Agriculture and Ranching Subject Guide
Collection Catalogs
Search History Colorado's catalogs for records of books, manuscript collections, maps, serial titles, photographs, and artifacts.
Books
Search the online collection by subject: agriculture, ranch, ranching, cattle, livestock, farm
For more specific subject searches:
- Cattle brands
- Ranch life
- Crops (search by name of crop)
- Irrigation
- Land settlement
- Soil
- Insects
- Agricultural pests
- Cowboy poetry
Bibliographies
- Cattle Industry
- Cattle Trails and Roundups
- Ranching in Colorado
- Rocky Mountain Locust
- Sugar Beet Industry
Directories
City/County Directories (ask the library to find available volumes)
Colorado State Business Directories (1875–1956)
Colorado Agricultural Directory, Ft. Collins.
Stockmen's Official Colorado Green Book. Denver, 1919.
Manuscript collections
Records of manuscript collections are included in the online collection. Collection guides, usually inventories, are available for many manuscript collections.
Maps
Search the online collection for records of maps.
America's Cattle Trails [1540 - 1900]. Herbert O. Brayer and Garnet M. Brayer. History Colorado call #G3701 .J5b 1949 .C5
Principal "Long Horn Trails" North from Texas. Hugh T. Glenn. History Colorado call #G4051 .J5 1863 .G5
Principal Spanish and Mexican Cattle Trails 1540-1846. Hugh T. Glen. History Colorado call #G4051 .J5 1540-1848 .G5
Newspapers
Many Colorado newspapers had regular columns on agriculture and ranching news. Search the online collection for newspaper titles and dates. Some Colorado newspapers are available digitally through the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
Photographs
Some photographs are available to view on the online collection.
Visit the Stephen H. Hart Research Center to view photography subject files for:
- Agriculture
- Agriculture - Ranching
- Agriculture - Ranches (by ranch name)
Serials
Search the online collection for serial titles and available dates, or browse our list of agricultural and ranching serials for title suggestions.
Special Collections
CWA Index (references to articles in newspapers, serials, and books)
Subject file: Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock
Place Name File: Ranches (filed by ranch name)
Text of interviews with individuals in the ranching and farming industries circa 1930s. Search the online collection for records and scans of interviews. Card file index available at the Stephen H. Hart Research Center.
Volumes of newspaper clippings on Cowboys and Cattle, Agriculture, Irrigation.
Colorado Subject Collection
Subject Collection - Agriculture - pamphlets, programs, clippings and other ephemeral materials.
Biographical collection (CSC.BIO) - information on individuals involved in agriculture and ranching. Search the online index.
Geographical Collection (CSC.GEO) - Eastern Colorado - for booklets on agriculture on the Colorado plains.
WPA Writers' Project
History of Grazing. History Colorado call #RB q636.2 W939gr
Stockmen Interviews. History Colorado call #RB q636.2 W939st