Tobacco spear
notes: label: Description
content: This tobacco spear was used for the cultivation of tobacco in Maryland. It is made of a sheet of metal formed into a cold and soldered along one long edge to form a very sharp point. The opposite end from the point is open, and the edge has a small “v” cut into it. During harvesting season, tobacco spears were stuck to the end of a tobacco stick and used to piece and thread tobacco stalks onto the stick. The sticks would then be gathered and moved to the tobacco barns for air curing.
label: Description
content: This tobacco spear was donated by Frank Robinson, whose family owned and operated tobacco farms in Maryland. According to him, this spear was used on his family’s farm, Serenity Farm, in Charles County, Maryland. It was also possibly used earlier on the previous family farm, Ferndale Farm, in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Robinson’s family few 40-70 acres of Type 32 tobacco at the Serenity Farm each season, making spears like this one instrumental to such an effort.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Location of Serenity Farm, where this tool was likely used
content: United States: Maryland, Charles
label: Location of Ferndale Farm, where this tool may have been used
content: United States: Maryland, Prince Georges
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Agriculture
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Franklin A. Robinson, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2000.0009.07
label: accession number
content: 2000.0009
label: catalog number
content: 2000.0009.07
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Tobacco Spear
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11.5 cm x 3 cm; 4 1/2 in x 1 3/16 in