[Factory photo archive with over 80 original photographs, and 25 negatives, most preserved in factory file folder, with explanatory text, photographer, and dated, including images of Case Steam Engine No. 1]; (together with) Case road building machinery; The Case steam road roller. . . ; Automoviles Case de seis cilindros. Los carros de calidad. Modelos: Limousine, Turismo, Sport, Coupe; Report of an inquiry into changes in quality values of farm machines between 1910-14 and 1932, prepared by J.B. Davidson, G.W. McCuen, R.U. Blasingame, with letters on Case letterhead and sales brochures. . . ; Price comparisons. 1913-1937, farm machines and other manufactured products. . . .

Racine, WI; St. Joseph, MI; Chicago, IL: J.I. Case Threshing Machine Co.; American Society of Agricultural Engineers; Farm Equipment Institute, ca. 1909 - 1962]. Eighty-three original photographs printed on glossy photo stock, sized from 2.5 x 4.5 in. up to 7.5 x 9.5 in. (49 are 7.5 x 9.5 in. (some duplicates); 58 photos & 23 negatives mounted and preserved in original printed file folders w/ typed & ink captions, annotations on covers (occasional edgewear, couple w/ slight scuffing affixed on front); 5 additional collotype photos included, each w/ negative number in lower margin of image (slight toning); [together with] 5 works. 4to. 40; 28; 6; 165, [1]; 14 pp. 100s of photo illusts., diagrams, text illusts. First work: over 100 text illustrations, diagrams, with Arts & Crafts painting cover art showing completed road heading off into the distance (some edgewear, rubbing, annotations on title, scuffing to corners); 2nd work with over 50 text photos & illustrations, w/ gray softcovers, blue-tinted image of steam roller on front (some soiling, edgewear, darkening); 3rd with 4 plates, self-printed triptych catalogue, pages printed in light green, white borders, and black & white illustrations; 4th work with over 100 photo images, text illustrations, inserted material with additional diagrams, illustration, Case letterhead; 5th work with red & black tables, printed softcovers. All preserved in slipcase. This remarkable archive of over 100 factory photographs & negatives, and original catalogues for the Case Threshing Machine Company offer an excellent record of the famed manufacturer of steam engines, farm equipment, tractors, road building machinery, and more. Jerome Increase Case (1819- 1891) began building threshing machines in 1847 in Racine, WI, and by 1869 had engineered and built Case Steam Engine Number One, the first steam engine for agricultural use, and depicted in two of the photographs. One of the images shows the historic engine being hauled on a trailer behind a 1962 Case work truck, before it was donated to the Smithsonian. This rolling steam engine revolutionized farming, and road building machinery. By 1912, Case was manufacturing a complete line of heavy equipment for road building, including Case Steam Road Rollers which weighed up to 10 tons, and were powered by excellent 36 - 75 horsepower multi-purpose steam engines, along with Graders, Rock Crushers, Elevators, Screens, and Bins. A number of the photos are reproduced in the Case Road Building Catalogue, and the Case Road Roller Catalogue. The file photos include images by H.A. Wright of 10” Case Rock Crushers being pulled by LI Tractors in Washington County, IN; a Case LI Motor Patrol Galion with Scarifier by H.A. Caraway mixing oil with gravel in Montana; LI Tractors & Adams Maintainers by Daubert building roads in Polk County, IA, and more. Many of the images depict the Case Model C (1929-1939), and Case Model D gasoline engine tractors introduced in 1939, and developed through the 1940s and 1950s. The original photos show CI tractors fitted with Roustabout Cranes; cranes cleaning boulders from fence rows in 1929; equipped with a portable Stover Wood Saw for mills and logging; DI tractors with Hough Hydraulic Shovels; equipped with Hough fork lift; 42-inch bucket shovel; outfitted with caterpillar tracks, and much more. Of particular interest in the archive is the exceedingly scarce Case Automobile catalogue for Mexico, and other automobiles can be seen in the Road Building Machinery catalogue as well. In 1910, Case had purchased the Pierce Motor Co. and quickly began manufacturing the Pierce-Racine automobile, and later the Case Auto employing Pierce Motor Cos.’ 8000 dealers and agents worldwide. Case produced touring models, sedans, coupes, and limousines, as well as race cars. They ceased production of autos in the mid-1920s. Of additional interest are the two reports included on the productivity gains made by the rapidly improving farm equipment manufactured by Case, with graphs and details showing how farmers were benefitting from the technology improvements. Worldcat locates no copies of 1st & 3rd catalogues; 1 copy of 2nd (NYPL); See: Case Construction Equipment History (2013); Leffingwell, Classic Farm Tractors: History of the Farm Tractor, Chapter 2; Bill Ganzel, Wessels Living History Farm, York, Nebraska (2014).