George Washington Carver
15 artifacts in this set
Help for the Hard Times, Important to Farmers, circa 1905
Bulletin
George Washington Carver directed the agricultural Experiment Station at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. In this bulletin, Carver gives farmers suggestions for producing better crop yields and for earning additional income. Tuskegee director Booker T. Washington says in the forward that "If the farmers will follow the advice given by Prof. Carver, instead of the present low price of cotton proving a drawback it is going to prove a permanent...
George Washington Carver Cabin
Cabin (House)
Henry Ford built this cabin in 1942 to honor his friend, agricultural scientist George Washington Carver. The cabin was based on Carver's recollections of the slave cabin in Missouri in which he was born in 1864. Carver spent his career at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, advocating for new crops, such as peanuts, that would enrich both Southern farmers and Southern soils.
George Washington Carver's Graduation Photo from Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, 1893
Photographic print
After a young adulthood of traveling, working, and homesteading, George Washington Carver was able to attend college. He first attended Simpson College in Iowa and transferred to Iowa State, then called Iowa Agricultural College, to pursue botany. He was one of the first African Americans to matriculate and to serve on the faculty there. This is his graduation picture, taken when he was about thirty.
Microscope Used by George Washington Carver, circa 1900
Microscope
By 1900, cotton production had depleted Southern soils, so George Washington Carver (1864-1943) developed nutritious crops like peanuts that nurtured the soil and could be sold to make industrial products. He used this microscope in his laboratory at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.
Underwood Standard Typewriter, No. 5., Used by George Washington Carver at the Tuskegee Institute, 1930-1933
Typewriter
This typewriter is an Underwood No. 5 manual typewriter, a common typewriter found in offices and laboratories all over America during the early 20th century. But this typewriter was used by George Washington Carver in his laboratory at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Carver probably typed scientific reports and agricultural bulletins on this typewriter -- he generally preferred to write personal letters by hand.
Frank Campsall, Austin Curtis, Henry Ford, and George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute, March 1938
Photographic print
Henry Ford visited his friend George Washington Carver at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in the spring of 1938. As part of his agricultural teaching and research at Tuskegee, Carver had developed a small museum and many portable agricultural exhibits which traveled to expositions and fairs. In this photo Carver is showing sweet potato exhibits to Ford, Carver's assistant Austin Curtis Jr, and Ford's assistant Frank Campsall.
Commemorative Half Dollar Coin Featuring George Washington Carver and Booker T. Washington, 1953
Coin (Money)
The second U.S. coin commemorating African Americans featured two Tuskegee Institute educators, president Booker T. Washington (1856-1915), and agricultural scientist, George W. Carver (early 1860s-1943). The U.S. Mint commissioned African-American sculptor and artist Isaac Scott Hathaway to design the coin. Issued from 1951 to 1954, the inscription on the back emphasized patriotism and individual liberty amid growing Cold War tensions.
How to Build Up and Maintain the Virgin Fertility of Our Soils, October 1936
Bulletin
George Washington Carver directed the agricultural Experiment Station at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. As part of his work, Carver wrote what he called "threefold" agricultural bulletins, with information for farmers, teachers, and housewives. Soil was the foundation of his work; this bulletin describes how to prepare the soil for planting and how to use both commercial and natural fertilizers to improve soil health and crop yields.
How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption, May 1917
Bulletin
George Washington Carver directed the agricultural Experiment Station at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. As part of his work, Carver wrote what he called "threefold" agricultural bulletins: they included information for the farmer, for the teacher, and for the housewife. This bulletin on growing and cooking peanuts, along with Carver's other advocacy work, helped popularize the peanut as a useful and nutritious crop for Southern farmers.
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford at the Carver Nutrition Laboratory, Dearborn, Michigan, 1942
Photographic print
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford shared not only an interest in using agricultural products in industry ("chemurgy"), but also some quirky ideas about diet. Here, Carver and Ford share a sandwich of "weed spread," made with wild bergamot, narrow-leafed plantain, purslane, pigweed, milkweed, dandelion, lamb's quarters and wild radish. They shared this meal at Ford Motor Company's George Washington Carver Nutrition Laboratory during...
Weeder Used by George Washington Carver at Greenfield Village, 1942
Weeder
When George Washington Carver came to Greenfield Village in 1942 for the dedication of the Carver Memorial Cabin, he and Henry Ford pursued a mutual interest: wild edibles. Carver used this weeder while in Dearborn, and he and Ford ate a meal together that included wild greens and roots. Carver may have also dug plants for public presentations about economic botany.
Letter from George Washington Carver to Grady Porter of Tom Huston Peanut Company, February 3. 1942
Letter (Correspondence)
One of the accomplishments which made George Washington Carver famous was his production of hundreds of model industrial products from crops like peanuts and sweet potatoes. In this letter to an employee of a peanut-processing company, Carver suggests that a soap he had made from peanut waste might be saleable. Carver manufactured few products himself, preferring to lead the way for others to do so.
George Washington Carver Examining Soy Fiber, Soybean Laboratory at Greenfield Village, 1939
Photographic print
A mutual interest in industrial products made from plants brought Henry Ford and the scientist George Washington Carver together as colleagues and friends. Ford developed plastics and fibers from soybeans. Here, on a 1939 visit to Dearborn, George Washington Carver is seated in the Soybean Laboratory in Greenfield Village, holding a skein of soy fiber in his hands.
Letter and Drawing by George Washington Carver Sent to Henry Ford, 1941
Letter (Correspondence)
George Washington Carver and Henry Ford became friends in the late 1930s, drawn together by a mutual interest in developing new industrial products from the fruits of the soil. Carver's warm letters to Ford, Clara Ford, and Ford's secretary Frank Campsall speak to the genuine depth of the friendship. Carver often gives Ford advice on research avenues to pursue and suggests recipes for natural health.
Cast of George Washington Carver's Hand, 1943
Cast (Sculpture)
Environmental scientist George Washington Carver and sculptor Isaac Hathaway were colleagues at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Hathaway's goal as an artist was to showcase the achievements of African Americans and make them visible. He made this cast of George Washington Carver's hand in 1943.
This is user-generated content and does not reflect the views of The Henry Ford.