The
first Agromeck was issued in 1903. Its design was an elegant mirror of
the late Victorian Arts & Crafts period, during which, in
reaction
to an industrial age of mass-produced commercialism, handcrafted
objects like furniture, jewelry, books, even houses (Frank Lloyd
Wright's early work was done in a distinctive Arts & Crafts
style)
were carefully and
individually
crafted. For graphic design, this meant hand-crafted
type-styles
and hand-drawn illustrative motifs. The color frame to the right was
borrowed from the title page of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The
House
of Life, designed and crafted
by Elbert Hubbard in his Roycroft
Shop (Aurora, NY, 1899).
Agromeck
board artists John A. Park and Emile Gunter, with illustrator H. G.
Rawls, chose simple designs to frame their text. We selected the poppy
motif, used in the 1903 Agromeck at the end of a section of text, and
we were delighted with the serendipity when we realized that the cover
of Core Organic Chemistry by Marye Anne Fox and James K. Whitesell
depicts a field of poppies, and includes an explanation of how the
cyanide molecule existing in poppies combines to color them red.
This photograph
of Holladay Hall
was taken from a 1908 postcard by the Rotograph Co. Holladay
Hall
was the first building on the campus of North Carolina State
University, and it has been the traditional location of the
Chancellor's office.
This exhibit was originally created in 1998-1999 with the title "109 Years of Leadership: Chancellors and Presidents at NC State.” It was designed by Sara Bell and Caroline Weaver. Text and research were by John Ansley, Sara Bell, David Jackson, Jason Tomberlin, and Caroline Weaver. In 2005, additional text was researched and written by Todd Kosmerick, and the web site was redesigned by Nick Mangine.