Science, education, and the political economy in Indiana: A history of the School of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station, and Department of Agricultural Extension at Purdue University to 1945

Roger James Wood, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation examines the role of the political economy in the development of science and education through a history of the School of Agriculture, the Department of Agricultural Extension, and the Agricultural Experiment Station at Purdue University to 1945. It is based on primary sources, particularly a collection of five hundred boxes of hitherto unexamined archival material. This study analyzes Purdue agriculture's contributions to agricultural science and agricultural education, its responses to changes in the American economy and to two World Wars, its role as a component of Purdue University, and its relationships with politicians, government officials, scientists, educators, farmers, farmers' organizations, and business people. An introductory chapter treats the development of agricultural science and education to 1862. The next three chapters deal with the emergence of the School of Agriculture, the Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Department of Extension from the passage of the Morrill Act of 1862 to the passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914. Chapters five through eight examine Purdue's agricultural triad during World War I, the "Farm Crisis" of the 1920s, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and World War II. The last chapter offers some conclusions about the development of agricultural science and education at Purdue. During the period covered by this study, Purdue's agricultural triad failed to achieve a position in agricultural science or education comparable to land-grant colleges in New York, California, or Iowa, and lagged behind the agricultural triads located in the neighboring States of Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan in making contributions to agricultural science and agricultural education. Unlike officials at these leading institutions, Purdue officials failed to obtain an adequate level of sustained financial support from the state legislature. Financial restraints fostered cautious and conservative attitudes among the leaders of Purdue agriculture. Deaths, retirements, and resignations between 1939 and 1945 brought a new generation of leaders into power that forged links with agribusiness and endorsed the effort of the new president of the University to transform Purdue from a provincial college of agriculture and engineering into a modern research university.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Woodman, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American history

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