Missouri Botanical Garden has a collection of over 6,000 ears of corn, some of which date to the early 1900's. We are in the process of digitizing and photographing this collection to make it available to researchers and heirloom seed savers around the world. This collection provides a snapshot of past crop diversity at various points of time throughout the 20th Century. Although the seeds are no longer viable, they could provide genetic material for comparison with more recent seed collections.

Presenter: Charlie Miksicek is a retired archaeobotanist, former board member for Native Seeds/SEARCH, research associate for Missouri Botanical Garden, and lifelong gardener.

Michael Washburn is the director of preservation at Seed Savers Exchange. Originally recorded 8/10/2023 for the Seed Savers Exchange virtual conference.