North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Personnel Records 1912-2021

Summary
Contents
Names/subjects
Using these materials
Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.
Creator
North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service
Size
267.75 linear feet (5 legal boxes, 9 flat boxes, 4 oversize flat boxes, 1 oversize box, 168 cartons); 46 kilobytes; 1 file
Call number
UA 102.100
Access to materials

About 48 linear feet of the Personnel Files in Series 4 are closed to researchers but will be made available in the future. The remainder of this collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice.

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Personnel records contain budget, payroll, and salary files, personnel lists and directories, correspondence, personnel files, and other administrative files.

Although extension and demonstration work in North Carolina had been active since the early years of the twentieth century, the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service was only officially created in 1914 as a result of the Smith-Lever Act. In 1991 the name was changed to the current one, the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

Biographical/historical note

From its inception as the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (A&M College), NC State University has been deeply involved in outreach and extension work. In the 1890s and early 1900s, college personnel took part in numerous Farmer's Institutes statewide, where they and State Agriculture Department personnel met with local farmers to discuss farm improvement techniques. In 1907 James A. Butler became North Carolina's first county agent, hired to conduct demonstration work in boll weevil eradication.

In 1909, A&M College expanded its extension efforts when it signed a memorandum of agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture to cooperatively develop Farmers' Boys' Clubs, or Corn Clubs. Ira O. Schaub was the first director of this program, which eventually became 4-H. The first Girls' Clubs, focusing primarily on tomato canning and gardening, were established after Jane McKimmon was hired in 1911 to lead a statewide Home Demonstration program.

Greatly boosting extension work, the 1914 Smith-Lever Act provided for federal, state, and county cooperation in creating a system to expand demonstration and extension work for men and women. The law authorized land-grant colleges to sign memoranda of understanding with the United States Department of Agriculture to begin such work. With this, A&M College created the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service, often called the Department of Extension.

In 1924, Schaub returned as the new Extension director, a position he held until 1950. Administratively, Extension changed as more and more of its functions were transferred to the college (by then, North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, or State College). The 1920s and 1930s saw widespread change and growth in the extension youth programs as well.

During World War II, extension programs played a vital role in the local war effort. The postwar years saw Extension move closer administratively to the College's School of Agriculture. In 1950 a reorganization of the School of Agriculture brought the three fields of work - teaching, research, and extension - into the direct orbit of the School.

Economic difficulties across the state in the 1970s saw Extension increase its activities in rural food production and nutrition, including the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). Extension also worked with farmers facing serious economic troubles to better their situations. In 1991, the North Carolina Agricultural Extension Service changed its name to the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service to better reflect a shift in activities beyond the development of state and local agriculture.

Scope/content

The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service personnel records contain budget, payroll, and salary files, personnel lists and directories, correspondence, personnel files, and other administrative files. See also the scope and content notes at the beginning of each series for more detailed information.

Arrangement

The records of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Personnel Records are arranged in four series:

  • 1. Staffing Records
  • 2. Administrative Records
  • 3. Budget and Salary Records
  • 4. Personnel Files

Within each series, the folders are arranged alphabetically, then chronologically where necessary. Also, records in oversize boxes have been put at the end of each series and arranged the same as above.

Use of these materials

The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Personnel Records, UA 102.100, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Related material

Source of acquisition

Transferred from the offices of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.

The collection is organized into four principal series:

Please note that some historical materials may contain harmful content and/or descriptions. Learn how we’re addressing it.

Access to the collection

About 48 linear feet of the Personnel Files in Series 4 are closed to researchers but will be made available in the future. The remainder of this collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice.

For more information contact us via mail, phone, or our web form.

Mailing address:
Special Collections Research Center
Box 7111
Raleigh, NC, 27695-7111

Phone: (919) 515-2273

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, Personnel Records, UA 102.100, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Use of these materials

The nature of the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NC State University Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.