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Transferred from the offices of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.
[Identification of item], North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Personnel Records, UA 102.100, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
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From its inception as the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (A&M College), NCSU has been deeply involved in outreach and extension work. In the 1890s and early 1900s, college personnel took part in numerous Farmer's Institutes statewide, where they and State Agriculture Department personnel met with local farmers to discuss farm improvement techniques. In 1907 James A. Butler became North Carolina's first county agent, hired to conduct demonstration work in boll weevil eradication.
In 1909, A&M College 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 was the first director of this program, which eventually became 4-H. The first Girls' Clubs, focusing primarily on tomato canning and gardening, were established after Jane McKimmon was hired in 1911 to lead a statewide Home Demonstration program.
Greatly boosting extension work, the 1914 Smith-Lever Act 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 to sign memoranda of understanding with the United States Department of Agriculture to begin such work. With this, A&M College created the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service, often called the Department of Extension.
In 1924, Schaub returned as the new Extension director, a position he held until 1950. Administratively, Extension changed as more and more of its functions were transferred to the college (by then, North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, or State College). The 1920s and 1930s saw widespread change and growth in the extension youth programs as well.
During World War II, extension programs played a vital role in the local war effort. The postwar years saw Extension move closer administratively to the College's School of Agriculture. In 1950 a reorganization of the School of Agriculture brought the three fields of work - teaching, research, and extension - into the direct orbit of the School.
Economic difficulties across the state in the 1970s saw Extension increase its activities in rural food production and nutrition, including the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Extension also worked with farmers facing serious economic troubles to better their situations. In 1991, the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service changed its name to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service to better reflect a shift in activities beyond the development of state and local agriculture.
The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
The collection is divided into three series: Staff Records, Administrative Records, and Budget and Payroll Records. Within each series, the folders are arranged alphabetically, then chronologically where necessary. Also, records in oversize boxes have been put at the end of each series and arranged the same as above.
The bulk of the Staff Records series contains records of Extension Service personnel, usually divided by specialty (Farm Demonstration, Home Demonstration, Administrative Staff, County Agents, etc). The lists for years prior to 1964 (when published booklets and directories first appeared) are often incomplete, with some of the specialist lists missing. Note also the information displayed under the "Radio County Extension Workers" and "Personnel Replacement Lists" folders in this series, giving more detailed information on these files.
Includes individual surveys filled out by county extension agents, regarding extension television and radio broadcasts for each county.
Handwritten lists of extension personnel by date of termination of service. Includes information on salary and reason for termination.
This series contains records pertaining to the administration of Extension Service personnel. Included are correspondence, job and position information, and blank employee forms. The final folder in this series, "Population reached by Extension programs" are handwritten lists, arranged by county district, apparently detailing the numbers of citizens reached by Extension Service programming.
Contains individual Extension Service job applications for African-Americans in North Carolina.
This series contains budget, payroll, and salary information for Extension Service personnel and programs. The salary lists up to 1948 mostly detail individual salaries, and they are arranged by agents' or staff members' specialties, including County Agents, Home Demonstration Agents, and Negro County and Home Demonstration agents. The "Negro Salaries" folder contains correspondence and salary information mostly addressing the question of the disparity in white and African-American agents' pay in the early 1950s. The final file in this series, "Salaries, 1955, 1959" contains no personnel information, but rather it has a comparative chart showing the relative position of North Carolina Extension Service salaries with those of other states.