This past month, the UC Merced Library made 2,898 digitized items from the UC Cooperative Extension, Fresno County archive available online. It is our newest collection made publicly available as part of the UC Cooperative Extension Archive and CARA project. The collection represents extension work in Fresno County over the twentieth century and provides a fascinating angle on agriculture in the Valley. Many of the items are from the files of farm advisors and the historical records they inherited from their predecessors. Reports reveal the cumulative results of crop trials that, for example, examined the effects of fungicides and growth regulators. There are newsletters such as Forage Queen, Tree Topics, In-a-Nutshell and other communication materials that imparted information to growers and families in the Valley. There is also a substantial amount of material related to the 4-H youth development program and CalFresh,a statewide program that provides food benefits to low-income families and individuals. These documents demonstrate Cooperative Extension’s reach throughout the community.
Visit Calisphere to see the entire digitized archive: https://calisphere.org/collections/27767/. Topics include growing and harvesting of almonds, pistachios, grapes, alfalfa, and cotton among other crops. Other sets of records are categorized by processes such as irrigation, fumigation, soil formation, and fertilization. Some interesting highlights are below and make sure to click on each item for more information:
The grapevine: gibberellin - 1967 results, 1968
Herbicide sprayer, 1971
Forage queen, 1965
Basic soil surveys, 1954
Gibberellin in grapes, 1968
Correspondence regarding 4-H club work, 1943
Wetting agent study, 1991
Progress report - field comparisons of several on farm tile drainage installations, 1970
