Research Guides: Virginia Tech History Resources: College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Researching the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS)

Here are several resources related to the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS), its schools, its programs, and its departments. There are also resources related to the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, which reports partially to CALS, and related units. See also the page on this guide for the College of Natural Resources & Environment, which developed out of CALS.

General Resources

Record groups may include posters, flyers, photos, organizational records, and more. Materials are divided into assigned Record Groups based on the office, division, or unit and designated by the prefix, RG. For example, materials relating to CALS are designated RG 13/x.

Record Groups in the University Archives
This list includes the major overview of the University Archives' Record Groups. Record Groups are the official records of the university held by Special Collections and University Archives. This includes official records, newspaper clippings, and printed material. There are two versions, a spreadsheet for sorting and filtering and a document that includes a page per RG number.
Record Group Vertical Files
The Record Group Vertical Files contain newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, posters, flyers, and more related to departments, schools, colleges, and administrative offices in the university, including press releases, courses, buildings, public events, and more.
University Directory of Administrators and New Faculty, Ms2005-004
The collection was originally housed in and apparently used by the Office of the President, while James D. McComas was president of Virginia Tech from 1988-1993. Collection consists of one-page vitas and photographs of administrators and new faculty in 1988 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, representing the Pamplin College of Business, the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture and Urban Studies, Arts and Sciences, Education, Engineering, and Human Resources. It also includes the Cooperative Extension and Continuing Education and numerous Vice President offices.

About the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) has roots going back to the beginning of Virginia Tech's history. When the university began as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872, it offered agriculture as one of its 13 "courses of study," what would today be considered "departments." The Department of Agriculture was one of the first four major administrative divisions created when Deans were appointed to the academic departments. In 1907, a School of Scientific Agriculture and a School of Agricultural Apprentices were established within the Department of Agriculture. In 1920, the title was changed to School of Agriculture, becoming the College of Agriculture in 1964. The name was changed to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1971.

Online Histories and Exhibits

College and Departmental Histories at Virginia Tech (Archived)
This exhibit contains links to videos and webpages about different departments' histories from the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Enginnering, Liberal Arts & Human Sciences, Natural Resources and Environment, and Science. (Some links may be broken as this is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2011.)
"Instruction, Degrees, and Commencements" on the Virginia Tech History website
This website contains a thorough history of several facets of the university's history, including information on the colleges and schools, deans, degrees awarded, commencement speakers, and more.
Virginia Tech Governance Minutes Archives (Archived)
This exhibit is a list of minutes of university administrative groups, some of which were digitized and maintained by Special Collections and University Archives and some were maintained by the group itself. (Some of the links may be broken as this is archived on Archive-It.org and dates to 2013.)

more... less...

Groups include Board of Visitors; University Council; Commissions on Faculty Affairs, on Graduate Studies, on Research, on Staff Policies and Affairs, on Student Affairs, and on Undergraduate Studies; CALS Council; Building, Commencement, Computer, Scheduling & Registration, Transportation & Parking, University Communications Network, and University Libraries Committees; Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action; Faculty Senate; and Staff Senate.

CALS Collections

CALS Collections

Here are several SCUA collections related to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. This is not a comprehensive list of all our related collections. To find more, please search within our collections on Virginia Heritage.

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Collection, Ms2013-010
This collection contains material collected by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). Materials include pamphlets, scrapbooks, photographs, negatives, slides, video tapes, invitations, and programs from department, college, and university events.
Records of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, RG 25/1
The collection includes 114 surveys books for ten counties in Virginia from 1931 through 1940, as well as files dated 1903-1947 of weather reports, annual reports of investigations of the field laboratories, and a large amount of documentation of various research projects related to crops, orchards, animals, and more. There is also the correspondence of A. W. Drinkard, Jr., director of VAES, with state entomologist and plant pathologist W. J. Schoene, professors at VPI, agricultural organizations, and others.

The Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station (VAES) was established in 1886 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly and funded by the federal Hatch Act of 1887 for the purpose of providing practical and useful information on agricultural and scientific subjects. Originally, it was organized into three departments: agriculture, botany and entomology, and chemistry. VAES was responsible for several agricultural research stations and laboratories throughout Virginia. On July 1, 1966, the research activities of the Agricultural Experiment Station, as well as the Engineering Experiment Station, were combined under a University-wide Research Division. In 1978, the VAES moved from the Research Division to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).
Records of the Office of the Vice-President, Louis A. Pardue, RG 3/3
Collection contains 1,072 folders consisting of general correspondence, general reports, financial reports, enrollment statistics, commencement and inaugural reports, minutes, and departmental information collected by Dr. Louis A. Pardue from 1950 through 1963 while holding the offices of Vice-President and Director of Graduate Studies. There is also correspondence relating to the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Science (ORINS).
Arthur B. Massey Papers, Ms1962-002
Papers of professor of botany and bacteriology Arthur B. Massey, who also was on the research staff of Virginia Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit and Agricultural Experiment Station and helped create the Mountain Lake Biological Station.
Harry W. Sanders Papers, Ms1975-002
Papers of Harry W. Sanders, graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute (BS, 1916); professor of agricultural education and vocational education (1925-1963) and professor emeritus of vocational education (1963-1985) at Virginia Tech; vocational teacher-trainer in Puerto Rico (1932-1933); co-founder of Future Farmers of Virginia (basis of Future Farmers of America). Includes correspondence, articles, printed materials, awards, scrapbooks, and photographs relating to Sanders' personal life and professional career (including his year in Puerto Rico, developing a vocational agricultural education program), as well as the histories of Virginia Tech and Blacksburg, Virginia.
Ellison A. Smyth Papers, Ms1981-098
This collection contains papers including his correspondence with professional and amateur scientists, collectors, dealers and suppliers around the world concerning entomology and zoology, his publications, and field journals from his entomological work.
Curtis W. Roane History of Plant Pathology in Virginia and Biographies of Plant Pathologists Papers, Ms1999-008
Collection consists of "A History of Plant Pathology in Virginia" and biographies of individual plant pathologists written by Professor Emeritus Curtis W. Roane from the Department of Plant Pathology at Virginia Tech.
Ann A. Hertzler Collection, Ms2001-004
The Ann A. Hertzler Collection contains biographical information, publications, project and subject files, and artifacts relating to Hertzler's professional career as professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Missouri-Columbia (1974-1980) and Virginia Tech (1980-2001). Particular areas of emphasis are children's health and nutrition, food and food programs, and Extension publications from both universities.
Louis A. Swiger Papers, Ms2004-013
The Louis A. Swiger Papers consist of correspondence, newspaper articles, speeches and awards relating to Swiger's work with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
National Agricultural Publications, Ms2011-022
Includes publications from national agricultural and food agencies, including some about farms, gardens, and nutrition

CALS Publications

CALS publications in the University Libraries
Includes the newsletters, reports, and other publications by and about CALS
VPI Agricultural Education B.S. and M.S. Theses, 1919-1970
VPI Vocational Education M.S. Theses, 1938-1966
CALS publications in VTechWorks
Includes materials from each department and school within the college as well as the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station and additional related subjects.

About Special Collections and University Archives

Hours
Monday-Friday
8am-5pm

Information for Visitors

Contact
Email: specref@vt.edu
Telephone: 540-231-6308
Twitter: @VT_SCUA
Staff Directory

SCUA Online
Website
Digital Collections
Blog | Culinary Blog
SCUA Research Guides

Land & Labor Acknowledgement

We thank the American Indian & Indigenous Community Center for providing this statement:

Virginia Tech acknowledges that we live and work on the Tutelo / Monacan People’s homeland and we recognize their continued relationships with their lands and waterways. We further acknowledge that legislation and practices like the Morrill Act (1862) enabled the commonwealth of Virginia to finance and found Virginia Tech through the forced removal of Native Nations from their lands, both locally and in western territories.

We understand that honoring Native Peoples without explicit material commitments falls short of our institutional responsibilities. Through sustained, transparent, and meaningful engagement with the Tutelo / Monacan Peoples, and other Native Nations, we commit to changing the trajectory of Virginia Tech's history by increasing Indigenous student, staff, and faculty recruitment and retention, diversifying course offerings, and meeting the growing needs of all Virginia tribes and supporting their sovereignty.

We must also recognize that enslaved Black people generated revenue and resources used to establish Virginia Tech and were prohibited from attending until 1953. Through InclusiveVT, the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (that I may serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence, we commit to advancing a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.