Presentation for the 2012 Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, held in University Park, PA, and the 2012 American Chemical Society fall national meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Part of a symposium on "Celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the Land Grant College Act." This talk on Penn State's first president and chemist, Evan Pugh, focused on his advocacy for chemical and agricultural education and his ability to communicate the value of chemistry to the public.

5. “The
almost desperate
struggle… of attempting
to place a new idea before
indifferent and unprepared
minds.”
Dr. A. L. Elwyn, 1864

6. CHEMICAL EDUCATION
Justus von Liebig’s laboratory at Giessen, ca. 1840
(German History in Documents and Images)

7. EVAN PUGH,
PH.D.
Portrait of Evan Pugh at the age of 21, in 1848
(Penn State University Archives)

8. CHEMICAL CAREER
Evan Pugh’s student identification card, ca. 1855
(Penn State University Archives)
Evan Pugh’s dissertation, as printed in 1856
(Penn State University Archives)

9. CHEMICAL CAREER
Lawes Testimonial Laboratory, Rothamsted
(Penn State University Archives)
On the Sources of Nitrogen in Vegetables, 1860
(Penn State University Archives)

10. CHEMICAL CAREER
Chart used by Dr. Pugh to present his findings to the Royal Society of London
(Penn State University Archives)

11. SAMUEL W.
JOHNSON
Samuel W. Johnson, 1857
(Yale University Manuscripts & Archives)

12. FARMERS’
HIGH SCHOOL
FEBRUARY 1855
Farmers High School of Pennsylvania, 1861
(Penn State University Archives)

13. “I felt sure 3 years ago
FARMERS’ when I suggested your
HIGH SCHOOL name to Dr. Elwyn
FEBRUARY 1855 as the man for the Pa.
Farmers High School that
you were the man &
am now glad that
you are the man.”
Samuel W. Johnson, October 18, 1859

14. CHALLENGES
Old Main and Farmers, 1860
(Penn State University Archives)

15. CHALLENGES
Farmers High School students, 1860
(Penn State University Archives)

16. CHALLENGES
Chemical lecture room at the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania, ca. 1862
(Penn State University Archives)

17. CHALLENGES
Old Main in 1863
(Penn State University Archives)

18. CHALLENGES
110th Pennsylvania Infantry
(Library of Congress)

19. ADVANTAGES
“sinewy”
“broad-shouldered”
“manly”
“giant in stature”
Evan Pugh
(Penn State University Archives)

20. NETWORK
George C. Caldwell
(Penn State University Archives)
William H. Brewer
(Calisphere) Charles F. Chandler
(National Library of Medicine)
Charles A. Goessman
(University of Massachusetts-Amherst)

21. MODELS
Schloss Hohenheim, 1845
(Baden und Württemberg im Zeitalter Napoleons)

22. COMMUNICATION
Farmer and Gardener, December 1860
(Penn State University Archives)
“What Science Has Done and May Do for Agriculture,” 1860
(Penn State University Archives)

23. STRATEGY
“The corner-stone of this
college was educated labor…
it was the distinctive feature,
it was in this that they
differed from other
colleges.”
John Hamilton, 1871
Students at work
(Penn State University Archives)

24. THEMES
“The land wants artificial
manure!”
Evan Pugh, 1860

25. THEMES
“The land is worn out…
it is well for us that we have
new land. The time will
come when the land
must find rest by
letting the people starve.”
Evan Pugh, 1860

26. THEMES
“Quite recently, at the Farm
School, I analyzed a
manure…
at $30.00 per ton…
it proved to be not worth
$5.00 per ton.”
Evan Pugh, 1860

27. THEMES
“We must do it!
We must do it in Pennsylvania!
And I think, gentlemen, that
we will do it.”
Evan Pugh, 1860

28. THE LAND GRANT
Old Main, near completion, taken in 1863 by Evan Pugh with the assistance of a student
(Penn State University Archives)

29. THE LAND GRANT
The Penn State Seal

30. THE LAND GRANT
“The Agricultural College of Pennsylvania,” 1862
(Penn State University Archives)

31. THE LAND GRANT
A. C. Mullin in a letter to H. N. McAllister, April 10, 1863
(Penn State University Archives)

32. THE LAND GRANT
“A struggle… to prevent the
rapacious greed of
a swarm of secular colleges
throughout the State from
robbing the institution of the
endowment...”
C. Alfred Smith, 1890

33. THE LAND GRANT
“A Report Upon a Plan for the Organization of Colleges for Agriculture and the
Mechanic Arts,” 1864
(Penn State University Archives)

34. “I AM TIRED…”
Evan Pugh’s last work, 1864
(Penn State University Archives)

35. DEATH
APRIL 29, 1864

36. LEGACY
“Strange transmutations”
(C. Alfred Smith)
“Evil days”
(W. F. Dunaway)
“Era of drift”
(Michael Bezilla)
“Period of dormancy”
(1955 Centennial brochure)
“Poverty-induced aimlessness”
(Margaret Tschan Riley)

37. LEGACY
George W. Atherton George Gilbert Pond
(Penn State University Archives) (Penn State University Archives)

38. LEGACY
“May that face ever look
down upon your
deliberations with
approval…”
C. Alfred Smith, 1890

39. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Roy Olofson
Roger Egolf
Jackie Esposito
and the staff of the
Eberly Family Special Collections Library