page_title: History of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System
section_title: Passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System / Passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914
context_page_description: A common perception is that the birth of Cooperative Extension followed passage of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which provided federal funds to land-grant universities to support Extension work. In a formal sense, this is true. Even so, the roots of Cooperative Extension extend as far back as the late 18th century, following the American Revolution, when affluent farmers first began organizing groups to sponsor educational meetings to disseminate useful farming information. In some cases, these lectures even were delivered by university professors — a practice that foreshadowed Cooperative Extension work more than a century later.
  These efforts became more formalized over time. By the 1850s, for example, many schools and colleges had begun holding farmer institutes — public meetings where lecturers discussed new farming insights.
context_section_description: In 1914, the long-awaited Smith-Lever Act, which has been regarded as "one of the most striking educational measures ever adopted by any government," finally was passed.   The act provided for state matching of federal funds to establish a network of county farm educators in every state in the nation.  The agreement with the states drafted shortly after passage of the act stipulated that not only Smith-Lever-related Extension work but all Extension-related work associated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a state would be carried out through the state college of agriculture. Likewise, each state college was expected to establish a separate Extension division with a leader responsible for administering state and federal funds.
  Alabama formally accepted the provisions of the Smith-Lever Act in 1915, organizing the Alabama Extension Service under the direction of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Auburn.  J.F. Duggar, a long-serving API administrator, assumed the reins of the new organization, while Duncan was appointed superintendent of Junior and Home Economics Extension in cooperation with the USDA.  These two units operated independently until Duncan was named head of the Alabama Extension Service in 1920.
  The act initially provided $10,000 each year to agricultural colleges in each state to use exclusively in agricultural and home economics outreach, with the added provision that this funding would increase annually in state each according to growing demand, but only so long as states agreed to match these funds.
  Alabama Extension was organized into four areas of emphasis: farm demonstrations; woman's work, including home demonstrations and girls canning; junior Extension, particularly boy's corn clubs, pigs clubs and similar forms of outreach; and Extension work by specialists.
  Under the Smith-Lever Act, administrative oversight of Tuskegee's Extension program came under the direction of Duggar in 1915, though in a de facto sense, the program remained autonomous and under the direction of African-Americans.
  Despite its pioneering efforts in extension work, Tuskegee was not eligible to receive 1890 funds until 1972.
caption: Extension Director Luther N. Duncan dedicates the Alabama Extension Service's new state headquarters on the Alabama Polytechnic Institute campus in Auburn, 1929.
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