Josephine Scott Hudson Papers 1897-1978

Josephine Scott Hudson was born on October 23, 1883 in Alamance County, North Carolina. Daughter of Robert W. Scott, and sister of United States Senator and governor of North Carolina W. Kerr Scott, Josephine Scott married North Carolina's first Cooperative Extension agent, Cassius Rex Hudson, in 1911. The couple had four children, C. R. Jr., Robert, Seaman, and Frances.

Josephine Scott Hudson's father, Robert Scott, was a state legislator and trustee for thirty-five years at the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (later North Carolina State University). He was instrumental in securing state funding for some of the original structures used to house the Agricultural Extension Service on the North Carolina State University campus.

Both Josephine and her sister Margaret worked as agricultural extension home demonstration agents in Alamance County. Josephine met her husband while speaking on a farmer's institute train tour. The train tours were an early teaching device used by the Extension Service to reach farmers living in remote rural areas.

Josephine Scott married Cassius Rex Hudson in 1911. Hudson, a graduate of Alabama Polytechnic Institute, had been hired by Seaman Knapp in 1907 to serve as the Farmer's Cooperative Demonstration Work agent for the state of North Carolina. In the fall of 1904, Seaman Knapp had established the Farmer's Cooperative Demonstration Work, headquartered in Houston, Texas. Farmer's Cooperative Demonstration Work (later to become the Cooperative Extension Service) was organized to educate farmers, and to aid cotton growers in eradicating the boll weevil. The program evolved into a comprehensive educational and demonstration system that was implemented in cooperation with land grant universities and regional governments across the United States. The movement revolutionized American agriculture.

Cassius Rex Hudson traveled extensively throughout North Carolina, instructing farmers in modern agricultural techniques. By 1914, he was conducting farm demonstration work in thirty counties. He continued working in that capacity until 1922. In 1922, he was placed in charge of "Negro Demonstration Work" for the state of North Carolina and worked as the director of that program until his death in 1940. In 1944 the Liberty Ship Cassius Hudson was named in his honor.

Josephine Scott Hudson's brother, W. Kerr Scott, was Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of North Carolina, 1937-1948, and served a term as the state's governor, 1949-1953, He was then elected to the United States Senate and served from 1954 until he died in 1958. His son Robert Scott was elected governor in 1968 and served from 1969 to 1973.

Known affectionately as Miss Josie, Josephine Scott Hudson actively promoted the Scott family tradition, and was cited frequently in the regional press as a resource for information on North Carolina's rich agricultural history. She died in 1978, at the age of ninety-four.

The Josephine Scott Hudson Papers include research papers, correspondence, photographs, information on the Cassius Hudson Liberty Ship, professional papers, publications, and news clippings relating to Cassius Rex Hudson's career with the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service. There is also material related to Josephine Hudson, her brother, W. Kerr Scott, who was governor of North Carolina from 1949 to 1953 and United States Senator from 1954 to 1958, and her nephew, Robert W. Scott, governor of North Carolina from 1969 to 1973. Papers contained in this collection highlight the contributions made by her husband, Cassius Rex Hudson, and her father, Robert W. Scott, to North Carolina State University and to the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service.

This collection is organized into six series; Cassius Rex Hudson Papers, Liberty Ship Cassius Hudson Papers, Scott Family Papers, Photographs, Newspaper Clippings, and Ephemera.

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[Identification of item], Josephine Scott Hudson Papers, MC 00112, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Material donated by Frances Griffin, 1978 (Accession no. 1978-0014) and 1986 (Accession no. 1986-0006) and by Francis McVay, 1976 (Accession no. 1976-0017).

Processed by Michael Watts, Maurice Toler, 2005 August

Encoded by Michael Watts, 2005 August