Summary Information
Ernest L. Luther Papers
1912-1952
- Luther, Ernest L., 1868-1953
Northland Mss W
1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes) and 25 photographs
Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center / Ashland Area Research Ctr. (Map)Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Luther, a superintendent of farmers' institutes in Oneida County, Wis., and professor of agriculture in the University of Wisconsin Extension Division. Included are a small amount of correspondence; histories, reports, and bulletins about the farmers' institutes; biographies of men and women prominent in agricultural extension work; speeches; studies and unpublished articles; sixteen volumes of diaries (1912-1928); and a record and account book (1915-1920). Photographs include a series of images, 1912-1915, of Luther's potato growing experiments near Rhinelander and three images of a slusher at work near Montello, Wisconsin.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-nort000w ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Ernest L. Luther was born near Hart, Michigan in 1868 and attended Olivet College in that state. After serving as a town, city, and county superintendent of schools in both Michigan and Wisconsin, he received a B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1912.
In 1912 also, while on the staff as agriculture instuctor at the Oneida County Teachers' Training School, he was appointed to head the Oneida County agricultural extension work for the extension division of the University of Wisconsin. He is reported to have been the first county agricultural agent in the United States to be paid from public funds. The following year he became state supervisor of county agricultural representatives, and in 1915 was appointed superintendent of farmers' institutes in Wisconsin.
From the time he was made superintendent of the institutes, this department was operated practically as a division of the department of agricultural extension in order to avoid duplication and to enjoy the assistance of extension specialists and county agents. When the institutes were discontinued in 1933, Luther remained as professor of agriculture in the University of Wisconsin Extension Service until he retired in 1938.
From the time of his retirement until his death in 1953 he continued to be interested in Wisconsin agriculture. It was during this period that he worked on histories of the farmers' institutes and the agricultural extension service in Wisconsin. Professor Luther was a respected leader in the development of the state's agriculture, and particularly in cooperative marketing in Wisconsin.
Scope and Content Note
Correspondence
Correspondence in the Luther Papers is limited in both quantity and scope. Although arranged in chronological order, by months, it may be described in three groups:
1) In 1912 and 1913, Mr. Luther's letters to Professor K. L. Hatch, secretary of the agricultural extension service at the University of Wisconsin, are concerned with the establishment of extension work in Oneida County, and the progress of experimental plots for which Luther was responsible. His correspondence reflects the problems a county agricultural agent faced in the days when his work was new and farmers were not accustomed to receiving such direct counseling and aid from a public agency or educational institute.
2) Letters during the period when Mr. Luther directed the farmers' institutes, 1915-1933, concern the institutes, meetings throughout the state, and the improvement of farm practices in Wisconsin.
3) Correspondence in the 1930's is related chiefly to Epsilon Sigma Phi, national honorary extension fraternity, of which Luther was chief of the local chapter, 1934-1935.
Other Material
Professor Luther did a great deal of writing in connection with the farmers' institutes and the work of the agricultural extension service in the state. In preparation for histories of each, he drafted many “chapters” without designating whether the material was to be used in the history of the institutes or the extension service. Since the two agencies had such close ties, he may in some instances have intended the same material to apply to either. In any case, these drafts have all been retained, but have been put in no particular order or arrangement. The papers contain biographies of many men and women prominent in agricultural extension work in Wisconsin; bulletins written or edited by Luther; reports for the farmers' institutes, chiefly between 1922 and 1933; speeches and unpublished articles; a few studies and investigations; and clippings concerning Luther's many years of involvement in extension work in Wisconsin.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mrs. Ernest L. Luther, Madison, Wisconsin, 1954.
Processed by Margaret R. Hafstad, May 12, 1964.
Contents List
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Northland Mss W
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Correspondence, 1912-1952, undated
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Box
1
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Agricultural extension, misc. reports
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Box
1
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Agricultural Extension Service, Ms of a history by Luther, 1941, 1942
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Box
2
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Biographies of agricultural extension personnel
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Box
2
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Bulletins written or edited by Luther
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Box
2
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Clippings and ephemera
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Box
2
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Farmers' institutes reports, 1922-1933
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Box
3
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Farmers' institutes and county extension, drafts for histories of each
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Box
4
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Farmers' institutes, misc. reports
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Photographs relating to agriculture
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Box
4
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Xeroxed copies
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PH Northland Mss W
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Original photographs
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Northland Mss W
Box
4
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Speeches and articles (unpublished)
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Box
4
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Studies and investigations
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Box
4
Volume
1-16
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Diaries and expense accounts, 1912-1917, 1919-1928
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Box
4
Volume
17
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Record book and accounts, 1915-1920
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