Model Plow

Grade Range: K-12
Resource Type(s): Artifacts
Date Posted: 4/4/2016

This single reversible right and left plow model is part of a large collection of model plows that were transferred from the Department of the Interior to the U.S. National Museum in 1910. In 1952, curator Edward C. Kendall researched the model plows and desired to catalog and identify the typology of the hundreds of models, and his research led him to believe the models were made in Germany. Through correspondence with Kendall, Professor W.E. Fishcher Schlemm of the Royal Agricultural College in Stuttgart Hohenheim confirms that the models at the Smithsonian were made at a model factory previously connected with the college. Fischer Schlemm believed that Ludwig von Rau was in charge of having the models made when he worked at the school from 1852 until 1872. Fischer Schlemm said he owned a list of the models with their country of origin, which curator Kendall was keenly seeking. The list is not in the file, perhaps it exists elsewhere.