Page from the 1895 Bomb yearbook showing portraits of staff officers in the Department of Military Science and Tactics, including Lieut. Col. B. H. Hand, Reg. Adjt. J. B. Frisbee, Major L. H. Campbell, Gen. James Rush Lincoln, Battalion Adjt. J. W. Crawford, and Quartermaster G. W. Carver.
James Wilson "Tama Jim" 1836-1920, Director Experiment Station 1891-97. First Dean of Agriculture 1897-02. Made Dean while on leave 1897-02. In Carver's words: "Wilson, the name of Hon. James Wilson is sacred to me. He was one of the finest teachers that it has ever been my privilege to listen to... Being a colored boy, and the crowded condition of the school, made it rather embarrassing for some, and it made the questions of a room rather puzzling. Prof. Wilson said, as soon as he heard it, "Send him to me, I have a room," and he gave me his office and was very happy in doing so. James Wilson was a farmer and a newspaper editor from Traer, Iowa, who had already served in the Iowa legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives when he was named Professor of Agriculture at Iowa State in 1891. Wilson and Carver became fast friends during Carver's years on campus. Both were very religious men, and Carver regularly attended a Sunday school class taught by Wilson. Carver visited the Wilson farm in Traer, and traveled around the state with Wilson on short lecture trips. In November 1895, Carver was offered a position at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University) in Lorman, Mississippi. Though Carver did not accept the position, Wilson's letter of recommendation reveals the respect and friendship between the two men: "I do not want to lose Mr. Carver from our station staff here... I have been more intimate with Mr. Carver than with any other student on the campus. I have to some extent befriended him when it was my power to do so, and he has responded by doing a great deal of work among the students that has pleased me greatly... In cross-fertilization... and the propagation of plants, he is by all means the ablest student we have here. Except for the respect I owe the professors, I would say he is fully abreast of them and exceeds in special lines in which he has a taste. We have nobody to take his place and I would never part with a student with so much regret as George Carver." Neg. # 0037165.
Budd family portrait with Joseph Lancaster Budd and Sarah Breed Budd with their children, Etta May and Allen Joseph. It was at Etta May Budd's urging that George Washington Carver transfer to Iowa State from Simpson College to study agriculture. Carver's first love was art, but Miss Budd feared that he would be unable to make a living as an artist. She felt it would be more practical to pursue another of his interests, plant science. She suggested he go to Iowa State, where her father, Joseph Lancaster Budd, was Head of the Horticulture Department from 1877 to 1900. Neg. 0039585.
Photograph of the Department of Military Science and Tactics with George Washington Carver 4th from left in the front row kneeling. The Department of Military Science and Tactics was established in 1870 along with the S.A.T.C. as a result of a provision in the Morrill Land Grant Act. In 1916, Congress passed the National Defense Act, which provided for the establishment of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (R.O.T.C.). Old Main and Morrill Hall can be seen in the background.
Portrait of Edgar W. Stanton, George Washington Carver's professor in plane geometry. Edgar W. Stanton served Iowa State continuously from his graduation in 1872 until his death in 1920. He was made Head of the Mathematics Department in 1874, served as Secretary of the Board of trustees from 1874 to 1909, and was four times Acting President of Iowa State. After the death of his first wife, Margaret MacDonald Stanton, in 1895, Stanton presented the college with the first ten bells of the carillon hanging in the Campanile. After Edgar Stanton's death, his second wife, Julie Wentch Stanton, and his children contributed 26 additional bells. The carillon is known as the Stanton Memorial Carillon. Neg. # 0051527.
