The Smith-Lever Act of 1914

The Smith-Lever Act of 1914

The Smith-Lever Act established a national Cooperative Extension Service that extended outreach programs through land-grant universities to educate rural Americans about advances in agricultural practices and technology. These advances helped increase American agricultural productivity dramatically throughout the 20th century.

Today, cooperative extension continues to serve the educational and developmental needs of communities across the United States by supporting clubs, classes, and events that help citizens keep pace with the rapid modern advances in agriculture techniques and technologies.

The Smith-Lever Act was on display at the National Archives Museum in celebration of its 100th anniversary on May 8, 2014.

The National Archives Museum’s “Featured Documents” exhibit is made possible in part by the Foundation for the National Archives through the generous support of Toyota.

Past Featured Records

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  Frances Perkins: Champion of Workers’ Rights

  Thursday, February 29, 2024 – Monday, April 15, 2024
  East Rotunda Gallery

  “I came to Washington to work for God, FDR, and the millions of forgotten plain common workingmen.” —Frances Perkins

  Chances are you benefit from the legacy of Frances Perkins,... Read more

• 

  70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

  Thursday, February 1, 2024 – Wednesday, February 28, 2024
  East Rotunda Gallery

  Equity in Education: 70 Years Later

  On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that “separate but equal” was unconstitutional in... Read more

• 

  250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party

  Thursday, December 14, 2023 – Wednesday, January 31, 2024

  East Rotunda Gallery

  The Destruction of the Tea

  It wouldn’t be known as the “Boston Tea Party” for another 50 years, but the destruction... Read more

• 

  Diseños: An Impact of Mexican Cession

  Tuesday, June 20, 2023 – Wednesday, October 18, 2023
  East Rotunda Gallery

   

  At the end of the Mexican-American War, the United States annexed more than half of Mexico’s territory under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Under its terms, the U.S. promised to... Read more

• 

  Celebrating Anna May Wong

  Anna May Wong
  National Archives, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service

  “I want to be an actress, not a freak.”

  Film legend Anna May Wong’s talent could not be contained by the racist casting of early Hollywood movies. Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905,... Read more