From its inception as the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, NCSU has been deeply involved in outreach and extension work. College personnel took part in numerous Farmer's Institutes held statewide, where they and State Agricultural Department personnel met with local farmers to discuss farm improvement techniques. Farmer's Institutes proved immediately popular and continued to grow until 1914, when attendance peaked at more than 65,000 men and women at hundreds of state-wide meetings. Around the same time, the College and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture sponsored "Corn Specials," trains which traveled throughout the state demonstrating farm techniques and encouraging farmers to use better corn seed for better crops.

Another step in the development of agricultural extension grew out of the national boll weevil eradication program, which began in 1903. The United States Department of Agriculture initially worked within states affected by the pest, but the program quickly grew to include regions not yet affected by the weevils. Demonstration work in North Carolina relating to this program began in 1907, when C.R. Hudson came to the state as a USDA special agent to organize the work. He hired James A. Butler as North Carolina's first county agent. Beginning with Iredell County, Hudson organized demonstration work at local farms, and by 1909 twenty counties had farm demonstration agents. In 1910, the number grew to 43 counties, and the state was divided into demonstration districts for the first time.

In 1909 North Carolina State College also expanded its extension efforts when it signed a memorandum of agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture to cooperatively develop Farmers' Boys' Clubs, or Corn Clubs. Ira O. Schaub became the first director of this program, which eventually grew into 4-H. Schaub worked closely with T.B. Parker, who had been charged by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture with starting similar organizations, and the two managed to organize clubs for over 4,000 boys during the first year alone. Over the next few years, the corn clubs continued to grow, and poultry and pig clubs joined them. The first Girls' Clubs were established in 1911 and focused primarily on tomato canning and gardening. Former Farmers' Institute worker Jane S. McKimmon was assigned as head of the Girls' Clubs, and by 1914 they existed in 32 counties with a total membership of 1,500 girls. The success of these girls' clubs led to the creation of a statewide Home Demonstration program in 1912, also run by McKimmon. As with farm demonstration, Home Demonstration placed county agents across the state.

The State Department of Agriculture and State College cooperatively administered club work until 1912, when the college assumed all duties. Schaub continued to run the boys' clubs until his resignation in 1913, when Thomas E. Browne replaced him.

Extension work received a tremendous boost in 1914, when President Woodrow Wilson signed into effect the Smith-Lever Act. The new law provided for federal, state, and county cooperation in creating a system to expand demonstration and extension work for men and women. The law authorized land-grant colleges across the nation to sign memoranda of understanding with the United States Department of Agriculture to begin such work. State College did just that, and it created a new Department of Extension administered by the Joint Committee on Agriculture. The Committee consisted of the State College President, the State Commissioner of Agriculture, and several members of the State College board of trustees and the State Department of Agriculture. The first director of Extension was Benjamin W. Kilgore, who also headed the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station.

The passage of the Smith-Lever Act greatly expanded Extension work in North Carolina. After just one year, 71 farm and 37 home demonstration agents were employed. The 4-H program took off, and the first annual 4-H Club Week was held in 1915. That same year the new publication Extension Farm News began. At State College, Extension received a permanent home when Ricks Hall was completed in 1922 (its earlier home was split between offices in downtown Raleigh and in Patterson Hall on campus).

When Kilgore left the college in 1924, Schaub returned as the new Extension director, a position he held until 1950. Administratively, Extension changed as well, as more and more of its functions were transferred to State College. By 1926, only marketing and regulatory work were not directly administered by the College. More annual planning took place, county and state programs reached more rural people, and farmers and their families played a larger role in extension planning and activities. In addition, extension figured prominently in the establishment of marketing cooperatives and the rural electrification movement of the 1930s.

The 1920s and 1930s saw widespread change in the extension youth programs as well. Lera R. Harrill became State 4-H Club Leader in 1926. He incorporated the boys' and girls' clubs together under one banner, and he worked hard to bring more programs into effect, get more counties involved, and improve overall the facilities and activities. Indeed, by 1929, 65 counties had their own 4-H organizations under the statewide umbrella. Harrill continued to improve the stature of North Carolina 4-H, and by 1939 there were programs in all 100 counties.

During World War II, extension programs played a vital role in the local war effort. Agents ran programs on increasing farm production and conserving valuable resources. A Woman's Land Army sent women to the fields to replace the many men who jioned the military. The 4-H program helped children grow Victory Gardens, operate scrap drives, and compete in their own produce productivity competitions. The work performed during the war years was so successful that agricultural production actually doubled compared to previous years.

In the post-war years, the Extension Division moved closer administratively to the College's School of Agriculture. As the School increased its teaching and research options, established graduate programs, and worked more harmoniously with the Agricultural Experiment Station, it also coordinated work more with Extension. A 1950 reorganization of the School of Agriculture brought the three fields of work - teaching, research, and extension - into the direct orbit of the School. With Schaub's retirement in the same year, David S. Weaver became the new Director of Extension. Much of Extension work remained the same, although with a greater emphasis on cooperation with the teaching and research divisions in order to deliver better service to localities across the state. The 1950-51 combined Annual Report for the three divisions reflected the consolidation. Extension continued to grow during these years, doubling its personnel between 1945 and 1956 and more than tripling its budget.

Home demonstration underwent a major revision of its administration and activities during the late 1950s. The "Greenbook" survey, a statewide survey of extension activities, recommended greatly reducing the number of staff and activities performed, and it criticized the degree of specialization within Home Demonstration. Despite some resistance from agents, Demonstration was considerably revamped, with some programs altered or cut back. In addition, the program's name was changed to Home Economics Extension, and agents in individual counties now reported to male head county agents, instead of female district Home Demonstration agents.

The Greenbook survey also brought about changes elsewhere in Extension throughout the 1960s. A series of five-year plans were initiated to bring about increased farm income and to stimulate local planning and interaction with extension activities. The first two programs, "1.6 in '66" and "Target 2", were largely successful, and more plans followed, all in an effort to keep increasing farm income. Extension agents and workers received increased training as well, with the University creating the Department of Extension Personnel Development to further professional training for all its staff.

Economic difficulties in the 1970s saw the Extension Service increase its activities in rural food production and nutrition. Extension worked with the North Carolina Department of Social Service to bring meals to senior citizens, and in 1969 it established the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) to help underprivileged North Carolinians better their nutritional standards and to educate them about available food assistance programs. Extension also worked with farmers facing serious economic troubles to better their situations.

Perhaps the most noticeable change to Extension occurred in 1991, when the program changed its named from the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service in order to better reflect the service's activities that had grown beyond the development of state and local agriculture. Today, the Service maintains centers in every county in the state, and provides education and programming in numerous subjects, among them agriculture, forestry, environmental sustainability, youth and family development, and community viability. Cooperative Extension remains the University's largest outreach program, and it works with 21 academic departments at NCSU on various programs and with many University faculty participating directly in Extension activities.

The Cooperative Extension Service record group contains files relating to the work and activities of the Service during its history. Please see individual collections for more detailed abstract and scope and content information.