John Calvin Allen, professionally known as J. C., worked as a
photographer for Purdue University from 1909-1952, and operated his own
photography business until his death in 1976. The J. C. Allen photographs
represent a historical account of the transition from pioneer practices to
scientific methodologies in agriculture and rural communities. During this
major transitional period for agriculture, tractors replaced horses, hybrid
corn supplanted open-pollinated corn, and soybeans changed from a novelty crop
to regular rotation on most farms. During this time, purebred animals with
better genetic pedigrees replaced run-of-the-mill livestock, and systematic disease
prevention in cattle, swine, and poultry took place.
Allen's
photographs also document clothing styles, home furnishings, and the items
people thought important as they went about their daily lives. Looking closely
at tractors, livestock, wagons, planters, sprayers, harvesting equipment, and
crops gives one a sense of the changing and fast-paced world of agriculture at that time.
This volume contains over 900 picturesque images, most never-before-seen, of men, women, and children
working on the farm, which remain powerful reminders of life in rural America at the
turn of the twentieth century. As old farmhouses and barns fall victim to
age, Allen photographs are all that remain. While those people and times
no longer exist today, they do remain "alive" because of the preservation of
that history on film. A camera in his hands and an eye for photography allowed Allen to create indelible visual histories that continue to tell
the story of agriculture and rural life from long ago.
