Morrill Act of 1862

The CSU Libraries digital repository preserves digital images of a large number of early photographs and publications which can help us gain understanding of the resources and activities of Colorado’s land-grant school.

The Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station was created shortly after the passage of the 1887 Hatch Act. Agricultural researchers published the results of their experimental work in bulletins, which were exchanged with other land-grant colleges in the United States and given out to farmers, business owners, librarians, and others interested in agricultural research. Here are some examples of early Experiment Station bulletins from Colorado: Report of Experimental Work in Physics and Engineering, by Elwood Mead, 1887. Report of Experiments on Grains, Grasses, and Vegetables, by A. E. Blount, 1887. This describes the duties of the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture (the governing board of Colorado's land-grant college) in making agricultural knowledge and seeds developed by the experiment station available to those members of the general public willing to plant them and report the results back to the college. Frank J. Annis, 1887. Other digitized bulletins may be found by searching with the term, "experiment station bulletin" in the search box of the Mountain Scholar at https://mountainscholar.org/.

To find early photographs of Colorado's land-grant institution, go to the University Historical Photograph Collection and search for a building, type of activity, or course of instruction. Here is a photograph of Old Main, taken in 1879, the year the college opened for classes. The land-grant colleges were created to provide practical instruction in agricultural and mechanical knowledge, and the State Agricultural College of Colorado offered classes in animal husbandry, agronomy blacksmithing and domestic science , among other topics.

by Linda Meyer, Archivist, University Libraries

Overview of the act and the history behind it can be found in these online Colorado State Univeristy-sponsored items: