Exhibit - Cooperative Extension
Michigan Extension work began before the organization was officially organized. The Michigan State College’s (now MSU) first livestock field agent was hired in 1907. In 1912, the Michigan Legislature authorized county boards of supervisors to appropriate funds and levy taxes to further teaching and demonstrations in Extension work. Eleven agricultural agents were named that year. In 1914, Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, which created the Cooperative Extension System and directed the nation’s land grant universities to oversee its work. With the passage of the Smith-Lever Act, the first statewide home economics and 4-H youth Extension workers were appointed; county home economics agents were appointed beginning in 1915. In the early years of Extension, "demonstration agents" showed or demonstrated new farming or homemaking techniques.
Today, Extension agents use a wide variety of information systems to deliver educational information. The current mission statement of the Extension reads – “Michigan State University Extension helps people improve their lives through an educational process that applies knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. information.” The records of Cooperative Extension maintained by the Archives consist of county and project reports 1913-1981. The county reports contain information on Extension activities, and give detail about particular projects in that county or about specific agents. The reports may be preprinted form some include newspaper articles about activities or handouts created for activities. Many of the county and project reports include photographs of activities.
This information extracted from - http://msue.anr.msu.edu/about and the scope and content from the collection UA 16.34.
Exhibit written and compiled by Daniel Sherwood April, 2013
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