This collection contains material on Hastings Hatchery and its founder, Elmer F. Hastings. Items include a biographical sketch of Elmer Hastings written by Elbert Robbins in 2008, a cassette and CD of an interview of Mrs. Elmer Hastings and Henry Vinyard by Ray Thompson in 2007, two CDs of images pertaining to the Parsonsburg and Arkansas farms. In addition, there are photocopies of brochures pertaining to Hastings Hatchery's baby chick care and management, and pamphlet on the state certification of chicks. Also there are advertisements for the business, and photocopies with legend of an aerial shot of Hastings Hatchery.

Owner of Parsonsburg-based Hastings Hatchery, Elmer F. Hastings (1889-1982) was the son of Levin and Caroline (Holloway) Hastings of Parsonsburg, MD. With only a rural education of three years, he ventured into the poultry business in 1919 by buying two gas-heated incubators and placing them in his cellar, which grew into a large hatchery behind his house. Hastings, through a partnership with Armour and Company, established a broiler farm of eighteen chicken houses at Wango, MD under the name of Ches-peake Farms. He later expanded to Rogers, AR and Gainesville, GA. He was a leader in the development of chicken care and management in Delmarva pushing for state-certified and blood-tested chicks. Hastings also served as president of the Delmarva Poultry Industry in the 1940s. Personally, Hastings married Agnes Laws ca. 1913 and they had a daughter, Marybelle (b. 1919). After his first wife died, he married Olive Miller in 1962 and became involved in the Forest Grove Old School Baptist Church, which he later served as deacon.