Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

RS 16/6/1
Iowa State University

University Extension

Area and County Extension
Administrative Files, 1912-1987, undated


Descriptive summary

creator: Iowa State University. University Extension. Area and County Extension
title: Administrative Files
dates: 1912-1987, undated
extent: 9.23 linear feet (5 records center cartons, 6 document boxes, 1 half-document box)
collection number: RS 16/6/1
repository: University Archives, Special Collections and University Archives Department, Iowa State University.
language: English

 

Administrative information

access: Open for research
publication rights: Consult Head, Special Collections and University Archives Department
preferred citation: Area and County Extension Administrative Files, RS 16/6/1, Special Collections and University Archives Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Access points

People, Families, and Corporate Bodies:

Iowa State University. Extension and Outreach
Places:  
Subjects:

Agricultural extension work -- Iowa

Home economics extension work -- Iowa
Genres:

Administrative records

 

Abstract

Iowa State University Extension was founded in 1906 as the Department of Extension at Iowa State College (University). Area Extension included the administration by University Extension of county Extension offices, supervisory districts, and area offices that oversaw the work of specialists across counties. County Extension work in Iowa grew out of the county demonstration farms created during the early years of Extension. Clinton County was the first county in Iowa to hire a full-time county agent in 1912, and by the end of World War I there were Extension agents in every county. County Extension work was initially divided into six supervisory districts throughout Iowa. In 1961, Extension began a pilot project known as TENCO (refers to ten southern Iowa counties) that took a regional approach to rural development. Following the model of TENCO, twelve area offices were created between 1965 and 1969, in order to better utilize specialists in responding to the needs of the public across counties. This collection contains reports, salary records, handbooks, pamphlets, budgets and financial statements, committee files, program materials, and subject files. It documents the administration of county Extension offices and the supervisory districts and area offices organizing Extension work throughout the state.

 

Historical note

In 1906, the Iowa General Assembly appropriated funds to establish a Department of Extension at Iowa State College (University). Extension work in Iowa began earlier through the pioneering efforts of several people, including Mary B. Welch, James Wilson, and Perry Holden. Holden was appointed the first superintendent of Extension at Iowa State from 1906 to 1912. He focused on three branches of Extension work: demonstration farms, short courses, and education trains. In 1914, the U.S. Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, creating a nationwide system of cooperative extension services that provide outreach activities through land-grant universities. The Act brought together funding at the national, state, and county levels to support the work of these cooperative extension services, and the program was administered through the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1966, University Extension was established by merging the short courses service group, farm demonstrations service group, engineering extension service group, and Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS, established in 1962). In 2006, University Extension became Extension and Outreach.

Area Extension included the administration of county Extension offices, supervisory districts, and area offices organizing Extension work throughout the state of Iowa.

County Extension work in Iowa grew out of the county demonstration farms created during the early years of Extension. There became a need to have full-time Extension workers living in the counties they served, instead of dividing their time between the Iowa State College campus and the county.  Clinton County, under the auspices of the Clinton Commercial Club, was the first county in Iowa to hire a full-time county agent, Martin L. Mosher, in 1912. Scott County quickly followed suit, hiring G.R. Bliss as full-time county agent later that same year. Other counties also hired Extension agents over the next several years so that, by 1917 when the United States entered World War I, there were a total of 24 county agents. World War I greatly increased the need for higher agricultural output around the country, so the federal government funded the hiring of agents in every county; Pottawattamie County hired two.

County Extension work was initially divided into six supervisory districts throughout Iowa. In 1961, a pilot project known as TENCO led the country in taking a regional approach to rural development. Extension workers collaborated with business and community leaders in ten southern Iowa counties around the hub city of Ottumwa to work together to solve economic problems affecting the area. In 1965, this area approach to Extension organization was expanded. With the growth in agricultural technologies, county Extension directors began to find that they did not have the resources to field the growing volume of questions. Beginning in Ottumwa, twelve area offices were created, with the final one opening in Des Moines in 1969. This area approach to organization allowed directors to better utilize the knowledge of specialists, engaging them more directly with the public. As of 2014, County Extension is organized into twenty regional offices.

Sources

Bliss, Ralph K. History of Cooperative Agriculture and Home Economics Extension in Iowa--The First Fifty Years. Ames, IA: Iowa State University of Science and Technology, 1960.

Schwieder, Dorothy. 75 Years of Service: Cooperative Extension in Iowa. Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1993.

 

Collection description

The collection (1912-1987, undated) contains reports, salary records, handbooks, pamphlets, budgets and financial statements, committee files, program materials, and subject files. It documents the administration of county Extension offices and the supervisory districts and area offices organizing Extension work throughout the state.

 

Related materials

Related collections in the Special Collections and University Archives Department, Iowa State University Library include:

Additional Extension records can be found under records series (RS) 16

 

Organization

The files are arranged alphabetically.

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Annual Conference program and report

1928

1

2

Application of Sociology to the Role of County Extension Director course outline

1969

1

3

Area Directors meetings

1968-1969

5

3

County agents personnel record

1912-1932

4

1

County Agents reports and pamphlets

1914-1931

5

4-6

County agent salary records

1912-1969

4

2

County Agent Supervision

1922-1931

1

4

County Agricultural Planning: Communication and Material

1936

12

5

County: correspondence from County Agents

1930-1950

1

5

County Extension Council Appreciation Days invitation cards

1987, undated

12

1

County Extension Council reorganization

1992

1

6

County Extension Director's Training

1964

1

7

County Extension Districts: procedures and legal requirements for budget, elections, and financial reports

1970-1971

1

8

County Extension Home Economists District Conference

1964

1

9

County Extension Home Economists District Organization meeting

1960

1

10

County Extension News Service: news releases

1969

12

8

County Field Specialists: Iowa Communications Network (ICN) information packet

1993

5

2

County: Black Hawk county reports

1915-1916

5

1

County: Eighteenth Annual Fremont County Farmers Institute program

1918

3

1

County Extension Administrative Handbook

1960

4

3

County Extension Councils: "Background of … Cooperative Extension Work in Iowa" pamphlet

1961

4

4

County Extension directors list

1969 circa

6

5

County: Farm labor and emergency war food assistants and clerks appointments

1946

6

2-3

County: Farm labor and emergency war food assistants appointments

1944-1945

12

6

County: Field program articles and bulletins

1908-1913, undated

1

18

County: File classification manual for Iowa County Extension offices

1963

2

1

County: File classification manual for Iowa County Extension offices

1994

1

19

County: Forms and procedures, County Agricultural Extension Council elections, budget, salary

1969-1972

7

5

County: Hamilton County 50th Anniversary program, "Our 50 Years, 1917-1967"

1967

1

20

County: History - county agents, county farm bureaus, 1870-1943

undated

4

5

County: Iowa Future Series operation handbook and fact sheets

1960-1961

1

21

County: Performance Appraisal of County Extension Staff Members (blank forms)

1965

7

1-3

County: Information forms for nominees for State Advisory Committee and other leadership positions

1946-1964

7

4

County: Program Helps for Iowa Rural Young People's Organizations

1948-1952

5

7-8

County: Program materials (mimeographs), Murl McDonald (B-19 to B-282)

1943-1946

5

9-22

County: Program materials (mimeographs), Murl McDonald, MD-series (MD-1 through MD-750)

1946-1949

4

6

County: Report program calendaring conferences

1929

5

23

County: "Some Uses of Population Materials in County Program Planning"

1950 circa

6

1

County: State and Federal Funds Expended on Farm Labor Program

1943

3

2

County: Summary Report of Study in Relation to Effectiveness of County Extension Work in Iowa

1938

6

4

County: War Food and Farm Labor Expenses Paid in County from State and Federal Funds

1945

5

24

County women's projects

1920s-1930s

1

11-17

District Supervisors Conferences: minutes

1946-1952

12

3

Extension county offices directory sheet

1994

11

6-8

Farm Bureau: Analysis of finances

1943-1945

3

3-5

Farm Bureau: Analysis of finances

1946-1948

5

25-26

Farm Bureau: Background information for district legislative meetings, national and state issues

1956

3

6-8

Farm Bureau: Budgets

1943-1945

5

27

Farm Bureau: County Farm Bureau program meeting suggestions

1931

12

7

Farm Bureau: County Farm Bureau reports

1945-1947, undated

6

6-20

Farm Bureau: Employees' Salaries and Farm Bureau Finances Spring Reports by County (Adair through Black Hawk)

1930-1950

4

7

Farm Bureau-Extension relations

1949-1953

5

28

Farm Bureau: Farm and Home Projects for Iowa

1933

2

2-4

Farm Bureau: Financial statements

1921-1930

5

29

Farm Bureau: "Iowa Has an Agricultural Program," notes for a chart talk

1920s circa

5

30

Farm Bureau: Membership collections

1922

5

31

Farm Bureau: Report on study of County Farm Bureau service activities

1946

7

6

Farm Bureau: Resolutions Committee list and opinionnaire

1956, undated

5

32

Farm Bureau: Score card for ranking counties for district and grand champion awards

1953

5

33

Farm Bureau: Suggested by-laws and laws relating to farm aid associations

1927, undated

5

34

Farm Bureau: Township organization activities

1930s circa

2

10

Farm Bureau: Union Township Farm Bureau program

1954

7

7

Federal Extension Service (FES) Program Projection Series

1956

5

35-36

Field Agent Reference Book

1937

7

8-20

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-1 to FA-899)

1935-1944

7

21

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-901 to FA-1156) (1 of 3)

1944-1946

8

1-2

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-901 to FA-1156) (2 and 3 of 3)

1944-1946

8

3-20

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-1157 to FA-2860)

1945-1953

9

1-3

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-2861 to FA-3100)

1953-1955

9

4

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-3381 to FA-3451)

1951-1956

9

5-6

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-3251 to FA-3380)

1954-1956

10

1-22

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-3452 to FA-4850)

1956-1964

11

1-5

Field Offices: Field agents mimeograph materials (FA-4851 to FA-5229)

1964-1965

4

8

Field Studies and Demonstrations: Weekly field reports of J.W. Coverdale

1914-1915

4

9

Iowa Association of County Agents: Annual Meeting program

1929

4

10

Iowa Corn Growers Association

1912-1913

4

11

Midcrest Area: "Women's Leadership: A Report of Talks and Discussions with Key Women Leaders…"

1967

12

2

Proposals: Programming for youth opportunity in Midcrest

1967

4

12

Report on the Black Hawk County Alfalfa Campaign

1914

2

5

Report: Cooperative Extension work in Iowa with special reference to the County Agent

1932

2

6

Report of the Fifth Annual County Agents' Conference

1918

2

7

Responsibilities of County Extension and Farm Bureau personnel

1930s circa

4

13

Scott County Farm Improvement League

1913-1914

2

8

Soil conservation service

1936-1940

4

14

Speech: Howard, J.R., to the State Implement Dealers' Association meeting

1928

2

9

Spring survey narrative summary

1924

2

11

States Relations Service: Weekly field reports of Murl McDonald

1916-1917

12

4

TENCO

1963-1964, undated