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Emery N. Castle Papers, 1948-2003

Collection Overview

Title: Emery N. Castle Papers, 1948-2003

ID: MSS Castle

Primary Creator: Castle, Emery N.

Extent: 10.8 cubic feet

Arrangement: The Emery N. Castle papers are organized into seven series: I. Correspondence; II. Committees; III. Book and Article Reviews; IV. Speeches and Lectures; V. Reports and Studies; VI. Publications; and VII. Manuscripts.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The Emery N. Castle Papers document Castle's research and writing in the fields of agricultural and resource economics, land use, and rural development.

Scope and Content Notes

Series I primarily consists of correspondence pertaining to Castle's research and editorial work and relates to foundation grant funding, requests for reviews of articles and books, and involvement in professional organizations and conferences. This series also documents Castle's work in Resources For the Future and Winrock International. Series II contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, testimony and research proposals from University committees served on by Castle. Included among the issues addressed by these committees are foundation grants for research projects, Oregon land use legislation, the administrative placement of the OSU Extension Service Program, and water resources research projects.

Series III consists of reviews written by Castle of books related to natural resources and agriculture. Series IV are speeches, lectures, and testimony Castle presented at professional conferences, universities, and the U.S. Congress. The topics addressed in these presentations include: water resources, the global agricultural economy, the future of American agriculture, government involvement in agricultural markets, and think tanks.

Series V consists of reports and studies covering the years 1976 to 1995 and pertaining to university agricultural and extension service programs, administrative costs at OSU, and public expectations of higher education. Included in this series are the draft and final reports of the Extension Education Transition Committee, a body headed by Castle which examined the OSU Extension Service and offered recommendations concerning its administrative reorganization and placement. Series VI consists of journal articles, Extension publications, and books written and edited by Castle. Series VII is an editor's copy of a book, The Changing American Countryside: Rural People and Places, edited by Castle in 1994-1995. Notes on small post-its on the edge of pages in the manuscript pertain to needed additions and changes to maps and figures in the book.

An addition to the Castle Papers (Accession 2012:007) is made up of article reprints, certificates, conference papers, correspondence, meeting minutes, photographs, a plaque, reports, and speeches. Documenting Castle's research and publication activities as a professor of Economics, these materials also reflect presentations Castle made to various groups, peer reviews of research, organizational involvement, consultancy projects for other universities, honors received, and his administrative work at OSU. In economics, Castle's foci of interest were natural resource use and rural development. Interwoven into Castle's writings on rural development are topics addressing land use policies, water resources, and environmental protection. In addition to the National Rural Studies Committee in which Castle chaired while at OSU, other organizations represented in these records include the American Agricultural Economics Association, Western Rural Development Center, and the Resources For the Future, Inc (RFF). Castle worked for RFF for 10 years (1976-1986) before returning to campus to chair the University Graduate Faculty of Economics. Numbering 15 prints in total, the photographs are mostly portrait shots of Castle.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Emery Neal Castle was born on April 13, 1923 in Greenwood County, Kansas. He received a BS and MS in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University in 1948 and 1950 respectively and a Ph D in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University in 1952. Before coming to the Oregon State University Department of Agricultural and Reserve Economics in 1954, Castle served as an instructor in the Department of Economics at Kansas State University from 1948 to 1952 and held the position of agricultural economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1952 to 1954. At OSU, Castle was promoted to associate professor in 1957 and to professor in 1959. Castle also held a number of administrative posts at OSU, including Dean of Faculty (1965-1966), Head of Agricultural Economics (1966-1972), Director of the Water Resources Institute (1966-1969), and Dean of the Graduate School (1972-1976). In 1976, Castle resigned from OSU to accept a position as vice president and senior research fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF), a Washington, DC public policy research institute. He served as president of RFF from 1979-1986.

In 1986 Castle returned to OSU as chair of the University Graduate Faculty of Economics, a position he held until 1992. In 1987 he received a grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation which enabled him to establish a National Rural Studies Committee. In 1992 Castle was awarded professor emeritus status at Oregon State University. From 1992 to 1994, Castle chaired the Extended Education Transition Committee, which examined the administrative placement of the Extension Service Program at OSU and offered recommendations for its reorganization.

A summary of Castle's publications, awards, and professional activities is contained in a vita available in the MSS central file for Castle.

Administrative Information

Related Materials:

An oral history interview with Emery Castle is held in the Voices of Oregon State University Oral History Collection (OH 009).

Other materials relating to Castle and his work can be found in the Agricultural and Resource Economics Department Records (RG 128) and the Rockefeller Project Records (RG 161). Photographs documenting Castle and his work at OSU can be found in the photographic collections of News and Communication Services Photograph Collection (P 057) and the Robert W. Henderson Photograph Collection (P 098).

Preferred Citation: Emery N. Castle Papers (MSS Castle), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Other URL: A preliminary container list was created for this collection on or before November 19, 2015.

Creators

Castle, Emery N.

People, Places, and Topics

Agricultural economists--Oregon.
Castle, Emery N.
Changing american countryside.
Land use--Law and legislation--Oregon.
Natural Resources
Resources for the Future
Rural development.
State universities and colleges--United States.
Water in agriculture.
Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development


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