Land-Grant University Libraries

Carol Rain Hagy April 29, 2009

The Morrill Act of 1862

•Also called the Land Grant College Act•Goal to create institutions in each state that would teach rural students agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other practical skills•Led to the establishment of many state universities and changed the focus of several existing schools

Morrill Act

•Encouraged the concept that a main task of the university is to advance society through its research and teaching•Part of a larger democratic impulse and shift•Before, the university was place to educate clergy and prepare lawyers and doctors•Changing into a vision of a knowledgeable middle class with opportunities for advancement

Changes in Academic Libraries and Scholarly Communication

• Movement towards German ideas and methods regarding education

- Memorization and recitation=less important- Seminars and individual inquiry=more important

• Students became more responsible for finding their own outside works to bring into their studies• Journal and book production increased• Collection development became a more established and conscious process

Morrill Act

• “Act Donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts”

• Provided each state 30,000 acres per each senator and representative, which totaled 17,430,000 acres

• Response spread out over next several years

State Response

• Some states accepted the land and turned it into “an integral part of the first state university”

• Some states created an entirely new institution• Some formed an A&M college that later

developed into the first state university• Two created industrial universities• Some used it as an essential part of the first state

university, which later became a separate school

This is the taxonomy of J. B. Edmond (Williams 42).

Later Legislation Building on the Morrill Act

•Second Morrill Act in 1890- Offered ongoing support for schools- Specified that students were to be admitted regardless of race- Unless there was a separate but equal facility- 17 states then created “historically black colleges and universities”

•Hatch Act in 1887 & Smith-Lever Act in 1914- Established agricultural experiment stations- Formed the Cooperative Extension Service

Some Things I Want to Know

• How did the development of land-grant university libraries compare with the development of other academic libraries?• In what ways did the early emphasis on applied sciences affect early collection development?•What kind of original vision of libraries was included in legislators’ or administrators’ vision of the land-grant institution?

What I’m Finding Out

• Not much• People writing about land-grant institutions do not tend to talk about libraries• People writing about libraries do not tend to talk about land-grant institutions• The few who do explore the intersection of the topics tend to say “No one’s really written about this,” “I can’t really draw any conclusions,” and “Someone else really should study this.”

Patterns of Growth in Library Resources in Certain Land-Grant Universities by Jessie Carney Smith

• Compares four pairs of land-grant institution libraries and their non-land-grant neighbors for her dissertation in 1964– Purdue (land-grant) with Indiana– Michigan State with University of Michigan– Iowa State with the University of Iowa– University of Illinois with Ohio State University

• Looks closely at the nature and size of the collections of the libraries at intervals between 1870 and 1960

• Focusing on data and employs scientific method the best she can

• Includes painstakingly detailed graphs and tables

Patterns of Growth in Library Resources in Certain Land-Grant Universities by Jessie Carney Smith

Example findings:• “Purdue spent 0.8 percent of total university funds for

library resources in 1900, while Indiana spent 5.9 percent” (121).

• In 1920, “Iowa State spent 0.5 percent of total university funds for library support, while Iowa spent 5.9 percent” (121).

Conclusions:• Hard to draw because so many factors and the schools and

nature of the university itself constantly changing• Considerable increase in total volumes between 1870 and

1960; increases greater at major state universities than at land grant schools (167)

• State universities spent greater percentage of total library funds for library support (170)

“College, Community and Librarianship: Women Librarians at the Western Landgrant Colleges” by

Georgia Higley

• Chapter in Reclaiming the American Library Past: Writing the Women In, edited by Suzanne Hildenbrand and published in 1996

• About cross-influence between women librarians in the west and western land-grant schools

Foci:- “the history of the movement”- the universities “during their formative years”- the “roles of different women library administrators during this period”

(54)

• Argues for the importance of personality and personal ability- Ida Kidder at Oregon State University- Charlotte Baker at New Mexico State

• Without these women and others like them, histories of individual western libraries would be very different

A Land-Grant University Library: The History of the Library of Washington State University, 1892-1946 by Clarence Clifford

Gorchels

• Very thorough and detailed• Aware his audience is likely to only be academic librarians and

persons associated with WSU• Clearly sees work as part of larger body of knowledge of land-grant

universities• Dissertation published in 1971

Conclusions: 

• “It can be said that the pattern of growth at the State College of Washington was in parallel with that of most land-grant colleges and universities” (401-2).

• “Other published studies indicate that over the years the libraries of land-grant colleges and universities have not had the relatively good financial support which many private universities and colleges and some state universities have enjoyed” (408).

A Land-Grant University Library: The History of the Library of Washington State University, 1892-1946 by Clarence Clifford

Gorchels

Regarding the collection in 1899:

“It would be gratifying here to make a case for the proposition that the nature of the holdings in the library precisely reflected the founding precepts of land-grant colleges as well as [university president Dr. Enoch A.] Bryan’s philosophy of higher education. However, the definitions are not sufficiently exact nor are the library holdings sufficiently stratified to provide data for such a case in the narrow sense. In fact, the holdings are sufficiently eclectic to enable an observer to say that the book collections had characteristics which were common in almost any newly-founded college or university in the nineteenth century” (60).

Echoes: A History of the Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University by Margarete Peebles

Speaking of a particular corner of the library, around 1920:“This was a popular summer spot for faculty children. It was not uncommon to have a dozen children plus one large collie dog come daily to read and borrow books. One child persisted in wearing skates since the concrete floor was ideal for skating. Another small boy had a ‘thing’ with a knife. He arrived almost daily with a long butcher knife which he rested on the windowsill while he read. When he left, he carried his knife with him. He was also known to have ridden his pony in the downstairs hall in pursuit of a frightened girl” (17).

LSU Libraries’ Collection Development Policy

“Louisiana State University and A&M College is the state's comprehensive research university. It shall continue to perform the functions assigned to it by the Morrill Act of 1862 and the Sea Grant Program Act of 1966. The institution shall continue to offer a comprehensive range of instructional programs at the baccalaureate, professional, and graduate levels. As the premier university of the state, the mission of Louisiana State University and A&M College is the generation, preservation, dissemination, and application of knowledge and cultivation of the arts for the benefit of the people of the state, the nation, and the global community.”

Bibliography

Chapman, Bert. “The 1907 Admission of Land-Grant University Depository Libraries: A 90-Year Perspective.” Journal of Government Information 26, no. 4 (July 1999): 385-404.

Gorchels, Clarence Clifford. “A Land-Grant University Library: The History of the Library of Washington State University, 1892-1946.” PhD diss., Columbia University, 1971. Microfilm.

Higley, Georgia. “College, Community and Librarianship: Women Librarians at the Western Landgrant Colleges.” In Reclaiming the American Library Past: Writing the Women In, edited by Suzanne Hildenbrand, 53-98. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Press, 1996.

BibliographyMorrill Act of 1862. Stats at

Large of USA 12 (1862): 503-05.

Peebles, Margarete. Echoes: A History of the Mitchell Memorial Library, Mississippi State University. Starkville: Mississippi State University, 1976.

Smith, Jessie Carney. “Patterns of Growth in Library Resources in Certain Land-Grant Universities.” PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1964. Microfilm.

Williams, Roger L. The Origins of Federal Support for Higher Education: George W. Atherton and the Land-Grant College Movement. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991.