College of Agricultural Sciences Records (RG 158)
1895-1997 (inclusive) 1911-1986 (bulk)
21.5 cubic feet, 5 reels of microfilm

Agricultural Engineering students in front of Strand Agriculture Hall about to depart to World's Fair in Chicago, Summer 1933   [OSU Archives: P36:205]
Scope and Content Note

The College of Agricultural Sciences Records consist primarily of the college dean's office administrative records, organized into 14 series. Series are usually arranged chronologically within subject categories. Because of the close and sometimes indistinguishable relationship between the School/College of Agricultural Sciences and the Agricultural Experiment Station, many of the records in the record group pertain to both entities.

Series one includes administrators' and directors' meeting minutes. Series two contains general administrative records of the college, including college committees, policies, resident instruction, scholarships, and short courses. Series three includes correspondence, reports, and meeting minutes of organizations and associations that the college participates in, such as the National Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities. Series four includes correspondence and reports from the various academic departments within the college. Series five documents the relationship between the college and the federal government, especially the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Series six includes records pertaining to the financial aspects of the college, such as budgeting and state and federal appropriations. Series seven documents college lands purchased and leased. Series eight contains records of publications produced wholly or in part by the college. Series nine contains reports of the State Planning Board, the Oregon Rural Rehabilitation Corporation, and other organizations on which college administrators served. The series also includes miscellaneous studies, reports, and surveys produced by the college.

Series ten documents the relationship between the college and various state agencies, such as the Oregon Department of Agriculture, the Oregon State Board of Forestry, the Oregon Water Resources Board, and various commodity commissions, such as the Oregon Wheat Commission. Many state agency committees and all commodity commissions included a College of Agricultural Sciences faculty member or administrator. Series eleven includes correspondence, reports, and meeting minutes of other university committees and organizations with which the college was associated. Series twelve consists of a 1981 blue ribbon task force report and review of the college's structure and function. Series thirteen contains the college's long range planning records from the 1980s and 1990s. Series fourteen is a 1930s scrapbook of clippings and photographs pertaining to School of Agriculture banquets, picnics, shows and other activities, and the naming of William Schoenfeld as dean.


Restrictions

Two complaints files in series two (Administration) are restricted until Nov. 1, 2004 and June 1, 2006, respectively, because of the personal nature of some materials.


Historical Note

In 1868, the Oregon Legislature designated Corvallis College as the state's agricultural college, and in 1870 Corvallis College began its agricultural curriculum. The next year the college acquired its first farm (now Lower Campus), purchased for the school by the citizens of Benton County. In 1873 the college issued its first agricultural research bulletin, and a decade later the college established a Department of Agriculture, which was the first in the Pacific Northwest. The Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station was established on the campus farm in 1888, and in 1894 the first Farmers' Short Course was offered.

In 1908, the General Department of Agriculture was reorganized into a professional School of Agriculture, and included departments in Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, and Poultry Husbandry. Additional departments were added in the 1910s and 1920s. By 1928, the School included ten departments, and degree programs were offered in General Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Landscape Architecture, and Horticultural Products. The School established a Ph.D. program in 1932, and conferred is first doctorate in 1935. From 1931 until 1965, the dean of the School of Agriculture also served as director of both the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Extension Service. In 1983, the name of the School was changed to the College of Agricultural Sciences.

Deans have included A. B. Cordley, 1908-1931; William A. Schoenfeld, 1931-1950; F. E. Price, 1950-1965; Wilbur T. Cooney, 1965-1979; Ernest J. Briskey, 1979-1987; Roy G. Arnold, 1987-1991; Conrad J. Weiser, 1991-1994; and Thayne R. Dutson, 1994-.


Related Materials

Because of overlapping duties, appointments, and events between several agricultural units, their respective record groups contain related materials. Such groups include Agricultural Experiment Station Records (RG 25); Extension and Experiment Station Communications Records (RG 69); and the Extension Service Records (RG 111). Record groups for individual departments also contain related materials.

The photograph collections of the College of Agricultural Sciences (P 36), the Extension Service (P 62), the Extension and Experiment Station Communications (P 120), and the Agricultural Experiment Station (P 29) have agricultural and related subject matter. In addition, the photographs for the Agriculture Collection (P 40) and for individual departments contain images of many College of Agricultural Sciences events and personnel.

Several publication groups, including PUB 57 Agriculture Today , PUB 196 Ag Leader (College of Agricultural Sciences Newsletter), and PUB 248 Agricultural Conference Days, include information pertaining to the College of Agricultural Sciences.


Shelf locations

4/1/5/10-50
4/1/4/10-4/1/3/60
4/1/2/10-40
7/1/2/i (12x17 oversize box)
oversize drawer 11
microfilm cabinet


Series Outline 

I.     CAS Administrators' and Directors' Meetings, 1979-1987

II.    Administration, 1895-1997

III.   Associated, 1917-1973

IV.    Departments, 1899-1975

V.     Federal, 1927-1973

VI.    Finance, 1900-1986

VII.   Property, 1923-1963

VIII.  Publications, 1924-1976

IX.    Reports & Studies, 1917-1992

X.     State, 1910-1974

XI.    University, 1957-1973

XII.   Program Review, 1981

XIII.  Long Range Planning, 1983-1990

XIV.   Scrapbook, 1931-1938

Inventory

Inventory for Series I-VII
Inventory for Series VIII-XIV
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Last updated: Tuesday, 02-Sep-2003 15:48:58 PDT