Arthur D. Hall (1924-2006) was a systems engineer who spent the first part of his career with Bell Telephone Laboratories and later taught at the University of Pennsylvania and conducted an independent consulting business. In the latter capacity he developed a patented automated agricultural production system that the called "Autofarm," but was unable to make the leap from invention to true innovation. It was an early, but failed attempt at "green" farming. The Arthur D. Hall III papers represent a portion of his total archive that survived at the time of his death and was removed from his home office in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The main focus of the papers is Hall's work to develop Autofarm and his unsuccessful attempts to secure funding and market the concept to paying customers. There are smaller amounts of material dealing with his career at Bell Labs and his writing and publishing efforts.

Active in the 1840s, Emerson & Hanson Threshing Machine Company manufactured and repaired farming implements and other machinery; the company primarily manufactured "Pitt's Patent Horse Power and Separator" threshing machine, having licensed the process from the patentee. The collection consists of a sample of sixteen letters from agents, customers, and suppliers in various Midwestern states, containing orders for machines and parts, complaints, etc.

The Exposicion Internacional del Centenario commemorated the centennial of the May Revolution in Argentina and its consequent independence from Spain. It was an international exhibition that was held in 1910 between May and November in the capital of Buenos Aires. The photographs in the album consist of views of France's exhibit and include the exterior and interior of the pavilion.