MIDDLH WESTERN AGKICULTURAL IIISToRV AS A 

 FIELD OF KESEARCH ' 



By EvERKTT E. Edwards 



If one is to eompreheiid tlu' living past, he must ^\\v infinitely 

 more attention to tlie implications of the fact that this country 

 was primarily rural for over two aiul one-half centuries. The vast 

 maze of forces and conditions that have entered intt> the evolu- 

 tion of rural life may well he taken as a central theme of Amer- 

 ican history. Today economic and social problems press for solu- 

 tion with perhaps more vehemence than ever before, and it be- 

 hooves historians to su|)p]y the essential backgrounds of these 

 current problems, many of which arise out of a rural past, if the 

 people of this nation are to develop a sound national and inter- 

 national economy. 



In turning more particularly to the Middle "West, one should 

 also bear in mind that farming and the accompanying rurality 

 has had greater dominance there than in any other region except 

 the South. Furthermore, its agriculture has probably been of 

 greater imjjortance to the nation than tliat of any other region. 

 The sources of special interest to agricultural historians have 

 already been considered in another connection,- and a fairly 

 comprehensive, albeit somewhat out-of-date, bibliography of the 

 hi.«tory of American agriculture which includes sections relating 

 to the Middle West is also available." It has seemed best, there- 

 fore, to devote this general discussion primarily to the phases 



> ThU paper was prewnt«d at the joint aeMion of the MiMiasippi Valley Hiitori- 

 eal Asaociation with the Americao Historical Aaaociation at Providence, Rhode 

 labnd, on December 29, 1936. 



» Everett E. Edwurda, "The Need of Iliitorical MateriaU for A^icultural B«- 

 MArch," Agricultvral Untory ( Wualtin^on), IX (1935), 3 11. 



» Evereti E. Edwardi, "A Bibliugraphj of the Hiatorv of Agriculture in tl>e Unit- 

 Ad State*," Vn%ted Statea Department of Agrievlture ilitcrHafirtnu Publicatutn 84 

 (Washington, 1930). The vast amount of bibliographical material which has aeeum- 

 ulated in the eompiler '■ files aiuce tlie issuance of this bulletin is available for exaia- 

 ination at the ofi«e of Uie writer in the United State* Department of Agriculture. 



315 



