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John Norberg

A Spirit of Service: Purdue University and the United States Military is a richly illustrated, comprehensive look at the intersection of this great land-grant university and the US military since classes first began in 1874. Spearheaded by the Purdue University College of Engineering in recognition of its 150th anniversary, this book examines how Purdue Boilermakers have played a consequential role in defending democracy, freedom, and independence in times of war and great duress.

Pioneering Purdue contributions include more than one hundred faculty working on the Manhattan Project, learning how to better cool machine gun barrels, and making radar practical—all during World War II—as well as the transition from vacuum tubes to semiconductors, Dorothy Stratton advancing the role of women in the military, the founding of the National Society of Black Engineers, the first School of Engineering Education, the first university airport, and, most famously, Neil Armstrong, a US Navy officer and Purdue alumnus, and the first human to set foot on the moon.

Today Purdue is at the forefront of drones, hypersonics, energetics, artificial intelligence, space exploration, cybersecurity, semiconductors, and much more. In fact, approximately one-third of US spaceflights have included a Boilermaker astronaut, and many of those alumni served in the military. This large number of astronauts partially stems from a Purdue–Air Force Academy program to provide advanced degrees to graduating officers.

 A Spirit of Service tells the stories of men and women who lived this history, from ROTC students to a Medal of Honor recipient, from soldiers at the front during the Great War to a man who witnessed the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, from a pilot who led thousands of planes in bombing missions over Germany during World War II to military astronauts, from trailblazing female officers and pilots to twenty-first-century teachers and researchers who are creating the future. This volume records the stories of Purdue men and women whose patriotism, leadership, and heroism have preserved life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for generations of Americans—past, present, and future.

Purdue University Press

The Founders Series

A Spirit of Service: Purdue University and the United States Military

Mitch Daniels

When former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels was named Purdue University’s twelfth president, he became one of a small handful of nationally renowned figures to lead an institution of higher education. In an era when university presidents had largely abandoned the role of public intellectual, Daniels immediately captured broad attention for his willingness to take a thoughtful stand on America’s most pressing challenges—in academia and far beyond.

Boiler Up: A University President in the Public Square offers readers a fascinating compendium of commencement addresses, published columns, and transcripts of speeches and hosted events spanning ten years of insights and insightful interactions that put Mitch Daniels front and center among American thought leaders. Throughout the book, Daniels’s sharp intellect, incisive analysis, and delightful sense of humor reign supreme. Via embedded QR codes, readers can “attend” recorded content, including evenings with Condoleezza Rice, Garry Kasparov, Walter Isaacson, and other fascinating people. Whether the reader seeks lessons on leadership or immersion in engaging ideas, Boiler Up is a tour de force of transformative thinking.

Proceeds from the sales of Boiler Up support the scholarship fund at Purdue Polytechnic High Schools.

Boiler Up: A University President in the Public Square

Michael G. Smith

The Rocket Lab: Maurice Zucrow, Purdue University, and America’s Race to Space focuses on the golden era of space exploration between 1946 and 1966, specifically the life and times of Purdue University’s Dr. Maurice J. Zucrow, a pioneering teacher and researcher in aerospace engineering. Zucrow taught America’s first university course in jet and rocket propulsion, wrote the field’s first textbook, and established the country’s first educational Rocket Lab. He was part of a small circle of innovators who transformed Purdue into the country’s largest engineering university, which became a cradle of astronauts. Taking a chronological and thematic approach, The Rocket Lab weaves between the local and national, drawing in rival universities, especially Harvard, MIT, Princeton, and Caltech. Also covered is Zucrow’s role in the national project system of research and development through World War II and the Cold War. At Aerojet, he was one of the country’s original project engineers, dedicated to scientific-technical expertise and the stepwise approach. He made vanguard power plant contributions to the Northrop Flying Wing, as well as the Corporal, Nike, and Atlas missiles, among others. Zucrow’s work in propulsion helped to improve the country’s arsenal of ballistic missiles and space launchers, and as a teacher, he educated the first generation of aerospace engineers. This book elevates Zucrow and the central role he played in getting the United States to space.

The Rocket Lab: Maurice Zucrow, Purdue University, and America’s Race to Space

Victor Lincoln Albjerg

Richard Dale Owen was born in 1810 in Scotland to a wealthy textile manufacturer and philanthropist. The youngest of eight children, Richard grew up at the family estate of Braxfield House, where he received his early education from private tutors. He would later go on to study chemistry, physics, and natural sciences, among other subjects, traveling between Scotland and Switzerland for his schooling.

Owen arrived in the United States in 1828 to teach in New Haven, Indiana, where his father was running an experimental utopian community of happiness, enlightenment, and prosperity. He would later go on to be Indiana’s second state geologist before enlisting in the army during both the Mexican-American War and the American Civil War. Colonel Owen took command of 4,000 Confederate prisoners at Camp Morton in Indianapolis, where he established new daily routines and rules for supervision of the prisoners. Under Owen’s command, prisoners were allowed to read books and form glee clubs, theatrical groups, and sports teams. He also created a camp bakery staffed by prisoners that proved to be a substantial cost savings, allowing for above-average rations for the prisoners under his watch.

After his military service came to an end, Owen continued to serve as a state geologist as well as becoming a professor at Indiana University, teaching chemistry, language, and natural philosophy. After failing to help secure IU as Indiana’s land-grant school, Owen was recruited to help establish Purdue University, west of Lafayette. The board of trustees selected him to serve as the University’s first president on August 13, 1872. However, Owen and the trustees disagreed on many early initiatives, including his focus on agriculture and push for more comfortable living arrangements for students.

After less than two years serving as president, where he never drew a salary, Owen resigned his position and returned to teaching at Indiana University, until hearing problems caused him to retire in 1879. He spent his remaining years in New Harmony, where he conducted research and published several scientific papers until his tragic death caused by an accidental poisoning at the hand of a local pharmacist.

Richard Owen: Scotland 1810, Indiana 1890

Robert W. Topping

This biography details Hovde’s life and times from his birth at Erie, Pennsylvania, through his boyhood at Devils Lake, North Dakota, and includes his student days at the University of Minnesota and in England and Europe as a Rhodes scholar. In addition, it outlines his career from the time he returned to the United States from England in 1932, as well as when he went back again in 1941 as the United States secretary for American-British scientific research and development exchange efforts. Principally, it covers his twenty-five years as president of Purdue University, his impact on higher education generally, and his retirement in 1971. The book depicts Hovde the president and Hovde the man. It focuses on the growth of Purdue University from the post-World War II years through the tumultuous times of the late 1960s and Hovde’s own comments on those periods.

The Hovde Years: A Biography of Frederick L. Hovde

Frank K. Burrin

A study of the 50-year career of Edward Charles Elliott is a study of the development of American education. Elliott had experience as a high school and college teacher, school system superintendent, state college system chancellor, and president of a Big Ten university, all during a period of change in American attitudes toward public schooling and rapid growth in education institutions. As president of Purdue University from 1922 to 1945, Elliott steered the school through years of expansion in size, prestige, and service. Student enrollment, staff, course offerings, buildings, and campus acreage more than doubled; the total value of the physical plant increased more than five-fold, and the schools of pharmacy, home economics, and graduate study were opened under Elliott’s leadership. This book shows not only how Elliott helped make Purdue University what it is today, but documents educational trends from 1900 to 1950 and includes a lengthy bibliography of Elliott’s writings to assist the student of higher education.

Edward Charles Elliott, Educator

Some of them were grown men going to college on the new G.I. Bill, and some were boys -- eighteen years old, straight out of high school. There were also young women coming to campus, rich in the traditions of their mothers and grandmothers. These women didn't know it, but the seeds of the modern women's movement had been planted during the war and in their generation. There were African-Americans who came to campus and found segregation and racial stereotypes, even after some of them had fought a war for freedom. This mixture of students blended together on the college campuses of America in the late 1940s and exploded into the world in 1950. Journalist John Norberg's illuminating oral history allows members of Purdue University's Class of 1950 to tell their stories in their own words. "(This is) a narrative that will hold special interest for those with Purdue or West Lafayette ties, but its scope is broad enough to interest a wider population".

A Force for Change: The Class of 1950

Ferd Leimkuhler

The process of industrialization that began over two hundred years ago is continuing to change the way people work and live, and doing it very rapidly, in places like China and India. At the forefront of this movement is the profession of industrial engineering that develops and applies the technology that drives industrialization. This book describes how industrial engineering evolved over the past two centuries developing methods and principles for the planning, design, and control of production and service systems. The story focuses on the growth of the discipline at Purdue University where it helped shape the university itself and made substantial contributions to the industrialization of America and the world. The story includes colorful and creative people like Frank and Lillian Gilbreth of Cheaper by the Dozen fame. Lillian was the first lady of American engineering as well a founder of Purdue's Industrial Engineering.

An Enduring Quest: The Story of Purdue Industrial Engineers

George Ade, one of the most beloved writers of his day, carried on a lively correspondence with the most colorful of the great and near-great. George M. Cohan, William Howard Taft, Theodore Roosevelt, John T. McCutcheon, James Whitcomb Riley, Finley Peter Dunne, Hamlin Garland all received letters from the Hoosier humorist. Ade’s keen observation, compact and straightforward style, and understated humor mark his correspondence, as well as his immensely popular newspaper columns, books, and plays. His friendships were so diversified that his letters forms a patchwork of popular history, literature, politics, and entertainment. Ade’s interchange of ideas about people and events shaping the twentieth century as well as his own life will provide insights for students of varied aspects of American culture. This volume presents 182 of the most interesting and informative letters from the thousands of extant pieces of his correspondence in scores of collections scattered throughout the United States. The letters are arranged chronologically, annotated with explanatory material and with sources. A forward, introduction, and Ade’s autobiography are included, interspersed with photographs, sketches, handwriting samples and other illustrations which evoke the man and his times.

Letters of George Ade

Robert C. Kriebel

The Midas of the Wabash is a biography of noted businessman John Purdue (1802-1876), whose donations of time and money led to the founding of Indiana's land grant university, Purdue University, in 1869. Purdue also contributed to economically important bridge, railroad, and cemetery construction, the existence of Lafayette Savings Bank and the Battle Ground Collegiate Institute, cattle farming, Lafayette's public school system, and countless other worthy enterprises. 

This is the first published full length study of Mr. Purdue's life and work beyond casual street-talk that portrayed Purdue as a difficult individual with whom to work. This biography incorporates research efforts by previous writers with facts gleaned from newspaper coverage, official documents, and a few rare samples of Mr. Purdue's letters. In this way, a complete picture of the man and myth is generated.

The Midas of the Wabash: A Biography of John Purdue

Frederick Whitford

Andrew G. Martin

William Carol Latta was the 13th member of the Purdue faculty. He became the driving force behind Purdue's world-famous School of Agriculture and initiated extension services that have lasted for more than a century. In 1890, he laid out the first permanent soil fertility field experiments, inaugurating a system of research considered one of the best in the country at that time. He administered Purdue's School of Agriculture until 1907.

Grand Old Man of Purdue University and Indiana Agriculture: A Biography of William Carol Latta

Irena McCammon Scott

In the most comprehensive biographical study of John Purdue (c. 1802-1876) to date, Purdue's great-great-grandniece describes her travels to the diverse places where Purdue had lived in order to learn about the mysterious relative known in her family as Uncle. Using fresh, unpublished source materials-including Purdue's personal correspondence, business ledgers, and the family oral histories-the author examines Purdue's beginning among illiterate, immigrant, Pennsylvania mountain-hollow folks. Uncle challenges a commonly held belief that Purdue was a cold-hearted business mogul. Instead the author shows Purdue as a human being and as a generous family man with a visionary nature.

Uncle: My Journey with John Purdue

Dave Ross (1871-1943) and George Ade (1866-1944) were trustees, distinguished alumni and benefactors of Purdue University. Their friendship began in 1922 and led to their giving land and money for the 1924 construction of Ross-Ade Stadium, now a 70,000 seat athletic landmark on the West Lafayette campus. Their life stories date to 1883 Purdue and involve their separate student experiences and eventual fame. Their lives crossed paths with U.S. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart, and Will Rogers among others. Gifts or ideas from Ross or Ade led to creation of the Purdue Research Foundation, Purdue Airport, Ross Hills Park, and Ross Engineering Camp. They helped Purdue Theater, the Harlequin Club and more. Ade, renowned author and playwright, did butt heads with Purdue administrators at times long ago, but remains a revered figure. Ross's ingenious mechanical inventions of gears still steer millions of motorized vehicles, boats, tractors, even golf carts the world over.

Ross-Ade: Their Purdue Stories, Stadium, and Legacies

Phyllis Mattheis

Virginia Claypool Meredith's role in directly managing the affairs of a large and prosperous farm in east-central Indiana opened doors that were often closed to women in late nineteenth century America. Her status allowed her to campaign for the education of women, in general, and rural women, in particular. While striving to change society's expectations for women, she also gave voice to the important role of women in the home. A lifetime of dedication made Virginia Meredith "the most remarkable woman in Indiana" and the "Queen of American Agriculture." Meredith was also an integral part of the history of Purdue University. She was the first woman appointed to serve on the university's board of trustees, had a residence hall named in her honor, and worked with her adopted daughter, Mary L. Matthews, in creating the School of Home Economics, the predecessor of today's College of Consumer and Family Sciences.

The Queen of American Agriculture: A Biography of Virginia Claypool Meredith

In 1869 the State of Indiana founded Purdue University as Indiana’s land-grant university dedicated to agriculture and engineering. Today, Purdue stands as one of the elite research and education institutions in the world. Its halls have been home to Nobel Prize- and World Food Prize-winning faculty, record-setting astronauts, laureled humanists, researchers, and leaders of industry. Its thirteen colleges and schools span the sciences, liberal arts, management, and veterinary medicine, boasting more than 450,000 living alumni. 

Ever True: 150 Years of Giant Leaps at Purdue University by John Norberg captures the essence of this great university. In this volume, Norberg takes readers beyond the iconic redbrick walls of Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus to delve into the stories of the faculty, alumni, and leaders who make up this remarkable institution’s distinguished history. Written to commemorate Purdue University’s sesquicentennial celebrations, Ever True picks up where prior histories leave off, bringing the intricacies of historic tales to the forefront, updating the Purdue story to the present, and looking to the future.

Ever True: 150 Years of Giant Leaps at Purdue University

Today, Purdue Extension delivers practical, research-based information that transforms lives and livelihoods. Tailored to the needs of Indiana, its current programs include Agriculture and Natural Resources, Health and Human Sciences, Economic and Community Development, and 4-H Youth Development. However, today's success is built on over a century of visionary hard work and outreach. Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge: The Words and Works of Indiana's Pioneer County Extension Agents chronicles the tales of the first county Extension agents, from 1912 to 1939. Their story brings readers back to a day when Extension was little more than words on paper, when county agents traveled the muddy back roads, stopping at each farm, introducing themselves to the farmer and his family. These Extension women and men had great confidence in the research and the best practices they represented, and a commanding knowledge of the inner workings of farms and rural residents. Most importantly, however, they had a knack with people. In many cases they were given the cold shoulder at first by the farmers they were sent to help. However, through old-fashioned, can-do perseverance and a dogged determination to make a difference in the lives of people, these county Extension agents slowly inched the state forward one farmer at a time. Their story is a history lesson on what agriculture was like at the turn of the twentieth century, and a lesson to us all about how patient outreach and dedicated engagement-backed by proven science from university research-reshaped and modernized Indiana agriculture.

Scattering the Seeds of Knowledge: The Words and Works of Indiana's Pioneer County Extension Agents

Angie Klink

In the early 1900s, Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis forged trails for women at Purdue University and throughout Indiana. Mary was the first dean of the School of Home Economics. Lella was Indiana's first state leader of Home Demonstration. In 1914, Mary hired Lella to organize Purdue's new Home Economics Extension Service. According to those who knew them, Lella was a "sparkler" who traveled the state instructing rural women about nutrition, hygiene, safe water, childcare, and more. "Reserved" Mary established Purdue's School of Home Economics, created Indiana's first nursery school, and authored a popular textbook. Both women used their natural talents and connections to achieve their goals in spite of a male-dominated society. As a land grant institution, Purdue University has always been very connected to the American countryside. 

Based on extensive oral history and archival research, this book sheds new light on the important role female staff and faculty played in improving the quality of life for rural women during the first half of the twentieth century. It is also a fascinating story, engagingly told, of two very different personalities united in a common goal.

Divided Paths, Common Ground: The Story of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, Pioneering Purdue Women Who Introduced Science into the Home

Kristina Bross

Completely produced by students in the Purdue University Honors College, this book contains ten essays by undergraduate students of today about their forebears in the class of 1904. Two Purdue faculty members have provided a contextualizing introduction and reflective epilogue. Not only are the biographical essays written by students, but the editing, typesetting, and design of this book were also the work of Purdue freshmen and sophomores, participants in an honors course in publishing who were supervised by the staff of Purdue University Press. Through their individual studies, the authors of the biographies inside this book were led in interesting and very different directions. From a double-name conundrum to intimate connections with their subjects' kin, their archival research was rife with unexpected twists and turns. Although many differences between modern-day university culture and the campus of 1904 emerge, the similarities were far more profound. Surprising diversity existed even at the dawn of the twentieth century. Students intimately tracked the lives of African Americans, women, farm kids, immigrants, international students, and inner-city teens, all with one thing in common: a Purdue education. This study of Purdue University's 1904 campus culture and student body gives an insightful look into what the early twentieth-century atmosphere was really like-and it might not be exactly what you'd think.

Little Else Than a Memory: Purdue Students Search for the Class of 1904

Five women successively nurtured students on the Purdue University campus in America's heartland during the 1930s to 1990s. Each became a legendary dean of women or dean of students. Collectively, they wove a sisterhood of mutual support in their common-sometimes thwarted-pursuit of shared human rights and equality for all. Dorothy C. Stratton, Helen B. Schleman, M. Beverley Stone, Barbara I. Cook, and Betty M. Nelson opened new avenues for women and became conduits for change, fostering opportunities for all people. They were loved by students and revered by colleagues. The women also were respected throughout the United States as founding leaders of the Coast Guard Women's Reserve (SPARs), frontrunners in the National Association of Women Deans and Counselors, and pivotal members of presidential committees in the Kennedy and Nixon administrations. 

The Deans' Bible sheds light on cultural change in America, exploring how each of the deans participated nationally in the quest for equality. As each woman succeeded the other, they knitted their bond with a secret symbol-a Bible. The Bible was handed down from dean to dean with favorite passages marked. The word "bible" is often used in connection with reference works or "guidebooks." The Deans' Bible is just that, brimming with stories of courageous women who led by example and lived their convictions.

The Deans' Bible: Five Purdue Women and Their Quest for Equality

The key role that farming plays in the economy of Indiana today owes much to the work of John Harrison Skinner (1874-1942). Skinner was a pioneering educator and administrator who transformed the study of agriculture at Purdue University during the first decades of the twentieth century. From humble origins, occupying one building and 150 acres at the start of his career, the agriculture program grew to spread over ten buildings and 1,000 acres by the end of his tenure as its first dean. A focused, single-minded man, Skinner understood from his own background as a grain and stock farmer that growers could no longer rely on traditional methods in adapting to a rapidly changing technological and economic environment, in which tractors were replacing horses and new crops such as alfalfa and soy were transforming the arable landscape. Farmers needed education, and only by hiring the best and brightest faculty could Purdue give them the competitive edge that they needed. While he excelled as a manager and advocate for Indiana agriculture, Skinner never lost touch with his own farming roots, taking especial interest in animal husbandry. During the course of his career as dean (1907-1939), the number of livestock on Purdue farms increased fourfold, and Skinner showed his knowledge of breeding by winning many times at the International Livestock Exposition. Today, the scale of Purdue's College of Agriculture has increased to offer almost fifty programs to hundreds of students from all over the globe. However, at its base, the agricultural program in place today remains largely as John Harrison Skinner built it, responsive to Indiana but with its focus always on scientific innovation in the larger world.

The Founders Series - Bokserien

The Founders Series - Bokserien

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