| Morrill Act celebration activities begin Oct. 4 |
| 9-28-2012 |
Contact 1: Casey Curlin Scarbrough, Office of University Relations
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MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin will celebrate 150 years of the Morrill Act with a display honoring agricultural progress and research outside the Paul Meek Library on Oct. 4-5.
The outdoor display will include agricultural equipment in 50-year increments, demonstrating how far agricultural methods and research have come in the past 150 years. The display will end with a look at the future of land grant research, featuring the Living Light House display inside the Paul Meek Library.
The Morrill Act, signed into law in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln, provided each state with 30,000 acres of federal land for each congressional delegate. The land was to be sold and the proceeds used to create affordable colleges that would teach applied sciences, such as agriculture, engineering and home economics, in addition to the classical arts.
These institutions, also known as “land grant institutions,” made widespread instruction on mass food and fiber production possible. The proper education of farmers allowed future generations to move away from the farm and aspire to non-agricultural careers. The University of Tennessee system was founded by land grants from the Morrill Act.
In 1870, 70-80 percent of the United States’ population was employed in agriculture; today that number has dropped to less than 1 percent.
For more information about the Morrill Act celebration, contact Gresham at 731-881-7251 or by email at jgresham@utm.edu.
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