Agricultural Experiment Station--565 prints of the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station from 1910 to 1946

Collection Number: S1830
Creator: University of Florida. Agricultural Experiment Station.
Title: Photographs, 1910-1946.
Quantity: 755 photographs, 1 film
The 565 prints on this Web site represent a selection from the Agricultural Collection. The entire collection can be viewed at the State Archives of Florida in Tallahassee.

Description: This series of photographs documents the programs and activities of the Agricultural Experiment Station at the University of Florida and its cooperation with the United States Agricultural Extension Service. The series includes black-and-white images of county agents providing instruction in vegetable canning and livestock judging; numerous images of recreational camps for boys and girls at the Agricultural Experiment Station's educational institutions; and images of Agricultural Experiment Station fields, crops, specimen plants, grass drying machines, farm equipment and machinery, and records of growing conditions and agents. The series also includes a film entitled "Prevent Hog Cholera."

Historical Note: The University of Florida was first established by law in 1851 when the Florida Legislature passed a bill authorizing the establishment of two seminaries (east and west Florida) to instruct men and women in "teaching...mechanic arts, in husbandry and agricultural chemistry" and other "arts which ennoble man and make him truly independent." The East Florida Seminary opened in 1853 in Ocala and moved to Gainesville in 1866 following the Civil War.

In accordance with the federal Morrill Act of 1862, the State Legislature established by an 1870 law the Florida Agricultural College, which opened its doors in Lake City in 1884. Under the federal Hatch Act of 1887, Florida established its Agricultural Experiment Station at the Florida Agricultural College.

With the passage in the State Legislature of the Buckman Act in 1905, the existing state supported schools were abolished and four schools created in their place, including the University of the State of Florida. After a bitter fight between Lake City and Gainesville for the new University, the Agricultural College and Agricultural Experiment Station moved to Gainesville and merged with the East Florida Seminary to form the new University. A few years later its name was changed to the University of Florida.

Cooperative extension work with the federal government began in 1914 when Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act. Extension services for persons not attending the university included instruction, demonstrations, and publications regarding agriculture, home economics, and rural energy.