Calling all seed buffs. Soon – once the electronic digitization process is complete – this MASSIVE collection of catalogs and broadsheets going back to 1771 will be available to the world FREE online at ‘Archive.com.‘
This remarkable Seed & Nursery Catalog collection was started over 100-years-ago by Maine botanist Percy LeRoy Ricker who enjoyed a long and dedicated career at USDA. PPH’s Mary Pols explains primal Maine connections in this fascinating article. Jim
“These catalogs, many of them beautifully illustrated, are more than just charming – they represent agricultural history. Their pages are littered with lost varieties and clues to how and what we grew in earlier centuries. They’ve always been available to the public, but until being digitized, that meant a trip to the fifth floor of the National Agricultural Library’s building in Beltsville, Maryland, where the originals are stored in an environment carefully controlled to high archival standards.
“Now anyone with Internet access can see them. But if it weren’t for a Mainer born in Brunswick in 1878, this collection might not exist at all.”
http://www.pressherald.com/2016/01/17/find-a-treasure-trove-of-old-maine-seed-catalogs-online/
