Legacy funds support project to catalog and digitize rare agriculture records

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (08/12/2011) -- If Norman Borlaug was the father of the Green Revolution, its grandfather was E.C. Stakman of the University of Minnesota's Plant Pathology Department.

Created in 1907 to combat the devastating cycles of crop-destroying wheat stem rust that periodically threatened the state's economy, plant pathology became the premier program of its kind, attracting generations of brilliant young scientists whose work saved millions from starvation worldwide.

The University Archives documented this story in a new exhibit called "Minnesota Roots of the Green Revolution: A Legacy of Greatness." The university's rich historical collections have recently been cataloged and selectively digitized through projects supported by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment.

The U Libraries are celebrating the completion of these projects with a reception that showcases these rare and unique agriculture records.

"The Green Revolution was an unprecedented human achievement in world history, but was little known in affluent countries. In the developing and underdeveloped countries it literally changed their world, lifting hundreds of millions from poverty, malnutrition and misery," said Richard Zeyen, professor emeritus of plant pathology. "The Minnesota roots of the Green Revolution is the University of Minnesota's greatest story never told--it was and remains our highest impact moment, but is unknown to most."

The reception, sponsored by the University of Minnesota Archives, Friends of the University Libraries, and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, will be held 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30, in Elmer L. Andersen Library, 222 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis. A short program, featuring a preview of the TPT/Department of Plant Pathology documentary film "Saving Wheat: Rusts Never Sleep," will begin at 5:30 p.m.

The "Minnesota Roots of the Green Revolution: A Legacy of Greatness" exhibit is open now through Friday, October 21, 2011; exhibit hours and directions to Andersen Library are available at special.lib.umn.edu/hoursdir.phtml. Learn more about the University Archives at special.lib.umn.edu/uarchives.