About the Milburn Lincoln Wilson Agricultural Photographs Collection
The Milburn Lincoln Wilson Agricultural Photographs Collection
What is it?
Milburn Lincoln Wilson was born in Atlantic, Iowa in 1885. He received a B.S.A. from Iowa State College, Ames, in 1907 and his M.S. in agricultural economics and rural sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1920. He served as Assistant State Agronomist at Montana State College, Bozeman, 1910-12; County Agent in Custer County, Montana, 1912-14; Montana State Extension Agent Leader, 1914-22; and an extension agricultural economist at Montana State College, 1922-24. Between 1924 and 1926 he took charge of the U.S.D.A. division of farm management and cost accounting, and in 1929 he provided consultation on large-scale wheat farming in the U.S.S.R. Wilson served as the Chief Wheat Production Secretary in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and was the director of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads in the Department of the Interior until June 30, 1934, and then Wilson was appointed the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. In 1937, he was appointed the Undersecretary of Agriculture until 1 February 1940. Wilson then became the Director of Extension Work at U.S.D.A., and while Director, he also filled in as the Chief of Nutrition Programs and in the Production and Marketing Administration between 1943 and 1949. Wilson died in 1969.
Images in this collection pertain to agricultural subjects and projects studied from 1901 to 1945 at Montana State College. Of particular interest are numerous images of "big hitch" teams, horse drawn implements using eight or more teams of draft animals for power. Most of these photographs record efficient or innovated practices that helped some farmers survive during the agricultural depression following World War I. Additionally, there are photos of farming methods from more humid regions that were inappropriate for conditions in Montana. Other photographs record what life was like on the northern Great Plains during the 1920s.
For full descriptions of Wilson’s papers that are held by MSU Library, see:
- Guide to the M.L. Wilson Agricultural Photographs Collection
- Guide to the M. L. Wilson papers
- Guide to the M.L. Wilson Papers
- Guide to the M. L. Wilson collection on Abraham Lincoln
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Milburn Lincoln Wilson Agricultural Photographs Collection, Montana State University (MSU) Library, Bozeman, MT, [Item permalink or DOI]
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