USDA Extension Service Plan Exchange Records

Collection

Identifier: MS0269

Staff Only

Content Description

The USDA Extension Service Plan Exchange Records consist of plans for agricultural buildings and low-cost housing. Examples include bunkers, greenhouses, and tenant houses, as well as structures for housing and processing beef cattle, dairy cattle, horses, poultry, goats, swine, bees, and rabbits. There are also miscellaneous plans for machinery and equipment.

The plans are the collective work of plan exchange engineers at U.S. land-grant universities, including Pennsylvania State University, Cornell University, the University of Arizona, North Dakota State University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Florida. Each plan is assigned a reference number, and most list a creation or revision date. There are gaps in the sequence, likely due to the practice of assigning new numbers to revised designs. Plans were also culled when they presented a design that was no longer recommended.

Dates

Creation: 1933-1988

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Farm plans once held by the University of Florida have been digitized and are available in the George A. Smathers Libraries Digital Collections.

More digitized farm plans are hosted by North Dakota State University, Colorado State University, and the University of Tennessee.

Organizational History

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) supported the development of farm building plans beginning in 1915. The Plan Exchange was formed in 1930 to maximize the use and sharing of building plans. Plans were housed in various USDA research offices. In 1979, management and financial responsibility for the Plan Exchange was transferred to the USDA Extension Service. In 1982, the Extension Service invited state extension services to bid on a contract to provide Plan Exchange headquarters services. The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension Service won the contract and provided the service until 1988. As of 1988, the program was no longer funded by the USDA Extension Service.

Total Size of Collection

11 letter_document_box ; 5 x 13 x 10 1/4 in.

4.58 Linear Feet (11 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Custodial History

In 2025, approximately 3.5 linear feet of materials were donated to the National Agricultural Library by the University of Florida (UF) to expand NAL's existing collection of farm plans. These materials had originally been given to the University of Florida Digital Collections by either Ray Bucklin or Jonathan A. Watson, who were faculty in the UF/IFAS Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department. Materials once held by UF have been digitized and are available in the George A. Smathers Libraries Digital Collections.