For the past century, the Cooperative Extension Service has educated Louisiana residents. In a collaborative project with the LSU AgCenter, Hill Memorial Library is celebrating the act that made it possible.
To recognize the centennial of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, Hill Memorial created the “Cooperative Extension at LSU: Commemorating the Centennial of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914” exhibit.
The Smith-Lever Act established Cooperative Extension within the United States and land-grant universities.
The Cooperative Extension Service in the United States is an education and research program cooperatively funded by the federal, state and local governments. The mission of the Cooperative Extension Service is to extend the research produced at land-grant universities to the general public. According to the LSU AgCenter, the motto of the Cooperative Extension Service is “helping people help themselves.”
Exhibit curator Cristina Caminita wasn’t aware she could do the exhibit until she had done significant research.
“As I met more people in the College of Agriculture and the AgCenter, I realized that an exhibit had been hiding right under my nose, the Smith-Lever Centennial,” Caminita said.
The exhibit tells the story of Cooperative Extension at the University through a sampling of the numerous resources the LSU Libraries have collected over time.
Taking up two floors of Hill Memorial, the exhibit is full of original historical photographs from Cooperative Extension narrative reports, different types of Extension publications, newspaper articles and other items from the time period documenting the act.
Caminita said, though Cooperative Extension has been around for 100 years, it seemed far-fetched when it was first proposed.
“Cooperative Extension was the most ambitious program of nontraditional education ever designed when it was created by the passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914,” Caminita said.
The creation of Extension charged land-grant schools with a mission to educate not only students who attended the schools, but the people of the community. This was particularly important in the early 20th century when college was not a viable option for most people.
The program brought the research and resources of the University to the people, initially to provide farmers with new technologies and new practices to improve their livelihoods, which would then improve the lives of people all across the state.
Extension’s scope during its 100 years of existence continued to expand as the needs of the people changed.
Exhibitions coordinator at Hill Memorial Leah Jewett said sometimes the importance and wide reach of Cooperative Extension can be underestimated, and this exhibit should change that.
“It’s not just cows and pigs,” Jewett said. “It’s anything that has to do with being a human being. The whole idea is to get people to improve themselves and become better citizens.”
Though agriculture is an essential component, Jewett stresses that Cooperative Extension is about more than just agriculture or farming.
Jewett said the program at its core is working together to pass on scientific research and putting it into practice.
Caminita said this exhibit is a small sample of the program’s effect on the University and the state.
“Telling the story of Extension is telling the story of LSU and the history of agriculture in Louisiana,” Caminita said.
With this exhibit, Caminita said students have the opportunity to get a small glimpse of how the state has developed in the past century, as the items on display are primary historical documents that directly show that history.
The items in the exhibit aren’t just for show. After the exhibit closes, students can visit Hill Memorial Library and can request to use these items for their own research.
The exhibit is free and open to the public, and closes January 24.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Ronni Bourgeois

Woman displaying cabinet of pickled and preserved items in 1953, part of the cooperative extension exhibit in Hill Memorial Library.