Agricultural History
Congressional passage of the Morrill Land-Grant Act in 1862 enabled states to sell federal lands, invest the proceeds, and use the income to support colleges. Penn State was designated as Pennsylvania's land-grant institution.
Evan Pugh, Penn State's first President, used his scientific education to create a curriculum for agricultural studies that combined theory and practical applications.
First President of Penn State, Evan Pugh
Archival Collections
- General vertical files, Academics and Research, 1920-present : AgricultureThe Academics and research general vertical file contains newsletters, programs, pamphlets, magazines, clippings, annual reports, histories, meeting minutes, and course descriptions for the college of Agriculture and the department of Agricultural Extension.
- Photographic vertical files, Academics and Research, 1855-present: AgricultureThe collection contains photographs of activities in the departments within the College of Agriculture.
- Pennsylvania State University, College of Agricultural Sciences records (00045)This collection documents the College of Agricultural Sciences' personnel and several of its related programs. Included are deans' meeting minutes, publications, correspondence, conference reports, course programs, personnel files, and media.
- Pennsylvania State University. Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Department Records (00042)The collection contains community studies questionnaire, interview schedules, and some newsletters; trends by town chapter; leadership study; and community survey schedules by town for Millville, Mill Hall, Troy, Richland, Linesville, Wyalusing, Mercersburg, Benton, Martinsburg, Middleburg, Howard, Centre Hall, Spring Grove, Halifax, and McConnellsburg, Pa.
- John M. Okie collection on agricultural history (01680)The John M. Okie Collection on Agricultural History includes letters, addresses, reports, and pamphlets relating to improving agricultural methods and animal husbandry and correspondence about the disposition of these materials belonging to the Society. Letters from the 1760s relate to Benjamin Franklin's farms.
- Jerome K. Pasto papers (01100)This collection documents Jerome Pasto's presentation on Evan Pugh for the United States Bicentennial Celebration and one 1998 scrapbook about the Penn State Agricultural Museum.
- John Hamilton papers (00412)The collection of Penn State professor and treasurer John Hamilton includes his writings and speeches, and official daybooks and ledgers of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Farmers' Institute and Pennsylvania State College dating from 1865 to 1919. The collection documents the financial transactions of the college in its first four decades as well as Hamilton's involvement in agricultural and rural reform activities.
- James Holt papers (06676)The collection contains research files, reports, papers, correspondence, and administrative materials documenting agricultural economist James Holt's service as a professor and consultant in farm labor and management.
Published Materials
- The land-grant colleges and the reshaping of American higher education byCall Number: LB2329.5.L33 2013Publication Date: 2013
The College of Agriculture at Penn State by Publication Date: 1991- The origins of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 : a convergence of war and the threat of war, agricultural influence, modernization, and the American university movement byCall Number: LB2329.5.D84 1996Publication Date: 1996
