'Pioneers of Mass Aggie' exhibit opens at Du Bois Library

The exhibit “Pioneers of Mass Aggie: Founders, Builders, and Innovators” is on display through May 13 on the lower level and in Special Collections and University Archives on floor 25 of the Du Bois Library.

“Pioneers” is the first of three exhibits to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the University of Massachusetts and will focus on the early history of “Mass Aggie,” as the Massachusetts Agricultural College was known.

Among the prominent pioneers highlighted in the exhibit are the first class of students (1867-71), who were known as "the old guard"; early faculty members, including the "faculty of four" who taught classes in 1867; early sports pioneers who worked to prove the athletic skill of "the farmers"; and the first women students and instructors. The beginnings of the Graduate School, the Experiment Station and Extension Service are also featured. 

A talk by John Lee, “Sustaining Massachusetts Agriculture through the Years: A Brief History of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture and Allandale Farm,” and a reception will be held on Friday, March 1 at 4 p.m. on the lower level of the library. The event is free and open to the public. Lee is a lifelong farmer and advocate for agriculture. He has operated Allandale Farm in Boston and Brookline for 28 years. He is a trustee of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture (founded in 1792), the Massachusetts 4-H Foundation and sits on the Massachusetts Food Policy Council and the Board of Public Overseers. Allandale Farm is a 60-acre, direct market organic farm that has been in the same family since the French and Indian wars.

For more information, contact Anne Moore, 545-6888, amoore@library.umass.edu.