College of Agricultural Sciences Records, 1895-1999

Title: College of Agricultural Sciences Records, 1895-1999

Predominant Dates: 1911-1986

ID: RG 158

Primary Creator: Oregon State University. College of Agricultural Sciences

Extent: 22.3 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The records are organized into fourteen series: 1. CAS Administrators' and Directors' Meetings; 2. Administration; 3. Associated; 4. Departments; 5. Federal; 6. Finance; 7. Property; 8. Publications; 9. Reports & Studies, 1917-1992; 10. State; 11. University; 12. Program Review; 13. Long Range Planning; 14. Scrapbook.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

The College of Agricultural Sciences Records consist primarily of the college dean's office administrative records. 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.

An addition to the College of Agricultural Sciences Records (Accession 2010:045) is made up of reports collected by the College of Agricultural Sciences that contain information about student enrollment and new faculty hires from several U.S. universities (incl. OSU) with academic programs in agriculture, renewable natural resources, and forestry. Compiled through the Food and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS), these reports include statistics broken down by race/ethnicity, gender, and geographic region. The date span coverage represented in these reports goes from 1987 to 1998.

A second addition to the College of Agricultural Sciences Records (Accession 2013:092) consists of materials generated and collected by the College of Agricultural Sciences (CAS) and is made up of plaques, a scrapbook, and survey materials. Containing photographs, newspaper clippings, and event brochures, the scrapbook documents annual recognition ceremonies organized by CAS in honor of students and faculty in agriculture.The survey materials consist of questionnaires completed by alumni in 1976 about their educational experience at OSU and their current vocational situation. There is no summary report for this survey. The four plaques honor the work of the OSU Agriculture Ambassadors and outstanding junior and senior students selected by CAS.

A third addition to the College of Agricultural Sciences Records (Accession 2014:011) includes correspondence, a directory of CAS staff, historical essays, newspaper clippings, handbooks, and reports. In addition to documenting long range planning at CAS, these records also pertain to the InterACTION! Project, policies/procedures, adviser guidelines, historical information compiled about CAS, endangered species act compliance in the Klamath area, Extension education, and communication strategy training for Extension Service staff. Much of the correspondence reflects budgetary management measures in 2002 and the reaction toward a proposal stemming from those discussions to eliminate the Rangeland Resources Department.

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-.

More Extent Information: 5 microfilm reels

Statement on Access: This collection is open for research.

Related Materials:

Because of overlapping duties, appointments, and events between several agricultural units, their respective record groups contain related materials. Such groups include the Agricultural Experiment Station Records (RG 025), Extension and Experiment Station Communications Records (RG 069), 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 Photographs (P 036), the Extension Service Photographs (P 062), the Extension and Experiment Station Communications Photograph Collection (P 120), and the Agricultural Experiment Station Photographic Collection (P 029) have agricultural and related subject matter. In addition, the photographs for the Agriculture Photograph Collection (P 040) and for individual departments contain images of many College of Agricultural Sciences events and personnel.

Several publication groups, including Agriculture Today (PUB 057), Ag Leader (College of Agricultural Sciences Newsletter) (PUB 196), and Agricultural Conference Days (PUB 248), include information pertaining to the College of Agricultural Sciences.

Preferred Citation: College of Agricultural Sciences Records (RG 158), 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.

Oregon State University. College of Agricultural Sciences

Agricultural colleges--Oregon.
Agricultural education--Oregon.
Agriculture--Research--Oregon.
Alpha Zeta. Oregon State Chapter
Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
Briskey, Ernest J.
Columbia Plateau Resources Council
Cooney, W. T. (Wilbur Tarleton), 1914-
Cordley, A. B. (Arthur Burton), 1864-1936
Farmers' institutes--Oregon.
Hops and Brewing
Natural Resources
Oregon. Committee on Natural Resources
Oregon. Fish Commission
Oregon. Otter Trawl Commission
Oregon. Rural Rehabilitation Corporation
Oregon. State Department of Agriculture
Oregon. State Soil and Water Conservation Committee
Oregon. State Water Resources Board
Oregon Agricultural College. School of Agriculture
Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit
Oregon State Agricultural College. Agricultural Experiment Station
Oregon State Agricultural College. School of Agriculture
Oregon State Board of Forestry
Oregon State College. School of Agriculture
Oregon State Planning Board
Oregon State University. Agricultural Experiment Station
Oregon State University. College of Agricultural Sciences
Oregon State University. Extension Service
Oregon State University. School of Agriculture
Oregon Wheat Commission
Price, F. E. (Frederick Earl), 1898-
Schoenfeld, William A. (William Alfred), 1888-
United States. Agricultural Research Service
University History
Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors

Scrapbooks.