North Central Experiment Station Records, 1899-2001

Summary Information

Title: North Central Experiment Station records
Dates: 1899-2001  (bulk 1900-1942)
Creator: University of Minnesota. North Central Experiment Station (Grand Rapids, Minn.).
Extent: 18 boxes (17.8 cubic feet)
Language: Collection material in English
Collection Number: uarc 125
Abstract:

The collection consists primarily of correspondence, as well as publications and scrapbooks related to the history and operations of the North Central Experiment Station and high school.

Repository: University of Minnesota Libraries. University of Minnesota Archives

Access and Use

Acquisition Information:

The majority of this collection was deposited in University Archives on January 4 and October 23, 1987.

Access Restrictions:

Items in this collection do not circulate and may be used in-house only.

Copyright:

Researchers may quote from the collection under the fair use provision of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). Requests to publish should be arranged with the University of Minnesota Archives.

Processing Information:

This collection was processed with funds provided by the State of Minnesota through the Minnesota Historical Society from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

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Preferred Citation:

North Central Experiment Station records, University Archives, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

Historical Note

The Minnesota State Legislature and the University Board of Regents created the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station in 1885 near the University’s Minneapolis campus. The 1897 Biennial Report of the Board of Regents explained how the subsequent experiment sub-stations were established, “A law, enacted at the last session of the state legislature, required the regents to purchase and equip two substations, each to contain not less than 320 acres, and appropriated $20,000 for that purpose, and the additional sum of $10,000 for the biennial period of 1895-96 with which to pay the expenses of conducting experiments.” At their May 1, 1895, meeting, the Board of Regents appointed an agricultural committee “to carry out the provisions of this act.” After the committee’s evaluation of possible locations, one sub-station was established in Crookston, and the other in Grand Rapids, which was called the Northeast Sub-experiment Station and opened in 1896. Warren G. Pendergast was named the first superintendent of the Northeast Sub-experiment Station.

“It has been the effort to direct energies of the station towards solution of those problems which are of especial interest to the settlers in the cut over pine regions, which embrace so large an area in the state,” Herman H. Chapman, second superintendent of the Northeast Sub-experiment Station, reported in the 1899 Biennial Report of the Board of Regents.

At their May 6, 1912, meeting, the Regents voted to recommend new official names for all experiment stations under the administrative umbrella of the University’s Department of Agriculture. The Northeast Sub-experiment Station became the North Central Experiment Station.

The 1916-1917 President’s Report stated that the North Central Experiment Station’s Guernsey herd development was continuing as well as experimental projects in “field crops, garden crops, orchard crops, soils and fertilizers, the use of peat as barn litter, preservative treatment of fence posts, and experiments in land drainage.”

An agricultural school “where farm boys get a broad and practical training in the business and art of agriculture” opened at the North Central Experiment Station on October 18, 1926 ( North Central Quarterly announcement , September 1926 issue). The first academic year saw 18 students enroll in the School’s program, which was intended to fill a gap in secondary education in agriculture. The station’s name was changed to North Central School and Experiment Station. After decades of fairly steady growth in student enrollment, the School’s administrators recognized in the 1950s that agricultural education opportunities were now readily available in the students’ home communities. The decision was made in 1963 to phase out the school program, and the North Central School closed in 1965.

The North Central Experiment Station’s focus on research included work in areas such as crops and livestock as well as wild rice, tourism, agricultural engineering, environmental issues, forestry, and horticulture.

In October 1998, the Educational Planning and Policy Committee of the Board of Regents recommended that branch Experiment Stations change their names to Research and Outreach Centers, and the Board voted unanimously to approve the recommendation at their October 9, 1998, meeting. The North Central Experiment Station became the North Central Research and Outreach Center.

Station Names

• Northeast Sub-experiment Station, 1896-1912
• North Central Experiment Station, 1912-1926
• North Central School and Experiment Station, 1926-1965
• North Central Experiment Station, 1965-1998
• North Central Research and Outreach Center, 1998-

Station Superintendents

• Warren W. Pendergast, 1896-1897
• Herman H. Chapman, 1898-1904
• A.J. McGuire, 1904-1914
• Otto I. Bergh, 1914-1930
• Raymond L. Donovan, 1930-1940
• Donald L. Dailey, 1940-1950
• Clarence L. Cole, 1950-1956
• William Matalamaki, 1956-1978
• Joseph W. Rust, 1978-1985
• Robert F. Nyvall, 1985-1991
• David L. Rabas, 1991-2004

Collection Scope and Content Note

The collection consists primarily of correspondence, publications and scrapbooks related to the history and operations of the experiment station and high school. It is organized into three series;

Series 1, Correspondence, contains material generated between 1899 and 1942. It is primarily correspondence between staff and faculty at the station and members of the local community, local and national businesses, colleagues at other universities and administrative correspondence with the University’s Institute of Agriculture and the USDA.

Series 2, Publications, includes bulletins, pamphlets, program assessments, newspapers and newsletters from 1900 through 1965. There is an extensive run of programs covering the station’s Visitors Day during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a volume of the station’s newsletter, The Quarterly, covering 1962-1978.

Series 3 consists of a scrapbooks covering 1900-1906, the 1940s and the 1960s, containing newspaper articles, photos, and correspondence about the station and high school.

Subject Terms

Index Terms

• This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the University of Minnesota Libraries. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
• University of Minnesota. North Central Experiment Station (Grand Rapids, Minn.).
• Agriculture -- Research -- Minnesota.

Detailed Contents

Location		Title
		Correspondence
Box 1		Correspondence, A-Z, 1899-1907. ( 58 folders)  Box 1
		Correspondence, 1907.  Box 1
		Correspondence, A-W, 1908. ( 15 folders)  Box 1
Box 2		Correspondence, A-Z, 1909-1910. ( 27 folders)  Box 2
		Correspondence, McGuire, 1908-1910. ( 5 folders)  Box 2
Box 3		Correspondence, A-Z, 1910-1912. ( 36 folders)  Box 3
		Correspondence, 1911-1912. ( 6 folders)  Box 3
Box 4		Correspondence, A-Z, 1912-1913. ( 20 folders)  Box 4
		Correspondence, 1912-1913. ( 4 folders)  Box 4
Box 5		Correspondence, A-Z, 1913-1915. ( 37 folders)  Box 5
Box 6		Correspondence, A-Z, 1915-1917. ( 22 folders)  Box 6
Box 7		Correspondence, A-Z, 1917-1918. ( 34 folders)  Box 7
Box 8		Correspondence, A-Z, 1918-1922. ( 56 folders)  Box 8
Box 9		Correspondence, A-Z, 1922-1924. ( 35 folders)  Box 9
Box 10		Correspondence, A-Z, 1925-1929. ( 67 folders)  Box 10
Box 11		Correspondence, A-Z, 1929-1930. ( 26 folders)  Box 11
Box 12		Correspondence, A-Z, 1931-1932. ( 20 folders)  Box 12
Box 13		Correspondence, A-Z, 1932-1933. ( 26 folders)  Box 13
Box 14		Correspondence, A-Z, 1933-1938. ( 69 folders)  Box 14
Box 15		Correspondence, A-Z, 1939-1942. ( 60 folders)  Box 15
		Publications
Box 18		Assessment of Research and Service , 1981. ( 1 volume)  Box 18
		Bulletins, 1900, 1904-1919, 1927, 1935, 1938, 1944, 1950-1957, 1953-1963. ( 2 folders)  Box 18
		North Central News , 1999-2001.  Box 18
		Pamphlets, 1958-1959, 1964, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1992.  Box 18
		Programs, Visitors Day, 1953-1979.  Box 18
		The North Central Quarterly , 1914-1998. ( 5 volumes)  Box 18
Box 18		Report of the Committee to Study the North Central School of Agriculture at Grand Rapids 1961 Box 18
		Scrapbooks
Box 16		Scrapbooks, 1940s-1960s. ( 10 volumes)  Box 16 Note  Newspaper articles and pictures about community members and the North Central school.
Box 17		Scrapbook, 1900-1906.  Box 17 Note  Correspondence, articles and notes about North Central station.
		Scrapbook, 1940s. Box 17 Note  Pictures of North Central station.
Box 17		Scrapbook, 1960s. Box 17 Note  Newspaper articles about community members and North Central School.