College of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, records, 1940-1950 | Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections

2 mss. boxes

Materials in this collection are organized into a single series largely arranged chronologically and by document type.

Correspondence documenting the history and administration of the College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering (Department of Agricultural Engineering) between 1940 and 1950.

Courses associated with Agricultural Engineering (including Farm Equipment, Farm Roads, and Farm Drainage, and after 1905, Farm Mechanics) were among the earliest taught by the College of Agriculture.  Agricultural Engineering became particularly important during the early years of Purdue University due to the increasing impact of industrialization on American agriculture. “Other departments had their vital work and made their contributions, but none other was so specifically and closely involved with the agricultural transformations that occurred,” Purdue Engineering historian H.B. Knoll explained.  Professor William Aitkenhead, who taught at Purdue from 1914 to 1943, played an important role in this transformation.  New curriculum under Aitkenhead’s successor, Dr. Henry J. Barre, fully and successfully mixed courses in agriculture and engineering in joint offerings by the School of Engineering and College of Agriculture.  Agricultural Engineering offered its first M.S. in 1953 and first PhD in 1959.  The program grew from four undergraduate courses in 1921 to sixteen undergraduate, six graduate, and eleven mixed courses by 1960. Author: John Michael Foster