Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Agricultural Research Service [ARS]


(Record Group 310)
1906-89

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 310.1 Administrative History
  • 310.2 Records of the Agricultural Research Administration 1918-53
  • 310.3 General Records of the Agricultural Research Service 1909-89
  • 310.4 Records of ARS Research Branches And Divisions 1912-63
    • 310.4.1 Records of the Animal Husbandry Division
    • 310.4.2 Records of the Entomology Research Division
    • 310.4.3 Records of the Nutrition and Consumer Use Research Division
    • 310.4.4 Records of the Plant Pest Control Branch
  • 310.5 Records of ARS Field Offices 1906-79
    • 310.5.1 Records of the Area Supervisor (San Antonio, TX)
    • 310.5.2 Records of the Northern Regional Research Laboratory (Peoria, IL)
    • 310.5.3 Records of the Southern Regional Research Center (New Orleans, LA)
    • 310.5.4 Records of the Mexican Fruit Fly Laboratory (Mexico City, Mexico)
    • 310.5.5 Records of the Western Regional Research Center (Albany, CA)
    • 310.5.6 Records of the Naval Stores Laboratory (Olustee, FL)
    • 310.5.7 Records of the Nursery Crop Research Laboratory (Delaware, OH)
    • 310.5.8 Records of the Mayaguez Experiment Station (Mayaguez, PR)
    • 310.5.9 Records of the Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Idaho (Moscow, ID)
    • 310.5.10 Records of the Upper Mississippi Valley Conservation Experiment Station (La Crosse, WI)
    • 310.5.11 Records of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (Wooster, OH)
    • 310.5.12 Records of the Watershed Research Unit (Columbia, MO)
  • 310.6 Cartographic Records (General)
  • 310.7 Motion Pictures (General) 1939-49
  • 310.8 Still Pictures (General)

Top of Page

310.1 Administrative History

Established: In the Department of Agriculture, by Secretary's Memorandum 1000-1, June 17, 1981, and formal order, published as 46 FR 47747, September 30, 1981.

Predecessor Agencies:
  • Agricultural Research Administration (ARA, 1942-53)
  • ARS (1953-78)
  • Federal Research Staff, Science and Education Administration (SEA, 1978)
  • Agriculture Research Staff, SEA (1979-81)
Functions: Directs the basic and applied research program of the Department of Agriculture.

Finding Aids: Partial inventory in National Archives microfiche edition of preliminary inventories.

Related Records:
Record copies of publications of the Agricultural Research Service in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government.
Records of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, RG 7.
Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering, RG 8.
Records of the Bureau of Animal Industry, RG 17.
Records of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, RG 54.
Records of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, RG 97.
Records of the Bureau of Dairy Industry, RG 152.
Records of the Cooperative State Research Service, RG 164.
Records of the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, RG 176.

Top of Page

310.2 Records of the Agricultural Research Administration
1918-53

History: Established in the Department of Agriculture by EO 9069, February 23, 1942, to coordinate the research functions of the Bureaus of Agricultural Chemistry and Engineering, Animal Industry, Dairy Industry, Entomology and Plant Quarantine, Home Economics, and Plant Industry; and Office of Experiment Stations. Bureaus retained independent status, with ARA functions chiefly administrative. By ARA Memorandum 5, February 13, 1943, Bureau of Home Economics became Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics; and engineering research functions transferred from Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and Engineering (redesignated Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry) to Bureau of Plant Industry (renamed Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering). Superseded by ARS, 1953. See 310.3.

Top of Page

310.2.1 General records

Textual Records: General correspondence of the Office of the Administrator, 1942-53. Special file on research and administration, 1938-53. Memorandums, 1942-43, 1949-53. Records of staff assistants, 1946-53. Correspondence and reports, 1946- 53, concerning the administration of the Research and Marketing Act of 1946.

Maps: Locations of building and land used by offices of the Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Center (Beltsville, MD), 1941, 1947 (2 items). Urban population of the United States according to the census of 1950, dot map, 1950 (1 item). See also 310.6.

Architectural and Engineering Plans: Blueprints for buildings and equipment of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 1918-42 (320 items). See also 310.6.

Top of Page

310.2.2 Records of field installations

Textual Records: Annual reports of the Dutch Elm Disease Laboratory (Morristown, NJ), 1934-41. Annual reports of the Cotton Field Station (Greenville, TX), 1927-49 (in Fort Worth). Project reports of the Fruit and Vegetable Laboratory (Weslaco, TX), 1932-49 (in Fort Worth).

Top of Page

310.3 General Records of the Agricultural Research Service
1909-89

History: Established by Secretary's Memorandum 1320, supplement 4, November 2, 1953, abolishing the ARA and the independent Bureaus of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry; Animal Industry; Dairy Industry; Entomology and Plant Quarantine; Human Nutrition and Home Economics; and Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Economics. Forest disease and entomology research functions of the Bureaus of Entomology and Plant Quarantine and Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering were transferred to the Forest Service. Nonforest research functions of the abolished bureaus were continued under ARS functional branches (divisions after 1957). ARS additionally exercised supervision over the Office of Experiment Stations until its separation as the Cooperative State Experiment Station Service (later the Cooperative State Research Service, CSRS), 1961. ARS consolidated with the CSRS, Extension Service, and National Agricultural Library by Secretary's order, January 24, 1978, published as 43 FR 3254, to form the Science and Education Administration (SEA), with ARS functions assigned to a Federal Research Staff, redesignated Agricultural Research Staff, 1979. SEA abolished and ARS and other components reestablished, 1981. See 310.1.

Note: For administrative histories of the Office of Experiment Stations and Cooperative State Research Service, and of the research bureaus abolished in 1953, See the record groups listed under Related Records in 310.1.

Textual Records: General correspondence, 1954-64 (680 ft.). Project records, 1946-54. Subject files and other records of the Office of the Administrator, 1942-58. Research progress reports, 1926-71. Records of the National Program Staff, including organization and management files, 1933-76, and records of the regional research technical committees, 1955-75. Publications, tables, and survey sheets of the Human Nutrition Center, 1936-81. Records of the Nutrition Education Division,including food test reports, 1949-87, and records relating to family food plans, 1920-89. Sample of letters received from the public relating to the use of Mirex in the imported fire-ant program, 1971. Records relating to federal Dutch Elm Disease research, 1959-61. Statistical summaries of cooperative extension work, 1924-61. Research data for surveys of rural life in Texas, 1958-59. Forage crop investigations reports, 1953-77. Plant exploration reports, 1953-72. Terminated cooperative agreements, 1950-63. Agribusiness technical bulletins, 1975-76.

Maps: Locations of U.S. farms improved by land clearing, drainage, and reseeding with the aid of the Soil Conservation Service and the Agriculture Conservation Program Service, 1947-53 (7 items). U.S. interstate highway system, 1957 (5 items). U.S. water resource regions, 1955-59 (5 items). U.S. "other land in farms" category, 1958, and projected to 1975 (2 items). Land classification in Hawaii, 1960 (8 items). Soil classification in Alabama, 1952-55 (13 items). See also 310.6.

Graphs: Historical amounts of cropland and pasture in the Great Plains, 1909-56 (2 items). Land use categories in the United States, 1958, projected to the year 2010 (1 item). See also 310.6.

Top of Page

310.4 Records of ARS Research Branches And Divisions
1912-63

Top of Page

310.4.1 Records of the Animal Husbandry Division

Textual Records: Terminated cooperative agreements, 1950-63.

Top of Page

310.4.2 Records of the Entomology Research Division

Textual Records: Subject files, reports, and other records, 1912- 58.

Top of Page

310.4.3 Records of the Nutrition and Consumer Use Research
Division

Textual Records: Central files, 1955-62.

Top of Page

310.4.4 Records of the Plant Pest Control Branch

Textual Records (in Los Angeles): Records of C.H. Rothe, Plant Quarantine Inspector and Supervisor Western Area, Phony Peach and Peach Mosaic Program (San Bernardino and Riverside, CA), relating to peach mosaic and related programs, 1935-56, and to the Potato Rot Nematode Survey (Idaho Falls, ID), 1949-50.

Top of Page

310.5 Records of ARS Field Offices
1906-79

Top of Page

310.5.1 Records of the Area Supervisor (San Antonio, TX)

Textual Records (in Fort Worth): Records relating to grasshopper and pink bollworm control, 1939-56.

Top of Page

310.5.2 Records of the Northern Regional Research Laboratory
(Peoria, IL)

Textual Records (in Chicago): Terminated and canceled research projects and cooperative agreements, 1937-66. Research project records, 1944-62. Annual and quarterly project reports, 1941-66. Conference and meeting files, 1938-59. Cooperative agreements, 1957-67.

Top of Page

310.5.3 Records of the Southern Regional Research Center (New
Orleans, LA)

Textual Records (in Fort Worth): Central files, 1939-69.

Top of Page

310.5.4 Records of the Mexican Fruit Fly Laboratory (Mexico City,
Mexico)

Textual Records (in Fort Worth): Records relating to the Mexican fruit fly, 1951-68, including "History of the Mexican Fruit Fly Investigations in Mexico City" (1968) containing copies of correspondence and reports dating from 1928 to the 1940's.

Top of Page

310.5.5 Records of the Western Regional Research Center (Albany,
CA)

Textual Records (in San Francisco): Central files, 1936-42. Cooperative agreements, 1959-61. Records of the U.S. Frozen Food Pack Laboratory, Seattle, WA, 1934-40.

Photographs (in San Francisco): Construction, experiments, and research, 1940-79 (20,000 images). See also 310.8.

Top of Page

310.5.6 Records of the Naval Stores Laboratory (Olustee, FL)

Textual Records (in Atlanta): Laboratory publications, 1907-65.

Photographs (in Atlanta): Construction of laboratory buildings, 1931-33 (85 images). See also 310.8.

Top of Page

310.5.7 Records of the Nursery Crop Research Laboratory
(Delaware, OH)

Photographs: Characteristics and treatment of Dutch Elm Disease, 1940-55 (E, 260 images). See also 310.8.

Top of Page

310.5.8 Records of the Mayaguez Experiment Station (Mayaguez, PR)

Textual Records: Progress reports, 1954-72.

Top of Page

310.5.9 Records of the Agricultural Experiment Station,
University of Idaho (Moscow, ID)

Textual Records (in Seattle): Records relating to watershed studies conducted by the Soil Conservation Service, 1939-43. Precipitation runoff records; reports on water erosion, field moisture, and flood damage; and rain and stream gauge charts from stations near Dayton, WA; Emmett, ID; Newburg, OR; and Watsonville, CA, 1906-36.

Top of Page

310.5.10 Records of the Upper Mississippi Valley Conservation
Experiment Station (La Crosse, WI)

Textual Records (in Chicago): Annual and special reports relating to the administration of the station, 1932-65.

Top of Page

310.5.11 Records of the Ohio Agricultural Research and
Development Center (Wooster, OH)

Textual Records (in Chicago): Records relating to horticultural research, 1917-66.

Top of Page

310.5.12 Records of the Watershed Research Unit (Columbia, MO)

Textual Records (in Kansas City): Hydrological and meteorological records of watershed studies near Colby and Fenimore, WI; Edwardsville and Alhambra, IL; Sabetha Lake, KS; and Trenor and Mule Creek, IA, 1938-66.

Top of Page

310.6 Cartographic Records (General)

See Maps under 310.2.1 and 310.3.
See Graphs under 310.3.
See Architectural and Engineering Plans under 310.2.1.

Top of Page

310.7 Motion Pictures (General)
1939-49

Cultivation and harvest of sugar beets, 1939-49 (11 reels).

Top of Page

310.8 Still Pictures (General)

See Photographs under 310.5.5, 310.5.6, and 310.5.7.


Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.

Ordering information

This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.


Top of Page

Guide to Federal Records >

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272