With the Urbana Sweetcorn Festival happening this weekend the Archives would like to offer an ode to corn in picture form. 

A team of horses pulling a harrow in a field of corn stalks

A team of horses pulling a harrow in a field of corn stalks

Shelling corn with a steam engine, 1901

Shelling corn with steam engine on the John Gilbreath farm in Rantoul Township, Champaign County, 1901

C.A. Hurst, Champaign,IL, breaking in a new picker, 1941

C.A. Hurst, rural route 2, Champaign, IL, breaking in a new picker, 1941

Four emergency corn cribs on Rome Mast's farm, 1948

Four emergency overflow corn cribs on Rome Mast's farm, east of Urbana, IL, 1948

 

Bill Berbaum drives a conbine, left, with his neighbor Philip Ross as his brother Jeff Berbaum steers a tractor pulling an Auger, 1998

Bill Berbaum drives a combine, left, with his neighbor Philip Ross as his brother Jeff Berbaum steers a tractor pulling an Auger at the Berbaum farm, south of Savoy, IL, September 1998

For a true ode to corn try Pablo Neruda's 'Ode to Maize.' 

- Sherrie, Archives Librarian