Letterpress copybooks containing the correspondence of Thomas J. Burrill, Experiment Station Botanist, with farmers and other citizens of Illinois and botanists and plant pathologists in other states concerning growing plants in Illinois, especially fruit, ginseng, alfalfa and mushrooms; identification, history and characteristics of plants and plant fungi; analyses of grass samples; identification and methods of eradicating noxious weeds, especially canada thistle, quack grass amd sorrel; analyses of plant and fruit tree diseases like bitter rot, pear blight, apple blight, twig blight, black rot and blackberry disease; reports on plant diseases found in specimens; forestry and tree planting, especially catalpa, black locust and fence posts.

The letterbooks contain a history of the University forestry plantation, 10/1/03; a five-page report on fruit tree names and grafting, 10/11/06; a two-page report on the practicability of the University producing a diphtheria vaccine, 10/26/06; a university milk route and tuberculin testing, 6/2/08 and a letter relating to the Y.M.C.A., 5/16/03.

Letterbook:1)9/3/1901 to 7/9/1903; 2)7/9/1903 to 5/9/1905; 3)5/23/1905 to 12/21/1906; 4)1/5/1907 to 5/19/1908; 5)5/20/1908 to 9/30/1909; 6)10/5/1909 to 1/22/1910

Based upon the provision of the Agricultural College Act of 1862, Congress endorsed establishment of experiment stations by the Hatch Act in 1887. The University of Illinois organized a committee in 1887 for creating an experiment station to be named the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Illinois. The Station was to engage in research directly bearing upon the agriculture industry without involvement in the teaching of agricultural practices. Although the Board of Trustees had established the Station and appointed a four member Board of Direction to operate it in December, 1887, no further action could be taken due to an oversight of the Hatch Act until Congress appropriated financial resources in Februrary, 1888. The Board of Direction (now enlarged to nine members) assembled for the first time on March 28, 1888 with operation beginning in April. The Station was reorganized in June, 1896, by changing the name of the Board to the Experimental Station Advisory Board and establishing as Director the Dean of the College of Agriculture. Replacing the Dean as Director in February, 1965, the associate Director became the Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station and Associate Dean of the College.

An experiment station was proposed for southern Illinois in August, 1933, became effective in 1934 as the Dixon Springs Experiment Station, entered the development phase in 1935, and was formally dedicated by the Dean of the College of Agriculture on October 8, 1938. Dixon Springs Experiment Station was reorganized on June 17, 1964 as the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center of the University of Illinois.

1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 14th Report, Agricultural Experiment Station Report, p. 194.

2. Ibid., 14th Report, March 3, 1887, p. 34.

3. Ibid., 14th Report, December 13, 1887, p. 88-89.

4. Ibid., p. 88.

5. Ibid., 18th Report, September 4, 1895, p. 159.

6. Ibid., 14th Report, December 13, 1887, p. 88-89.

7. Agricultural Experiment Station Report, op. cit., p. 196-197.

8. Board of Trustees Transactions, 14th Report, March 21, 1888, p. 100.

9. Agricultural Experiment Station Report, op. cit., p. 196-197.

10. Ibid., p. 200.

11. Board of Trustees Transactions, 18th Report, June 9, 1896, p. 249-250.

12. Ibid., 53rd Report, February 17, 1965, p. 393.

13. Redeeming a Lost Heritage: The Development of the Dixon Springs Agricultural Center. By William G. Kammlade, P.W. Rexroat, and H.A. Cate. (Urbana: College of Agriculture, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1976), p. 30.

14. Board of Trustees Transactions, 38th Report, July 11, 1934, p. 4.

15. William G. Kammlade, op. cit., p. 31.

16. William G. Kammlade, op. cit., p. 33.

17.  Board of Trustees Transactions, 52nd Report, June 17, 1964, p. 1252.