The Morrill Act of 1862 established land-grant colleges in each state to teach agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other practical skills, changing the focus of higher education from educating clergy to advancing society through research and teaching. This led libraries at land-grant universities to develop collections supporting applied sciences and individual student inquiry over memorization. Studies have found land-grant university libraries often received less financial support than other university libraries, though they generally grew substantially between 1870 and 1960 and paralleled other land-grant institutions.

1. Land-Grant University Libraries Carol Rain Hagy April 29, 2009

3. Goal to create institutions in each state that would teach rural students agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other practical skills

5. Part of a larger democratic impulse and shift

6. Before, the university was place to educate clergy and prepare lawyers and doctors

8. Memorization and recitation=less important

9. Seminars and individual inquiry=more important

10. Students became more responsible for finding their own outside works to bring into their studies

11. Journal and book production increased

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

15. Some states created an entirely new institution

16. Some formed an A&M college that later developed into the first state university

17. Two created industrial universities

18. Some used it as an essential part of the first state university, which later became a separate schoolThis is the taxonomy of J. B. Edmond (Williams 42).

20. Offered ongoing support for schools

21. Specified that students were to be admitted regardless of race

22. Unless there was a separate but equal facility

23. 17 states then created “historically black colleges and universities”

24. Hatch Act in 1887 & Smith-Lever Act in 1914

25. Established agricultural experiment stations

27. In what ways did the early emphasis on applied sciences affect early collection development?

29. 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

32. the universities “during their formative years”

33. the “roles of different women library administrators during this period” (54)

34. Argues for the importance of personality and personal ability

35. Ida Kidder at Oregon State University

36. Charlotte Baker at New Mexico State

38. 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).

39. 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).

40. 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.”

41. 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.

42. Bibliography Morrill 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.