Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2102

RS 16/1/0/0
Iowa State University

Extension and Outreach
News Clippings, 1904-[ongoing]


Descriptive summary

creator: Iowa State University. Extension and Outreach
title: News Clippings
dates: 1904-[ongoing]
extent: 0.42 linear feet (1 document box)
collection number: RS 16/1/0/0
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: Extension and Outreach News clippings, RS 16/1/0/0, Special Collections 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 Clippings (information artifacts)

 

Abstract

The Department of Extension was founded in 1906 with funding from the Iowa General Assembly with Perry G. Holden serving as its first superintendent. 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. Subsequently, the Department of Extension became the Cooperative Extension Service in Agriculture and Home Economics. 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 into a single administrative unit. In 2006, University Extension became Extension and Outreach. The purpose of University Extension is to engage citizens through research‐based educational programs in order to extend the resources of Iowa State University across the state. This collection contains news clippings documenting Extension activities throughout its existence.

 

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. Mary B. Welch, wife of Iowa State College's first president Adonijah Welch, gave six lectures on home economics to a group of sixty women in Des Moines around 1882-1883 and lectured throughout the state. Later, home economics became a regular feature of short courses alongside agriculture. James Wilson, appointed Professor of Agriculture and Director of the ISC Experiment Station in 1891, wished to broaden the reach of the college and requested to establish a short course in agriculture and a dairy school. Perry Holden later popularized and extended the agricultural short courses. Holden was initially contracted to teach a trial segment on corn as part of an agriculture short course in 1902. His charismatic personality and engaging teaching style brought high demand from the farmers taking the short course for more time devoted to corn, and he was soon hired on a permanent basis by the College as a professor of agronomy.

In 1903, Holden attended a farmer's institute in Sioux County, speaking about the selection and cultivation of seed corn. Holden began his famous "Seed Corn Gospel Trains" in April 1904. These trains functioned as traveling exhibits that featured lectures and demonstrations that he and others delivered inside the train cars. 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. At ISU, the Department of Extension became Cooperative Extension Service in Agriculture and Home Economics.

In 1966, Cooperative Extension Service became University Extension through the merging of 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.

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

This collection (1904-[ongoing]) contains news clippings documenting Extension activities throughout its existence. It includes both general clippings files and files specific to a selection of Extension programs.

 

Related materials

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

Other collections in the Extension Record Series (RS 16)

 

Organization

The files are arranged chronologically.

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Short courses and conferences

1904-1975, undated

1

2

General

1914-1917

1

3

General

1920-1926

1

4

General

1947

1

5

Food and Nutrition program

1955-1960

1

6

General

1958

1

7

General

1961-1965

1

8

Animal Science program

1968, 1974

1

9

General

1969

1

10

General

1970-1979

1

11

Agricultural Economics program

1974

1

12

Agricultural Engineering program

1974

1

13

Agronomy program

1974

1

14

Entomology and Wildlife program

1974

1

15

Administration

1974-1975

1

16

Extension Field program

1974-1975

1

17

County Youth program

1974-1975, 1990

1

25

Elderhostel program

1977-1979

1

18

General

1980-1989

1

19

4-H

1986-2013, undated

1

20

Extension Salute

1989

1

21

General

1990-1998

1

22

General

2000-2009

1

23

Horticulture: James Romer

2002-2006

1

24

General

2010-[ongoing]