University of Wyoming. Agricultural Experiment Station records

University of Wyoming. Agricultural Experiment Station records, 1890-1972

Overview of the Collection

Creator: University of Wyoming. Agricultural Experiment Station
Title: University of Wyoming. Agricultural Experiment Station records
Dates: 1890-1972 (inclusive)
Date of CollectionDate of Collection

Website capture 2019-ongoing (inclusive)
Date of CollectionDate of Collection
Quantity: 25.50 cubic ft. (55 boxes) + website material
Collection Number: 548001
Summary: The Agricultural Experiment Station, administered by the University of Wyoming's College of Agriculture, performed studies in agricultural work including plants, soils, and animal breeding. The collection also includes archived websites affiliated with the station.
Repository: American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming
American Heritage Center
University of Wyoming
1000 E. University Ave.
Dept. 3924
Laramie, WY
82071
Telephone: 3077663756
ahcref@uwyo.edu
Access Restrictions: Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
Languages: English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

The College of Agriculture was established on the Laramie, Wyoming, campus in 1891. Experiment farms, located in Laramie, Lander, Saratoga, Sheridan, Sundance, and Wheatland, were created at the same time. During the early years of the university, agricultural activity occurred mainly at the experiment farms with few students enrolled in a classroom-based program. Even after enrollments in the college program rose, the experiment stations remained critically important. From 1892 to 1903 the president of the university took the position of director of the experiment stations. From 1907 to 1983 the director was also dean of the College of Agriculture.

State farms (previously separate from the experiment farms) were brought under university control in 1923. During the 1940s the University of Wyoming experiment stations took the lead in forming the Wyoming Crop Improvement Association. Later the College of Agriculture was the administrative home of the Wyoming Seed Certification Service, which grew out of the Crop Improvement Association.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Collection contains letterpress copybooks, correspondence, notes, project reports, and meeting minutes of the experiment station council. Incoming correspondence includes letters from various suppliers, government agencies and the general public. The outgoing correspondence for directors B.C. Buffum, Dice McLaren, G.E. Morton, J.D. Towar, and Harry Knight is specific to the satellite experiment stations in Lander, Sheridan, Sundance and Wheatland, Wyoming. The collection also includes observational weather recordings taken in Laramie, Wyoming, from 1891-1970. Recordings are charted in daily, weekly, and monthly increments with yearly comparisons and accompanying notes, charts, and graphs. There are also records relating to the Wyoming Crop Improvement Association and seed certification. In addition there are reports and other materials from western regional councils cooperating with the United States Department of Agriculture. This collection also includes archived websites affiliated with the station.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Preferred Citation

Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Related Materials

There are no known other archival collections created by the University of Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station at the date of processing.

Processing Note

Processing Information

The collection was processed by Chrissy Langille in January 1997. Additional material was incorporated and the finding aid updated by D. Claudia Thompson in June 2011 and June 2020. A website link was added by Rachel Gattermeyer in May 2020.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Series I. CorrespondenceReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
		Incoming Letters:
Box	Folder
1	3-5		1891
1	6-14		1891-1895
47	1-2		1895-1897
47	3-4		1898-1900
50			1898-1900
	Folder
1	15		1900-1901
2	1-2		1900-1901
50-51			1900-1901
	Folder
2	3-8		1902
2	9-12		1902-1903
3	1-2		1902-1903
3	3-11		1903-1904
4	1-12		1904-1906
5	1-13		1906-1907
6	1-12		1907-1910
6	13-14		1921-1922
6	15	Miscellaneous - Department of Agriculture	1892-1905
6	16-27	Miscellaneous - Hebard, Grace Raymond	1900-1905
		Miscellaneous - Experiment Station
Box	Folder
7	1	Director	1890-1891
51		Director	1917-1936
	Folder
7	2	Lander	1891-1897
7	3	Sheridan	1891-1897
7	4	Sundance	1891-1901
7	5	Wheatland	1890-1897
		Letterpress Copybooks:
Box	Folder
8	1		1891 (Dice McLaren)
8	2-3		1891-1897 (B.C. Buffum)
9	1-2		1893-1897 (B.C. Buffum)
10	1-3		1897-1900 (B.C. Buffum)
11	1-2		1900-1902 (Luther Foster)
11	3		1901-1909 (J.D. Towar)
12	1-3		1902-1904 (B.C. Buffum)
13	1		1904-1905 (B.C. Buffum)
13	2		1905-1906 (B.C. Buffum and G.E. Morton)
13	3		1906 (B.C. Buffum)
14	1		1906-1907 (B.C. Buffum and G.E. Morton)
14	2		1907 (J.D Towar and Herbert Vowell)
14	3		1907-1908 (Harry Knight)
15	1-3		1907-1909 (J.D. Towar)
16	1		1908-1909 (Harry Knight)
16	2-3		1909 (J.D. Towar)
17	1		1909 (J.D. Towar)
17	2-3		1909-1910

Series II. Administrative RecordsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box
51		Committee on Experiment Station Organization and Policy (Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities)	1940-1944
51		Committee on Research and School and Community Service (University of Wyoming)	1947
51		Crop Rotation and Cultivation Records - Worland and Washakie	1923, 1925
52		Crop Rotations and Cultivation Records - Worland	1926-1927
	Folder
1	1	Director's Notebook	1903-1905
1	2	Experiment Station Council Minutes	1891-1909
52		Great Plains Agricultural Council Reports, etc.	1953-1960
52		Great Plains Committee Report	1936
52		Great Plains Region - Bureau of Agricultural Economics	1943
52		Interbureau Committee on Post-War Programs Reports (USDA)	1944
52		Miscellaneous (Torrington station; Sheridan station; airmail rates)	1947
52		Monthly Reports	1892-1895
52		Northern and Southern Great Plains Council (agenda, report)	1943
52		Northern Great Plains Advisory Council Reports	1939-1946
53		Northern Great Plains Agricultural Advisory Council Reports	1942-1946
53		Northern Great Plains Region (conference papers, memos, etc.)	1944
53		Outline of Work	1891-1895
53		Personnel Lists	1945, 1948
	Folder
18	1	Progress Reports	1942-1948
53		Progress Reports	1948-1949
53		Progress Reports - Range and Grass Research	1948
53		Project Reports - Poultry	1932, 1949
53		Project Reports - Vegetable Poisons of the Range	1910-1919, 1926-1935
		Publications:
Box
53		Bulletins - Oklahoma, Texas, U.S. West	1924-1937
54		Bulletins - Wyoming (bound volume, numbers 76-98)	1908-1913
54		By Wyoming Experiment Station Personnel	1939-1972
54		Correspondence regarding publications - Domestic	1931, 1947
54		Correspondence regarding publications - Foreign	1946-1948
Box
55		Purchase Orders	1929-1936
	Folder
18	2-4	"Ranchman's Reminder"	1904-1911
54		Reports to United States Department of Agriculture	1931-1937, 1941-1943
54		Reports - Various	1939, undated
54		"Research in the War Emergency" (memo from director)	circa 1942
54		Research Papers - Poisonous Range Plants	circa 1950s
54		Rules and Regulations	1921-1925
54		Sterret Farm (Wheatland, Wyoming)	1924

Series III. Weather Bureau RecordsReturn to Top

This series contains observational weather recordings taken in Laramie, Wyoming, from 1891-1970. Recordings are charted in daily, weekly, and monthly increments. Weather bureau observations are bound records of daily observations, weekly and monthly for a year's time. Meteorological records compare yearly observations by month. Monthly records are daily recordings of a specific month in a specific year. Monthly summary (later called the climatological summary) contain daily readings in a month by month format for a specific year. Weekly climatological observations are daily readings summarized on a weekly basis. Some notes, charts, and graphs are included in this series of materials.

Container(s)		Description	Dates
		Daily Observations
Box	Folder
19	1-2		1912-1913
20	1-2		1915-1916
21	1		1917
21	2		1919
22	1-2		1920-1921
23	1-2		1922-1923
24	1-2		1924-1925
25	1-2		1926-1927
26	1-2		1928-1929
27	1-2		1930-1931
28	1-2		1932-1933
29	1-2		1934-1935
30	1-2		1936-1937
31	1-2		1938-1939
32	1-2		1940-1941
33	1-2		1942-1943
34	1-2		1944-1945
35	1-2		1946-1947
36	1-2		1948-1949
37	1		1950
Box	Folder
38	1	Letterpress Copybook	1894-1904
38	2-6	Meteorological Record	1891-1965
		Monthly Records
Box	Folder
39	1-6		1894-1899
40	1-5		1900-1904
41	1-6		1905-1910
42	1		1911
42	2		1914
42	3		1918
Box	Folder
43	1-3	Monthly Summaries	1892-1929
44	1-2	Monthly Summaries	1930-1945
44	3	Summary of Climatological Record	1946-1949
45	1-3	Summary of Climatological Record	1950-1970
46	1-3	Surface Weather Observations	1951
46	4	Solar Radiation	undated
46	5	Weather Data	1950-1965

Series IV. Wyoming Crop Improvement AssociationReturn to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
Box
48	Annual Meetings	1943, undated
48	Committees, Directors, and Officers	1943, undated
48	Correspondence (Boyd, George)	1942
48	Correspondence (Riedl, William)	1942-1943
48	Correspondence (Boyd, George)	1944-1946
48	Correspondence (Chisholm, F.A.)	1946-1947
48	Elections	1944-1946
48	Financial	1942
48	Handbook	1950
48	Manual	1941
49	Manual	1945
49	Membership	1942-1947
49	News Letters	1943-1949
49	Seed Certification (General)	1942-1946
49	Seed Certification - Beans	1942-1945
49	Seed Certification - Grass	1944
49	Seed Certification - Potato	1934-1945
49	Seed Certification - Potato - Rules and Regulations	1938-1942
49	Seed Certification - Small Grain	1944-1946
49	Seed Certification - Wheat	1947
49	Seed Cleaning Authorization	1942

Series V. WebsiteReturn to Top

This series includes digital access to archived websites associated with the Agriculture Experiment Station.

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Digital		Website: UW Agricultural Experiment Station	2019-ongoing

Additional Container ListsReturn to Top

The American Heritage Center is in the process of converting its older container lists to a more accessible format. This link is to an older version of a container list.

Container(s)	Description
	Link to Accessioning Worksheet (PDF)Link to Accessioning Worksheet (PDF)Link to Accessioning Worksheet (PDF)Link to Content List 548001.2019-09-16 (PDF)

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Agricultural experiment stations -- Wyoming
Agriculture -- Research -- Wyoming
Crop science -- Wyoming
Livestock -- Research -- Wyoming
Meteorology -- Observations -- Wyoming
Meteorology -- Research -- Wyoming

Corporate Names

University of Wyoming. College of Agriculture

Geographical Names

Lander (Wyo.)
Laramie (Wyo.)
Sheridan (Wyo.)
Wheatland (Wyo.)
Wyoming -- History -- 1890-1918
Wyoming -- History -- 1919-1945
Wyoming -- History -- 1946-1999
Wyoming -- History -- 2000-

Form or Genre Terms

Letterpress copybooks

Other Creators

Personal Names
- Buffum, B.C. (Burt C.), 1868-1944
- Knight, Harvey.
- McLaren, Dice (John Dice), 1860-1943
- Morton, G.E. (George Edwin), 1879-1939
- Towar, J.D. (James DeLoss), 1863-
Corporate Names
- University of Wyoming. Agricultural Experiment Station Council.

Archives West Finding Aid

Table of Contents