Jan 22, 2018 - Philosophical and Institutional Innovations of. Kenyon Leech Butterfield and the Rhode Island. Contributions to the Development of Land Grant.
Philosophical and Institutional Innovations of Kenyon Leech Butterfield and the Rhode Island Contributions to the Development of Land Grant and Sea Grant Extension Michael A. Rice, Sarina R. Rodrigues, & Kate Venturini University of Rhode Island
Summary Timeline of RI & Extension • 1863-1894 Morrill & Hatch Act funds, Brown University and formation of RI-AES & RICA&M • 1896 Marine Extension work began at RICA&M • 1902-1906 The Washburn controversy; Kenyon L. Butterfield, and the establishment of Extension Department at RICA&M (1904)…and Butterfield’s move to Massachusetts • 1914 Smith-Lever Act passed by Congress & signed by Wilson • 1936 Narragansett Marine Lab established • 1963 -1966 Sea Grant Colleges proposed on Butterfield’s Land Grant University model Championed by Pell & signed by LBJ
Part 1. Establishing Land Grant Education in Rhode Island
Brown as RI’s First Land Grant University • Morrill Act 120,000 acres in Western Kansas awarded to RI • 14 Jan 1863 Resolution to accept passed by RI General Assembly • Second resolution to award funds to Brown; more controversial w/ farm interests arguing Brown as unqualified •Fails to pass Senate by one vote on Jan 22 • A week later on Jan 27 measure passes 18-6 w/ all rural senators in minority after heated debate
Photo credit: Brown University Special Collections
The Agricultural Curriculum at Brown • • • •
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Morrill funds used exclusively to fund 30 scholarships for poor but otherwise qualified students Same entrance examination standards as all other Brown students Formation of Agricultural and Scientific Department in 1867 1868 effort to request funds from General Assembly for an experimental farm, resulting in a “study commission” No action by the General Assembly
Photo credit: Brown University Special Collections
The Agricultural Curriculum at Brown The instruction in Agriculture will embrace Zoology and Comparative Anatomy illustrated by specimens from the Museum of Natural History, with field excursions for practical instruction in obtaining and preserving specimens, and in Taxidermy. --- Brown University Catalogue, 1875
The 1887 Hatch Act & the Formation of RI -AES RI-AES & the State Agricultural School • • •
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Hatch Act of 1887 provided funds for Experiment Stations – just what Brown wanted Organized RI Grange & Farm Field Day Aug 20, 1887 at Oakland Beach – 1,100 farmers in attendance Major lobbying in Jan 1888 legislative session by Thomas G. Hazard, Charles O. Flagg & former Sen. Nathaniel Peckham; Pres. Ezekiel G. Robinson defended Brown Bill creating RI-AES & State Agriculture School passes 21 March 1888 – but 1862 Morrill funds stayed with Brown
The RI-AES Building (Taft Hall) – 1889 from URI Special Collections
Setting up RI -AES & the Agricultural School RI-AES • • • • • •
General Assembly forms Board of Managers & Gov. Royal C. Taft makes first appointments 13 June 1888 T.G. Hazard, C.O. Flagg, Bernon Helme aid in securing Watson Farm site in Kingston in August 1888 John Hosea Washburn hired as Principal starting 1 Oct 1889 – Ph.D. University of Göttingen – along with Homer J. Wheeler Viewed science as key to good agricultural education Brought $2,000 worth of scientific apparatus from Germany First admission of students in Sept 1890
John Hosea Washburn Principal, then President (1889-1902) Photo from URI Special Collections
1890 Morrill Act and the Rhode Island College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts • • •
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Board of Managers studied Brown’s use of 1862 Morrill funds & reported to General Assembly in 1889 30 Aug 1890 2nd Morrill Act Provided opportunity to form the Land Grant College parallel to the HB-LGCs Renewed General Assembly debate over disposition of Morrill funds – at issue “agriculture as a way of life, educationally expressed” RICA&M created with matched 1890 Morrill funds on 19 May 1892 & Washburn installed as President But, 1862 Morrill funds stay with Brown until 19 Apr 1894
RISC Grist 1914
President Washburn and the RI Farm Community •Washburn active with AAACES from 1890, elected to post of Sec-Treasurer in 1895 •Complaints farm community about Washburn begun in Dec 1901 to Gov. Charles Kimball; by April 1902 Granges resolve to call for ouster; by May, press reveals complainants, w/ 3 prominent Grangers including T.G. Hazard •Most charges ad hominem, but Board of Managers voice support for Washburn; but admit Washburn “spoke plainly” aggravating some •Washburn & attorney Amasa Eaton bring suit for $25,000 against accusers & press •Gov. Kimball outraged at suit, asks for Washburn’s resignation; Washburn resigned effective 15 Aug 1902
Herbert W. Ladd Agricultural Laboratory at RICA&M 1892
Summer Poultry School early 1900s (Photos from URI Special Collections)
Part 2: Enter Kenyon Leech Butterfield and Formation of the Extension Department at RICA&M
Butterfield ’s Qualifications Butterfield’s •
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Earned Master’s degree at Michigan Agricultural College; in 1895 worked with MI legislature to greatly expand Farmers’ Institutes & was appointed to lead the program…& he had charisma! March,1901, his landmark publication in Educational Review called for full Extension Departments at all LGCs w/ full array of programming in partnership with Granges. RI press reviewed his credentials & was supportive in their articles. Butterfield hired to begin 1 Apr1903 w/ salary of $3,100/yr
Kenyon L. Butterfield, President of RICA&M 1903-1906 From URI Special Collections
Butterfield ’s Public Relations Butterfield’s •
Began taking it to the road & inviting groups to campus: – RI businessmen’s lunches – RI Press Club event on campus w/ spouses – RI Board of Agriculture meetings annually on campus – Annual field day w/ fair-like atmosphere
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Payoff Jan 1904 legislative session: $4,000/yr in budget for Extension Department Jan 1905 legislative session: $10,500 for deferred building repairs & $15,000 for research greenhouse 26 June 1905 “Governor’s Day” oncampus festivities for Gov. George H Utter & 65 legislators -- apex of Butterfield’s popularity in RI
Kenyon L. Butterfield (top r) with RI Farm Bureau Executive Committee ca 1904 (from URI Special Collections)
Butterfield ’s Bigger Fish to Fry – 1905 -06 Butterfield’s 1905-06 •
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By mid-1905 clear to him RI agriculture as an industry on decline & surprisingly few agriculture students attracted to the college MAC President Henry H. Goodell died 1905 & Massachusetts Board of Trustees knew Butterfield’s work Butterfield recruited in part by $900+ in pay increase. Resigned from RICA&M effective 30 Jun 1906 & began at MAC in Amherst next day In final report to BOM, he urged continuing cooperation among RICA&M, the legislature & people. Unexpected budget increase to $25,000 in 1906 legislative session
Wilder Hall (1905) Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst. Photo from UMass Special Collections
Butterfield ’s 17 Oct 1906 Inaugural Address at Butterfield’s Massachusetts Agricultural College
The agricultural college is the proper place for centralizing this extension teaching, because first of all it is educational in its aims... And let it be said also that the organization of an extension department need not involve any interference with the work of other agencies which attempt to educate adult farmers… Cooperation, not antagonism, will be its motto… All the aims of the college that are extra-academic can here be centralized [in the extension department]. This department will be the interpreter between scholarly pursuit and popular need. K.L. Butterfield -1906
First Morrill Act Centennial 1962
1862 Morrill Act Centennial Plaque at URI Photo by Michael A. Rice
Part 3: Development of Sea Grant Program & Marine Extension from the Successful Land Grant Model
Beginnings of Marine Extension in Rhode Island
RI-AES Marine Lab at Jerusalem, RI est. 1896 Photo from URI Special Collections
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RISC- Marine Lab at South Ferry, RI est. 1936 Photo by Michael A. Rice (2005)
Early recognition that marine industries were big in RI 1895 – oyster farmers request help from Washburn; AES marine lab begun July 1896 by Dr. George Wilton Field. Narragansett Marine lab begun 1936 by Dr. Charles J. Fish: – extension project to work w/ RI oyster farmers & US-BCF scientist Dr. Paul S. Galtsoff on oyster reproduction – another to work with Pt. Judith fishermen on finding ways to better harvest sea clams.
Athelstan F. Spilhaus Proposal to Create Sea Grant Colleges (1963 -64) (1963-64) •
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Spilhaus was renowned oceanographer w/ research credentials, 1936 invented bathythermograph while at WHOI He had a public following as a science inventor & syndicated science comic strip author First SG proposal was his keynote address at annual meeting of AFS in Minneapolis 11 Sep 1963 “Man in the Sea” editorial in Science 4 Sep 1964 drew major attention to the idea
Dr. Athelstan Francis Spilhaus (1964) as Dean at University of Minnesota. Photo from Smithsonian Institution Collections.
Man in the Sea 1964 The sea-grant college would focus attention on marine science, and it would develop strengths in the applications of marine science in colleges of aquaculture and marine engineering. These would be modern parallels of the great developments in agriculture and the mechanic arts which were occasioned by the Land Grant Act of about a hundred years ago. Basic funds, undesignated except that they would be used by the sea-grant colleges, could be obtained in much the same way the agricultural support has been established in the past. Establishment of the land-grant colleges was one of the best investments this nation ever made. A.F. Spilhaus 1964
Sen. Claiborne deB deB.. Pell and Sea Grant •
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Pell first to run with Spilhaus idea by announcing intent to file Sea Grant legislation in floor speech 7 May 1965 17 May letter of Adm. David L. McDonald pledging Navy support By July 7, correspondence among George Beardsley of Pell’s staff, Spilhaus & Dean John A. Knauss of URI-GSO & drafted bill Pell introduced Sea Grant College & Program Act (S-2439) 4 Aug 1965 House companion bill (H.R. 16559) introduced by Rep. Paul G. Rogers (DFL, West Palm Beach) within weeks
Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI) ca1964. Photo from URI Special Collections
Sea Grant Act Introduction Speech 1965 When the causes of the development of agriculture in the United States is sought, three main primary factors are noted. First, a strong educational program at the college level, both graduate and undergraduate. Second, a program of applied research and development directed toward improving current practices and techniques. Finally, an extension service that brings the latest results to the workers involved. -- Sen. Claiborne Pell, Sea Grant College and Program Act Introduction Speech – 4 Aug 1965
Cartoon of Pell, 21 Aug 1965 Providence Evening Bulletin by John J. Fawcett
Coordination of Support for Sea Grant Act •
Knauss & James Leslie instrumental in organizing a national conference on “the concept of a Sea Grant University” held 28-29 Oct 1965 in in Newport – A variety of speakers from across the country & from various industry groups, including fishing, marine engineering, marine conservation, etc – Proceedings published by U.S. Senate as part of congressional hearing testimony
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Knauss & Leslie organized second conference among marine labs & held at JFK Airport in NYC on 25 Feb 1966
John A. Knauss, founding dean URI Graduate School of Oceanography, 1961 Photo from URI Special Collections
Scenes from the Concept of a Sea Grant University Conference, 28 -29 Oct 1965, Newport RI 28-29
Spilhaus, Knauss & Pell discussing the bill. Photo from URI Special Collections
Sen. Claiborne Pell with Dr. Wilbert M. Chapman, UW-Seattle; Dr. Harve J. Carlson, NSF; Dr. Harold C. Knoblauch, CSRS-USDA. Photo from URI Special Collections
Senate Hearings and Passage of the Sea Grant College and Program Act of 1966 •
Formal hearings for bill began at URI on 2 May 1966 – Pell chaired, members incl. J. Javits, NY; E. Kennedy, MA; W. Morse, OR; G. Murphy, CA; G. Nelson, WI – Testimony from Marine Industries in RI and MA; incl. Jacob Dykstra of Pt. Judith Fish Co-op. – Edward Harrington, Mayor New Bedford, on value of Marine Extension to economies of coastal communities
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Hearings continued in D.C. 3-5 May 1966 Pell & Rogers Bills pass 89th Cong. Oct. 1966 Signed by LBJ on 15 Oct 1966 as P.L. 89-688 First 4 Sea Grant Universities w/ Marine Extension Services in 1971 included URI
Plaque commemorating first Senate hearing of the Sea Grant Act at the University of Rhode Island 2 May 1966. Photo by Michael A. Rice
Conclusions about Extension in Rhode Island •
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Butterfield was successful in creating a modern Extension Department at RICA&M in 1904 primarily due to the political clout of the Grangers brought on by long held grievance over the 1862 Morrill funds Farm community were stubborn in their belief that farmers were not “intellectuals,” but both Washburn & Butterfield disagreed and saw educational opportunity. Butterfield’s ideas about the Cooperative nature of Extension were incubated in MI but put to the acid test in RI…and expanded into MA before Smith-Lever. The Land Grant philosophy (including Butterfield’s 1901 notion of Extension as coequal in the triad) was grabbed wholesale and incorporated into Pell’s Sea Grant legislation
Agriculture Dean George E. Adams addressing an Extension gathering ca1930 Photo from URI Special Collections
Thank you
