University of Florida IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Records

The University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Records are divided into three Subseries.

Subseries 1: Administrative is further divided into four further subseries including:

Subseries 1a “Faculty Minutes” which contains the minutes of the faculties of the University of Florida College of Agriculture and the School of Forestry. The series begins in 1910 when the College was established. Included with the minutes for many of the years are records related to curriculum development, student matriculation, records of several committees--including the Curriculum Committee, Committee for Graduate Work, and the Committee on Undergraduate Activities--budgetary matters, records related to administrative procedures, and student petitions for substitute course credits. Volume 1 contains evaluation of individual students' progress, but this type of record does not appear in later volumes. Of special note in Volume 1 are requests from students, written during World War I, to return home to assist in farm work for wartime food production. Also of note in Volume 1 is mention of enrollment of women students and rescheduling of student exams to free students to fight an invasion of Mediterranean Fruit Flies. The records of the Committee on Undergraduate Activities provide documentation of student social life, club activities, and special projects.

Beginning in the 1970s, the minutes deal exclusively with matters related to student matriculation and course credits.

Subseries 1b “Instructional Materials” contains bound instructional materials for courses in Farm Management and Agricultural Economics in the College of Agriculture. The series includes reading lists, exams, some lectures, and class exercises. Course materials for 1922-1923 are missing.

Subseries 1c: “Office of the Dean Administrative Policy Records” contains the administrative files of the Deans of the College of Agriculture (now Dean for Resident Instruction) at the University of Florida. It contains the few remaining letters, arranged chronologically from 1955 to 1969, of Dean Marvin A. Brooker.

Subseries 1d: “Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) Director of Federal Affairs Administrative Policy Records” contains the papers of John T. McCown, Director of Federal Affairs for IFAS, for the years 1973 to 1985. Included are letters to various Florida state and federal legislators updating them on IFAS projects and soliciting their support for additional funding. The records serve as a general indicator of the more visible issues of the period. Files concern such topics as acid rain, tropical agriculture, energy extension services, aquatic research, and rural development. Also of interest are the records related to AGUA (Agricultural Growth in an Urban Age).

This subseries is arranged alphabetically, with larger files broken down by year.

Subseries 2: Departments is further divided into one subseries including:

Subseries 2a: Agronomy Department which contains records related to sugar cane research and the Everglades Experiment Station and contains documents related to experiments with different varieties of sugar cane primarily at the Everglades Experiment Station in Belle Glade, but also at the Quincy and Homestead stations and at the main station in Gainesville. The series includes cane growth charts, a few letters, and experiment data. Also included are manuscripts of Frederick Delos Stevens, Sugar Cane Agronomist at the Everglades Experiment Station.

Subseries 2b: Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department which contains slides from Larry Bagnall, professor in the Agricultural Engineering Department. Some are graphs and charts. Many are photographs of his field sites, which were mostly various lakes in Florida. There are also photographs of pieces of equipment that he built as part of his research. He labeled and dated the slides, and they run for his entire career at UF. Most are labeled with the place names. The slides in 1989-1991 are generally of Dschang, Cameroon and environs, including the UF/USAID University Center in Dschang.

Subseries 3: Schools is further divided into one further subseries including:

Subseries 3a: Forest Resources and Conservation which includes Administrative policy Records from the Office of the Director which consists of the administrative files of the directors of the School of Natural Resources and Conservation. Included are the papers of Harold Stephenson Newins, the founding director, and Clemens Marcus Kaufman. The series begins in 1935 with the creation of the Department of Forestry within the College of Agriculture. Newins manuscripts and personal correspondence, arranged chronologically, precede the main body of the series which consists of the administrative records of the director's office. The administrative records include correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, and curriculum files documenting research activities at the Austin Cary Forest and relations with forestry and conservation associations such as the Florida Forest and Park Association, the Florida Forestry Council, the Society of American Foresters, and the Southern Shade Tree Conference. Also includes slides, photographs, and field notebooks belonging to Hans Riekerk who did research and extension field work. Also included are scrapbooks.