Agricultural Extension Service Records

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694

Summary

Extent:
3.4 Cubic Feet
Language:
English .

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of files compiled in preparing the history of the Cooperative Extension Service entitled College of the Fields: Highlights of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1914-1980. Included in the collection are: lists of county agents (1914-80); correspondence, articles, speeches and other items from the files of Ella Agnew, first home demonstration agent in the U.S.; information on Seaman Knapp, T.O. Sandy, Maude Wallace, and other pioneers of extension work; information on Negro extension work, 4-H, Black Extension Homemakers Club, Virginia Extension Homemakers Council, and home demonstration work; typed manuscripts of articles and speeches by John R. Hutcheson; photographs of home demonstration work and the people involved; publications consulted for the history; and a rough draft of the history with margin notes and editing.

Biographical / historical:

The Agricultural Extension began with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914, but can trace its roots back to 1906 when extension work in agriculture and home economics began in Virginia. In 1966, the Agricultural Extension Service became the Cooperative Extension Service as part of the overall Extension Division of Virginia Tech. For a complete history, see College of the Fields: Some Highlights of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service, 1914-1980.