In the 1940s the U.S. Department of Agriculture and A&P supermarkets teamed up to hold a contest to see who could breed the meatiest, most efficient, most visually appealing chicken. 

Research:

• Audio Productions inc. “The Chicken of Tomorrow.” Documentary. (1948).
• Boyd, William. “Making Meat: Science, Technology, and American Poultry Production.” Technology and Culture , Oct., 2001, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Oct., 2001). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147798
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Robert Bakewell". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Bakewell. Accessed 21 April 2023.
• Bugos, Glenn E. “Intellectual Property Protection in the American Chicken-Breeding Industry.” The Business History Review , Spring, 1992, Vol. 66, No. 1. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3117055
• Cook, Robert E. et al. “How Chicken on a Sunday Became an Anyday Treat.” USDA. 1975. https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/catalog/CAIN769013731
• Cornell University. “Backyard Revival: American Heritage Poultry.” https://exhibits.library.cornell.edu/backyard-revival-american-heritage-poultry
• Elfick, Dominic. “A Brief History of Broiler Selection: How Chicken Became a Global Food Phenomenon in 50 Years.” Aviagen. http://en.aviagen.com/assets/Sustainability/50-Years-of-Selection-Article-final.pdf
• Horowitz, Roger. “Making the Chicken of Tomorrow: Reworking Poultry as Commodities and as Creatures, 1945-1990.” From “Industrializing Organisms.” Susan R. Schrepfer and Philip Scranton, editors. Routledge. 2003.
• Killgrove, Kristina. “Ancient DNA Explains How Chickens Got To The Americas.” Forbes. 11/23/2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2017/11/23/ancient-dna-explains-how-chickens-got-to-the-americas/
• Laatsch, David R. “The ‘Chicken of Tomorrow.’” University of Wisconsin-Madison. Livestock Division of Extension. https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/the-chicken-of-tomorrow/
• Long, Tom. “Henry Saglio; his breeding knowhow changed poultry industry.” Boston.com. 12/26/2003. http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2003/12/16/henry_saglio_his_breeding_knowhow_changed_poultry_industry/
• McKenna, Maryn. “The Surprising Origin of Chicken as a Dietary Staple.” National Geographic. 5/1/2018. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/poultry-food-production-agriculture-mckenna
• Peters, Joris et al. “The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens.” PNAS. Vol. 119, No. 24. June 2022. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2121978119
• Short, Michael. “Delmarva’s $4.8 Billion Chicken Industry Was Accidentally Hatched 100 Years Ago.” Lancaster Farming. 2/19/2023. https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/poultry/delmarva-s-4-8-billion-chicken-industry-was-accidentally-hatched-100-years-ago/article_36af9702-f119-51d1-a122-aee4b78955ce.html
• Shrader H.L. “The Chicken-of-Tomorrow Program; Its Influence on ‘Meat-Type’ Poultry Production.” Poultry Science. Volume 31, Issue 1, 1 January 1952, Pages 3-10. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119513013
• Wiehoff, Dale. “How the Chicken of Tomorrow became the Chicken of the World.” Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. 3/26/2013. https://www.iatp.org/blog/201303/how-the-chicken-of-tomorrow-became-the-chicken-of-the-world