing trade -- United States
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Donated to the Archives Center in 2009 by the Cotton Museum.
creator: label: Creator
content: National Cotton Council
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Cotton Council of America (NCC) Photographs, Film, and Publications
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection mostly consists of photographic materials created by the National Cotton Council of America (NCC).  The council primarily created the materials to document cotton production and use and to support the advocacy and educational work of the organization.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: The National Cotton Council of America (NCC) is the official trade association of the cotton industry.  The NCC was founded in 1939 to promote the interests of cotton farmers, ginners, brokers, and manufacturers from the Southern, cotton-growing states.  Its mission evolved over the years as new uses for cotton and its byproducts were found; as synthetic fibers were developed; as fashion tastes changed; as government regulation increased; and as foreign competition in farming and manufacturing grew.  The National Cotton Council's website states that its current mission is "to ensure the ability of all United States cotton industry segments to compete effectively and profitably in the raw cotton, oilseed and United States-manufactured product markets at home and abroad."  Throughout its existence, the NCC has been the contact point for industry issues affecting its members, legislators in Congress, allied agribusinesses, and consumers.

The National Cotton Council of America (NCC) initially gave this collection to the Cotton Museum at the Memphis Cotton Exchange early in 2008, during the move of the Memphis-based NCC's corporate offices into a much smaller facility.  Calvin Turley, president of the Board of the Cotton Museum, accepted the materials with the understanding that he could do with them as he wished.  Ultimately, he decided that the collection was outside the scope of the Cotton Museum's mission.  Turley offered the collection to the National Museum of American History in the belief that this was "the best possible place in the whole world for it."  


Source: National Museum of American History, Collections Committee Memorandum written by Craig Orr, 2009.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 30 Cubic feet (68 boxes)
label: Extent
content: 224 Motion picture films
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1945-2001, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1177
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Motion picture films
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Type
content: Slides (photographs)
label: Type
content: Home furnishings
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged into four series. 


Series 1, Black and White Photographic Prints, 1945-1970s, undated


Subseries 1.1, Cultivation and Production of Cotton, 1950s-1970s


Subseries 1.2, Film Stills, 1956-1971, undated


Subseries 1.3, Subjects and Events, 1945-1965, undated


Series 2, Slides and Photographs, 1979-2001, undated


Series 3, Publications, 1954-1987


Series 4, Films, 1952-1996, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed by Anne M.Jones, volunteer, 2017; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, supervisory archivist, 2017. 

The finding aid was encoded by Eva Buchanan-Cates, intern, 2017 and Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archivist, 2025.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
label: Genre/Form
content: Slides (photographs) -- 1950-2000
label: Genre/Form
content: Home furnishings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Collection consists of photographs, slides, and 16mm films created by the National Cotton Council of America (NCC) to document cotton production and use and to support the educational and advocacy work of the organization. It is arranged into four series.  

Series one contains black and white photographic prints dating primarily from 1945-1970s. The photographs document every aspect of cotton farming, from before the seed is planted to the production of finished cloth.  Most of these prints illustrate agricultural practices, including land preparation, planting, bedding, plowing, harrowing, drainage, cultivation, stripping, and harvesting. Another group documents pests and infestations – boll weevils, fleas, mites, pink bollworm, hoppers - and the methods of countering them with insecticide and herbicide applications.  Other photographs illustrate more general topics, including the history of cotton, research programs, trading, foreign cotton farming, printing, spinning, and weaving. There are also photographs of agricultural equipment manufactured by International Harvester.  In addition, a small group of photographs consist of images from movies produced by the National Cotton Council of America (NCC).  The photographs were maintained in the order that was created by the National Cotton Council of America (NCC).

Series two include slides and color photographs which date from 1979-2001. These materials document many of the same subjects as the black and white photographic prints but during a later time period.  Many of the slides were created and assembled for use in presentations.  In addition, there are slides of individuals and activities from the National Cotton Council of America (NCC) board meetings and conferences.   

Series three consist of publications and reference materials dating from 1954-1987. Some of the publications were created by the National Cotton Council of America (NCC) for in-house use. Other publications were created by cotton industry organizations and used by the National Cotton Council of America (NCC) as reference materials in the course of carrying out their work. 

Series four contains two hundred and fourteen films that were created by the National Cotton Council of America (NCC) and date from 1952-1996.  These films primarily document cotton farming, its versatility, and use in consumer goods.  The primary markets for the films are the  fashion industry and consumers for home furnishings.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

William Mason Papers, NMAH.AC.0045

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Geographical Categories: Cotton, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Cotton

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Geographical Categories: Seed Industry and Trade, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Seed

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Geographical Categories: Textiles, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Textiles

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Geographical Categories: Thread, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Thread

Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series 2: Other Collection Divisions, NMAH.AC.0060.S02 

Anne E. Peterson Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0402

Larry Zim World's Fair Collection, NMAH.AC.0519

Sally Fox Innovative Lives Presentation, NMAH.AC.0646

Paola Ferrario Color Photographs, NMAH.AC.0699

Southern Agriculture Oral History Project Records, NMAH.AC.0773

Civilian Conservation Corps Collection, NMAH.AC.0930 

Cooper-Bessemer Corporation Records, NMAH.AC.0961

Uriah A. Boyden Papers, NMAH.AC.0982

Division of Work and Industry Lantern Slide Collection, NMAH.AC.1013

Peter Paul Haring Papers, NMAH.AC.1014

Lockwood-Greene Records, NMAH.AC.1113

Maid of Cotton Records, NMAH.AC.1176

John K. Parlett Collection of Agricultural Ephemera, NMAH.AC.1225

Gottlieb and Bodansky Family Papers, NMAH.AC.1245

World AIDS Institute Collection, NMAH.AC.1266

Division of Agriculture and Extractive Industries Audiovisual Collection, NMAH.AC.1348

Museum of Menstruation Collection, NMAH.AC.1586

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Records of the Field Offices for the State of Texas, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1870NMAAHC.FB.M1912


Records of the Field Offices for the State of Mississippi, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865–1872, NMAAHC.FB.M1907 

National Anthropological Archives

C. Earle Smith Jr. Papers, 1960-1997

Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art


Wilhelm Schneider Photographs, EEPA 1991-011

Lynn McLaren Photographs, EEPA 2007-009

Smithsonian Institution Archives


Curatorial Records, 1976-2009, SIA.FA10-058

Exposition Records of the Smithsonian Institution and the United States National Museum, 1867-1940, SIA.FARU0070

Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 1997 Festival of American Folklife