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

RS 21/7/26
Willet M. Hays (1859-1928)
Papers, 1887-1929


Descriptive summary

creator: Hays, Willet M. (1859-1928)
title: Papers
dates: 1887-1929
extent: 0.42 linear feet (1 document box)
collection number: RS 21/7/26
repository: University Archives, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

 

Administrative information

access: Open for research
publication rights: Consult Head, Special Collections Department
preferred citation: Willet M. Hays Papers, RS 21/7/26, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Abstract

Agricultural scientist and public official. Willet M. Hays was born on a farm in Hardin County, Iowa, attended Oscaloosa College and Drake University, and received a bachelor of agriculture degree (1885) and a master of agriculture degree (1896), both from Iowa State College (University). In addition to brief positions at Iowa State, North Dakota College, and the Prairie Farmer, he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota. Hays was a pioneer in the teaching and field study of agricultural economics, particularly in the area of farm management. He was also actively involved in agricultural education and established a unique system of agricultural high schools affiliated with the University of Minnesota. As Assistant Secretary of Agriculture (1905-1913) under Secretary James Wilson, Hays tried to establish the Minnesota agricultural education system on the national level. The bulk of the collection consists of publications by Hays from his time at the University of Minnesota and the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1888-1913. Experiment Station bulletins, articles, and newspaper clippings deal with agricultural education, hybridizing of grains and forage crops, and farm management.

 

Biographical note

Willet Martin Hays was born on an Iowa farm in 1859. He attended Oskaloosa College and Drake University before earning a bachelor of agriculture (1885) and master of agriculture (1896) from Iowa State College (University). After short periods of work at Iowa State College and The Prairie Farmer, he accepted a position at the University of Minnesota from 1888-1892. After a brief interlude at the North Dakota College in 1892-1893, he returned to the University of Minnesota until 1904.

Hays was a pioneer in the teaching and field study of subjects in agricultural economics with particular reference to farm management. He introduced and tested many hybrid varieties of field crops. Hays was, perhaps, best known for his promotion of agricultural education on a high school level, and established a unique system of agricultural high schools, affiliated with the University of Minnesota, throughout the state. In 1905 he was appointed assistant secretary of agriculture under James "Tama Jim" Wilson, a position he held until 1913. In this position Hays tried to install the Minnesota agricultural education system on a national level though the Dolliver-Davis and Page-Wilson bills. His ideas were partially implemented in 1914 with the Smith-Lever Act. On leaving the department of agriculture in 1913, Hays acted as advisor to the Minister of Agriculture in Argentina for two years before retiring at age 56.

 

Collection description

The collection (1887-1929) contains publications by Hays during his time at the University of Minnesota and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (1888-1913). The Minnesota Experiment Station bulletins and other articles deal with the main areas of interest to Hays during his career: agricultural education, hybridizing of grains and forage crops, and farm management. There are also two folders of newspaper clippings which address similar issues along with biographical information. A small collection of letters represents a few peoples' reactions (such as Tama Jim, Edwin Jaggard, and David Lubin) to his governmental appointment.

 

Organization

The collection is organized alphabetically with biographical information listed first.

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1

Biographical information

1928

1

2

Biographical information: newspaper clippings

1887-1929, undated

1

3

Articles by Hays: "Back to the Land," Munsey's Magazine

undated

1

3

Articles by Hays: "Depth for Cultivating Corn," Students' Farm Journal

1887

1

3

Articles by Hays: "Our Farmer Youth and Public Schools," American Monthly Review of Reprints

1903

1

3

Articles by Hays: "The United States Department of Agriculture," The Outlook

1905

1

3

Articles by Hays: "Brains that Make Billions," The Saturday Evening Post

1908

1

3

Articles by Hays: "Fleecing the Farmer."

1909

1

3

Articles by Hays: "The Power of the Farmer to Help Himself," Successful Farming

1910

1

3

Articles by Hays: "Reminiscent of James Wilson," Hardin County Ledger

1925

1

4

Bulletins and Reports: "Grain and Forage Crops," Government Agricultural Experiment Station for North Dakota, Bulletin #10

1893

1

5

Bulletins and Reports: "Grain and Forage Crops," University of Minnesota, Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin #40

1894

1

6

Bulletins and Reports: "The Russian Thistle or Russian Tumbleweed," University of Minnesota, Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin #33

1894

1

7

Bulletins and Reports: "Wheat: Varieties, Breeding, Cultivation," University of Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin #62

1899

1

8

Bulletins and Reports: "Breeding Staple Food Plants," Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society

1900

1

9

Bulletins and Reports: "Producing Fodder and Silage Corn," University Experiment Station, St. Anthony Park, Minnesota, Press Bulletin No. 10

1900

1

10

Bulletins and Reports: "Plant Breeding," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology, Bulletin #29

1901

1

11

Bulletins and Reports: "Our Farmer Youth and the Public Schools," American Monthly Review of Reviews

1903

1

12

Bulletins and Reports: "Breeding Field Crops," Address to Kansas State Board of Agriculture

1904

1

13

Bulletins and Reports: "Secondary Education," Address to the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science

1907

1

14

Bulletins and Reports: "Agriculture, Industries, and Home Economics in Our Public Schools," Address to National Education Association of the United States, Department of Superintendence

1908

1

15

Bulletins and Reports: Convention between the United States and other Powers for the creation of an International Institute of Agriculture

1908

1

16

Bulletins and Reports: "Co-Operation, True Americanism"

1908

1

17

Bulletins and Reports: "Education for Country Life," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations Circular 84

1909

1

18

Bulletins and Reports: "Circuit Breeding," American Breeders Magazine

1912

1

19

Bulletins and Reports: "Constructive Eugenics," American Breeders Magazine

1912

1

20

Bulletins and Reports: "Eugenics and the General Genetics Movement," American Breeders Association

1912

1

21

Bulletins and Reports: "Farm Management: Organization of Research and Teaching," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin #236

1912

1

22

Bulletins and Reports: "Functions and Needs of our Great Markets," American Academy of Political and Social Science Annals, #711

1913

1

23

Bulletins and Reports: "Rural School Agriculture," University of Minnesota, Rural School of Agriculture, Bulletin #1

undated

1

24

Bulletins and Reports: "Variation in Cross-Bred Wheats," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 115

undated

1

25

Correspondence

1904-1914, undated

1

26

List of Additional Titles by Hays

undated

1

27

Publications by Hays' assistant, George W. Knorr: "Consolidated Rural Schools and Organization of a County System," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin #232

1910

1

28

Publications by Hays' former student, Charles G. Brand: "Grimm Alfalfa and its Utilization in the Northwest," U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin #209

1911