The Division combined the activities of the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Engineering Experiment Station. The Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station was established in 1886 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly and funded by the federal Hatch Act of 1887 for the purpose of providing practical and useful information on agricultural and scientific subjects. VAES was responsible for several agricultural research stations and laboratories throughout Virginia. On 1 July 1966, the research activities of the Agricultural Experiment Station, as well as the Engineering Experiment Station, were combined under a University-wide Research Division. This collection contains primarily farm surveys and reports.
Subjects covered include cattle, crop rotations, insecticides, orchards, etc.
In addition, the collection contains correspondence, Virginia State Crop Pest Commission material, weather reports 1903-33, and annual reports of investigations of the Field laboratories. In 1966, the Station was abolished and its duties absorbed by the University-wide Research Division.