Established as a result of the Hatch Act of 1887, the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station is the research arm of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Iowa State University. The Experiment Station conducts multidisciplinary research to help solve the complex agricultural problems facing scientists and farmers today. This collection contains the progress reports, publications, and other records that document the research projects conducted by the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station.

The Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station was founded at Iowa State as a result of legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 1887. Known as the Hatch Act, the legislation provided for the funding of agricultural research at Land Grant Colleges. On March 1, 1888, the Iowa General Assembly approved the terms of the Hatch Act and the Iowa Experiment Station was established. Administrative oversight of the Experiment Station was assigned to the Board of Trustees of the Iowa Agricultural College (Iowa State University). The Board, in turn, elected Captain R. P. Speer as the first director of the Experiment Station.

Early efforts of the Experiment Station staff involved establishing an orchard and planting experimental plots of grains, grasses, and vegetables on the campus grounds. Starting in 1888, the Experiment Station published quarterly Bulletins that described activities and results of the research conducted by the staff. Many of these results are also included in annual reports prepared by the director. In 1911, the staff, which by this time consisted of a combination of specialized researchers and a part-time teaching force, first published research bulletins and soon offered the first research fellowships.

Since its inception, the Experiment Station has existed under the auspices of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The Dean of the College also holds the title of Director of the Experiment Station. Although it serves as the research arm of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Experiment Station also supports programs in almost every other college at Iowa State and at a number of off-campus research facilities in the surrounding area. During the earliest years of its existence, Experiment Station research focused on soil, crops, horticulture, and dairying. Current research conducted by Experiment Station staff has become over-arching in scope and multidisciplinary in practice reflecting the complexity of agricultural problems facing scientists and farmers.

This collection (1945-2014) contains progress reports, publications, and other records that document the research projects conducted and sponsored by the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station. Files do not exist for all projects. In later years as projects were renewed they were assigned a new project number and sometimes the title was altered slightly. A listing of project numbers and titles compiled by the Experiment Station staff can be found in box 33, folder 143.

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

This collection is organized by project number.