Agricultural and Engineering Drawings Now Available Online

The Special Collections Research Center is pleased to announce that researchers can now access a great collection of agricultural drawings through our Rare and Unique Digital Collections site. Many of these drawings were created by the Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering and were disseminated through the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. They comprise the Drawings and Plans series in the department's records. There are over 500 drawings now digitized. While most are undated, some date to the 1970s and 1980s.

This series contains drawings, plans, and sections of agricultural structures for cattle, pigs, and chickens as well as for waste containment.  There are also plans of privately-owned farms and plants throughout North Carolina, usually highlighting particular structures or landscaping elements. 

Many drawings were created through the Cooperative Farm Building Plan Exchange. Through this program, each land-grant university submitted plans to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which then disseminated them to other land-grant institutions across the country. Farmers obtained plans from their local Cooperative Extension agents, free of charge, for construction on their farms. Therefore, this collection may document structures not just in North Carolina but throughout the entire United States. Some plans may have also been modified for the specific needs of individual North Carolina farms.

Due to the NC State University Coronavirus Response NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open by appointment only for the spring semester. Please note that according to Library policies, on-site Library access is limited to NC State students, faculty, staff, and university affiliates with a Wolfpack One Card, including Centennial Campus partners. For requests from these communities, we will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible and will email you when your requested materials are ready so that we can confirm your appointment time. For all other requests, we will respond to your request as soon as possible.