Histories of Centers and Departments
The following is a collection of CALS departmental and center histories written by faculty and staff of the university. Click the name of each department and center to see links to these documents. This is not a comprehensive list. If you are aware of a written history of a CALS department or center that is not represented here, please email history@cals.wisc.edu.
Bacteriology University of Wisconsin-Madison Celebrating 100 years (a three-page timeline of department, published for the 2014 Raper Symposium)
One Hundred Years of Agricultural Chemistry and Biochemistry at Wisconsin, D.L. Nelson and B. C. Soltvedt, eds., Science Tech Publishers, Madison, 1989
The Story of the Department of Agricultural Economics 1909-1972, Marvin A. Shaars 1972
The First 75 Years: Agricultural Journalism Department at UW-Madison, by Richard Powers in 1983
University of Wisconsin Agronomy Department, the First One Hundred Years: 1903-2002, Rohweder, Peterson, and Lauer 2003
- Fifty Years of Cooperative Extension in Wisconsin, 1912-1962, Circular 602 (January 1962) UW Extension Service, College of Agriculture
- History of the Agricultural Extension Service of Wisconsin, 1935
- Cooperative Extension 100 Years of Growing a Strong Wisconsin, Brochure by Cooperative Extension in 2012
- Transplanting Extension. A New Look at the “Wisconsin Idea”, J.W. Gooch 1995
History of the Dairy Science Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: A Memoir, L.H. “Bud” Schultz 2009
- Chronology of the Laboratory of Genetics, History of the Departments of Genetics, (CALS and Medical School); Nelson has a copy. Good photos, brief research descriptions)
- Early Genetics at Wisconsin Arthur Chapman, Oliver Nelson, Ray Owen, and James Crow. A Contribution to the Centennial Celebration of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. (Unpublished 19-page history; Nelson has a copy)
- Home Economics to Human Ecology: A Centennial History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, (a digital collection of photographs and ephemera illustrating aspects of the past 100 years at the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison).
- The Challenge of Constantly Changing Times: From Home Economics to Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison 1903-2003, Rima D. Apple 2003
- An 85-Year History of the Meat Science and Muscle Biology Program, (a 30-page document by Robert Kauffman, from May 2012. There is a copy “MBL” in the Muscle Biology Lab, and Nelson has a copy.
- History of the Meat Science and Muscle Biology programs, 1927-1999 R.W. Bray 1999
- Photographs of the Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame.
- History of Plant Pathology at University of Wisconsin 1851-1964, J.C. Walker; Call Number: SB950.73 U6 W58
- With One Foot in the Furrow: A History of the First Seventy-five Years of the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Paul H. Williams and Melissa Marosy 1986
- And One Hand on the Bench: The First Century of the Department of Plant Pathology at the UW-Madison, J. H. Andrews 2010
UW Poultry 1909-1996, by Milt Sunde (an 80-page typescript with many photos and departmental CVs. Nelson has a copy)
Early History of the Department of Rural Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arthur F. Wileden 1979
Bernard Easterday has written an account of the beginning of the School of Veterinary Medicine. (Nelson does not have a copy)
- Farm and college; the College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin, a history, W.H. Glover UW Press 1952
- A Centennial History: A History of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, J.W. Jenkin 1991
- University, Madison USA, R.E. Gard 1970
- The Jubilee of the University of Wisconsin, Jubilee Committee 1905
- A Resourceful University: The University of Wisconsin-Madison in its 125th Year, UW Press 1975
- University of Wisconsin: A History, M. Curti and V. Carstensen 1949 (volumes 1 and 2), E.D. Cronon and J.W. Jenkins 1994 (volumes 3 and 4)
- Contributions of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station to crop production, Arthur Kelman, L. R. Jones Professor of Plant Pathology and Bacteriology 1983
- Wisconsin’s Agricultural Experiment Station: 100 Years of Research, R. Powers 1983
- Agriculture in the University of Wisconsin, J.G. Moore 1955
- University of Wisconsin. Title: [Decennial reports by campus departments for North Central Association review] One archive box, Steenbock
- My Half Century at the University of Wisconsin, Ira L. Baldwin adapted from an oral history interview by Donna Taylor Hartshorne 1995
- John Steuart Curry’s Pageant of America, L.E. Schmeckebier 1943
- William Arnon Henry: Educator, seer, farm leader, A.S. Alexander
- Harry Russell and Agricultural Science in Wisconsin, E.H. Beardsley 1969
- Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
- Continuing and Vocational Education (CAVE)
- Dairy Forage Research Center
- Entomology
- Environmental Resources Center
- EnvironmentalToxicology Center
- Food Microbiology and Toxicology
- Forestry and Wildlife Ecology
- International Agriculture
- Land Tenure Center
- Nutritional Science