John K. Parlett Collection of Agricultural Ephemera
name: label: Manufacturer
content: Custom Auto and Equipment Sales
label: Creator
content: Parlett, John K., 1937-2005
label: Manufacturer
content: Allis-Chalmers -- 20th century
label: Manufacturer
content: Case -- 20th century
label: Manufacturer
content: International Harvestor. Case-IH -- 20th century
label: Manufacturer
content: John Deere and Company. John Deere Plow Company -- 20th century
label: Manufacturer
content: Sperry New Holland -- 20th century
label: Manufacturer
content: Todd Equipment Company -- 20th century
topic: label: Topic
content: Tobacco -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Tobacco
label: Topic
content: Poultry industry
label: Topic
content: Farmers
label: Topic
content: Farm ownership
label: Topic
content: Farm management
label: Topic
content: Tobacco farmers
label: Topic
content: Farm produce -- 1820-1850
label: Topic
content: Farm buildings
label: Topic
content: Family farms
label: Topic
content: Farm life -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Farm equipment
label: Topic
content: Farmers' markets
label: Topic
content: Farmers -- Virginia
label: Topic
content: Dairy farms
label: Topic
content: Cotton farming
label: Topic
content: Hay
label: Topic
content: Community organization
label: Topic
content: Family
label: Topic
content: Factories
label: Topic
content: Machinery -- 1940-1990
label: Topic
content: Machinery industry
label: Topic
content: Harvesting machinery
label: Topic
content: Machinery -- 1960-1990
label: Topic
content: Agricultural machinery
label: Topic
content: Machinery
label: Topic
content: Farmers -- 1930-1950
label: Topic
content: Farmers -- 1940-1990
label: Topic
content: Farmers -- 19th century
label: Topic
content: Farmers -- 1860-1870
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This collection was donated by Catherine Parlett, widow of John K. Parlett, in 2012.
creator: label: Manufacturer
content: Custom Auto and Equipment Sales
label: Creator
content: Parlett, John K., 1937-2005
setName: label: See more items in
content: John K. Parlett Collection of Agricultural Ephemera
abstract: label: Summary
content: The John K. Parlett Collection of Agricultural Ephemera, 1859-2011, undated, is a collection of operator's instruction manuals, parts illustrations manuals, dealership materials, farming, farm life, and agriculture-related ephemera. The material is from national companies as well as local manufacturers and businesses.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: John K. Parlett (1937-2005) was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and  was a life-long resident of the county and state. He was a farmer and businessman and served as a St. Mary's County Commissioner from 1974-1978 and as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1981-1986. 

Parlett began collecting farm equipment and agriculture-related ephemera in the 1960s. His son, John K. Parlett, Jr., stated, "The more he collected the more his passion grew."  Even though Parlett lived in Maryland, his collecting was national in scope and included materials he and his wife bought on collecting trips around the country.  Parlett expanded his collection of equipment and agricultural ephemera after retiring in 1986.  John K. Parlett, Jr., stated, "he [Parlett Sr.] caught 'the antique bug' . . . [they] went out almost every weekend collecting more things."  Parlett did not merely collect old machinery, he sought and acquired catalogues, equipment operation manuals, posters, ephemera, county and state fair ephemera, and even records from an agricultural equipment dealer, Custom Auto and Equipment Sales, in Manassas, Virginia.

Between 1988 and 1993 the collection grew so large that Parlett built a 60,000 square foot building on his farm to hold the machinery component. He converted many farm sheds, turkey and chicken houses into display areas and a library. Parlett eventually founded the John K. Parlett Farm Life Museum of Southern Maryland located on his farm, known as Green Manor.  Beginning in 1996, the museum was opened annually for the Farm Life Festival, benefitting the St. Mary's County Christmas in April program, founded by Parlett.  The collection was open by appointment for study; the local Amish community consulted some of the materials in the collection for help in repairing their outdated equipment.  Parlett was highly respected in collecting circles.  He  was a tenacious and indefatigable collector who made an effort to collect all types of agricultural machinery as well as archival materials relating to farm life.  Rare or obsolete items are included in this collection, as are ephemeral items relating to farm and ranch life.  "If it was used on the farm or in rural America in the last 100 years, chances are it'll be at the Southern Maryland Farm Life Festival," enthused Agrifarm.com in 2008 when describing the Parlett holdings.

The last year for the Farm Life Festival was 2009.  The Parlett Collection, consisting of 1007 lots of machinery, tools, tractors, household, and general store items, was auctioned by Aumann Auctions in the fall  of 2011.  At the auction, some  materials and machinery were purchased by The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan and other museums throughout the United States.

NMAH Curators Pete Daniel and Larry M. Jones surveyed the collection while Parlett was still alive.  Jones was credited with advising Parlett while he was building the collection.  Jones commented on the collection in 2005, "I was blown away by what he had put together; here was a man who turned an interest into one of the best rural farm life collections I've ever seen. And John has such an eye for good and appropriate stuff. It's just a sensational collection."  He reportedly wrote a memo suggesting the Museum "investigate the possibility" of acquiring portions of the collection if and when Parlett was willing to donate items. There was no further discussion of acquiring any of the collection until 2010, when Craig Orr, archivist-curator, talked with John K. Parlett Jr., who expressed a willingness to donate the archival materials as the entire collection was being prepared for auction. Orr and Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archives specialist, surveyed the collection in early 2011 and selected the materials included in the collection.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 20 Cubic feet (60 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1859-2011, undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1225
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged in eight series.

Series 1, Allis-Chalmers, AGCO Allis, and Deutz Allis, 1957-1980, undated.


Series 2, Case, Case-IH, International Harvester, 1903-1986, undated.  

Series 3, John Deere and Company, John Deere Plow Company, 1910-2008, undated.

Series 4, Sperry-New Holland, 1975-1984, undated.  

Series 6, Custom Auto and Equipment Sales of Manassas, Virginia Business Records, 1971-1981, undated.  

Series 6, Todd Farm Equipment, Incorporated, 1973-1980, undated.  

Series 7, Assorted Companies, Catalogues, Periodicals, and Publications, 1859-2011, undated. 

Series 8, Poultry, 1912-1949, undated.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Franklin A. Robinson, Jr., archives specialist, assisted by Nancy Mulry, volunteer, January 2012; supervised by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, curator-archivist.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of farming and rural life ephemera, dating from about 1859-2011, and undated.  The materials are national in scope and include agricultural ephemera from all regions of the United States.  Since Parlett's collecting interest spanned the entire spectrum of agricultural work, the collection is not livestock or crop specific.  It covers many types of farming from dairying, beekeeping, poultry, cattle, sheep, and hogs to raising tobacco, small grains, hay and forage.  It includes almanacs, operator's manuals, catalogues, promotional materials, pocket ledgers and notebooks, mail order catalogs, state fair advertising and catalogues, livestock care and feeding manuals, correspondence, receipts, guarantees, chemical and fertilizer handbooks, account books, "Ladies'" notebooks and calendars, directories, price lists, corporate "yearbooks," clothing advertisements and catalogues, farming practices handbooks, agent's sales order books, seed guides, National Grange material, farming co-op by-laws and ephemera, agriculture related convention materials, poultry magazines and journals, beekeeping magazines, barn and housing design material, gardening manuals, sales contracts for machinery, appliance manuals, commodity marketing guides, auction catalogues, home canning and meat processing manuals and guides, price lists, pamphlets, sale brochures, and dealer service manuals.

The range and national scope of items in the collection illustrate the progression of invention within agriculture. The machinery manuals not only describe machinery in detail, but break it down to the machinery components, how it is put together and how it is repaired. The invention aspect tracks the development of farm mechanization from hand work with intensive labor requirements to machinery developed to decrease labor costs and numbers while at the same time increasing production. The changes in agricultural technology in the later years of the Industrial Revolution, on the cusp of mechanization and the availability of mail order products for the home and farm, are documented in the collection by advertisements and mail order catalogues, for products purchased in nearby towns and equipment used in farm tasks.

The sizeable mail order component of the collection provides research opportunities into economics and marketing both to an agricultural community and an urban community. The demographic changes resulting from increased urbanization and employment opportunities in manufacturing -- and how small farms coped with them -- are documented in the collection by detailed descriptions of who was expected to do what tasks and how those tasks were accomplished. With the beginning of mail order by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872, mail order became an integral part of life in rural America. Mail order catalogs allowed rural residents to buy new equipment and follow the latest trends in fashion or household appliances without ever leaving the farm. Mail order also allowed rural American to reap the benefits of growing mass production.  Homemade clothing gave way to ready-to-wear clothes sold through retail outlets and through mail order catalogues. Likewise tools and machinery that had been locally built and maintained gave way to parts and machinery that could be purchased through mail order as well as local equipment company dealers.  Mail-order buying was made even more accessible in 1896 with the first rural free delivery (RFD) service.

Gender and ethnic aspects of farm life are documented in the collection. For example, sausage, lard, pudding making and similar tasks were traditionally done by women; labor was often divided along racial or ethnic lines and used different machinery and tools for various types of farms in different locations. The collection has a sizeable component of community materials related to farm life such as county and state fair catalogues, National Grange materials, and instructional booklets given away by feed and machinery manufacturers. "How to" booklets and pamphlets covering virtually every aspect of the farm and farm work targeted members of the farm family and its labor force.

The collection complements the Smithsonian's invention holdings as innovation was taking place on the farm as well as in the factory throughout the Industrial Revolution. The machinery manuals with their operation and repair guidelines, the schematic drawings and details on "new and improved" machinery provide a cohesive span of primary material to inform the evolution of farm work from hand and physical labor involving many people to the more mechanized farming capable of being done by one farmer alone or with minimal family or hired help.

The collection includes the business records (1971-1981, undated) for Custom Auto and Equipment Sales of Manassas, Virginia, a John Deere dealership. These records include equipment inventories, a John Deere Consumer Products Dealer Parts Administration Manual, JD Dart operators manual, and a Sperry New Holland dealer sales aid manual, sales accounts, all of which help document the transition from manual based accounting systems to product specific (in this case JD Dart for John Deere) computer based systems. This portion of the collection is illustrative of suburbanization. With the farm crisis of the early 1980s, Custom Auto and Equipment ceased selling farm machinery and concentrated on the urban aspect of the John Deere brand: lawnmowers, tillers and those pieces of machinery used in housing developments being built in and around Manassas.  The market for farming equipment nearly ceased to exist and in an effort to salvage their business they adapted to the environment around them. 

This collection also includes sales materials for Todd Equipment Company located in Chesapeake, Virginia with a branch office in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Todd serves farm equipment dealers in the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. They carry an extensive line of machinery catering to all types of agricultural cultivation, care, and harvesting. As of 2015 they are still in business.

The collection is arranged in eight series with items arranged chronologically and in some series alphabetically.

Series 1, Allis-Chalmers, AGCO Allis, and Deutz Allis, 1957-1980, undated, is arranged chronologically. This series contains operator's manuals, sales ephemera, brochures, service manuals, setting up directions, a lease plan, and a sales book. This series includes brand names AGCO Allis, Allis-Chalmers, Athens Plow Company, Baldwin, and Jeoffroy Manufacturing Incorporated, L&M

Series 2, Case, Case-IH, International Harvester, 1903-1986, undated.  This series is arranged chronologically.  This series includes brand names McCormick-Deering, Farmall, International-Farmall, and McCormick. It includes sales brochures, price lists, operator and maintenance manuals, product guides, advertisements, pamphlets and brochures, catalogues, and a program from McCormick Day, 1931 in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Series 3, John Deere and Company, John Deere Plow Company, 1910-2008, undated, is arranged chronologically. This series contains publications, operator's and maintenance manuals, sales brochures and pamphlets, sales manuals, catalogues, product magazines, and safety manuals.

Series 4, Sperry-New Holland, 1975-1984, undated, is arranged chronologically.  This series contains operator's and maintenance manuals, sales brochures and pamphlets.

Series 6, Custom Auto and Equipment Sales of Manassas, Virginia Business Records, 1971-1981, undated.  These records include equipment inventories, John Deere Consumer Products Dealer Parts Administration Manual, JD Dart operator,s manual, and a Sperry New Holland dealer sales aid manual, and sales accounts.

Series 6, Todd Farm Equipment, Incorporated, 1973-1980, undated, is arranged chronologically.  This series contains the contents of Todd's sales manual detailing various companies and their products. The series includes sales brochures, equipment specifications and capabilities as outlined in corporate sales material, and a Todd catalogue.

Series 7, Assorted Companies, Catalogues, Periodicals, and Publications, 1859-2011, undated. This series is arranged chronologically and then alphabetically for the undated material.  This series contains material from a variety of companies and purveyors of farm-related equipment, products, and disciplines as well as farm culture-related materials.  This series includes mail order catalogues, sales and instructional pamphlets, almanacs, advertisements, government publications, magazines, catalogues, convention and souvenir brochures, National Grange materials, manuals, cook books, record books, price lists, county and state fair ephemera, beekeeping-related materials, dairying related publications and equipment brochures, operator's manuals, and the auction catalogue from the Parlett Farm-Life Museum auction.

Series 8, Poultry, 1912-1949, undated, is arranged alphabetically.  This series contains material related to the production of poultry. It includes magazines, advertisements for poultry products, and educational materials related to poultry.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materias in the Archives Center

Maid of Cotton, Cotton Council Collection

Southern Agriculture Oral History

Robinson and Via Family Papers

Louisan Mamer Papers

Harness-Maker's Account Books

Memphis Cotton Carnival Records

New England Merchant and Farmer Account Book

Hagan Brothers Account Books

Product Cookbook Collection

Maryland Farm Diary (1879-1894)

Bermis B. Brown Collection

Cincinnati Boss Collection

William E. Kost Farm Records, 1939-1989 

Kent Family Records, 1879-1933

Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life)

Collection items related to farming and agriculture including farm clothing, home arts materials such as needlework, quilts, sewing, kitchen appliances, farming implements and machinery, and 4-H objects.  The Lemelson Center has assisted in acquiring objects and archival collections in the field of invention and innovation in various divisions of the National Museum of American History.