In 1929 a Flemington historian named Hiram Deats donated a plow designed by his grandfather to Dean Jacob G. Lipman of the New Jersey College of Agriculture, Rutgers University, in New Brunswick. His hope was that the Deats plow, a New Jersey invention, would form the nucleus of a collection of agricultural implements and the basis for a museum of agriculture. Dean Lipman and the agricultural engineer Wabun C. Krueger shared this vision and began collecting agricultural artifacts.
Over the next 40 years, some 3,500 objects were collected, including household implements, scientific instruments, trade tools, and farm equipment.
By the mid-1970s, Rutgers University acknowledged the importance of this collection by first naming it the Krueger Collection and then by establishing a museum to house and exhibit the collection within the Department of Agricultural Engineering and Extension Services. Access to the collection for research and study was limited to students and faculty of Rutgers University.
In 1979 Richard W. Mitchell, Cook College faculty member and photographer, began an independent search for historic photographs of New Jersey depicting the environment and early agriculture. By 1980, the photographic collection had grown to 16,000. Today it consists of well over 20,000 photographs. It was named in honor of George H. Cook, former Rutgers Vice-President and state geologist.
By the early 1980s, there was a growing recognition that the Krueger and Cook collections were unique and important holdings. The University explored how they might best assure their future preservation and broaden their use. Under the direction of Dr. George H. Nieswand, Acting Dean of Cook College (formerly the College of Agriculture), a Museum Committee was established in 1983. The Committee were to review the feasibility of merging the Krueger and Cook collections to form a new museum and determine its potential mission.
Following the recommendations of the Museum Committee, the New Jersey Museum of Agriculture was incorporated in 1984 as an independent not-for-profit organization. The new Board of Trustees, with the financial support of the New Jersey Agriculture Society, assembled an international team of historians and museum professionals from the Smithsonian Institution, the US Department of Agriculture and the Ontario Agriculture Museum. They evaluated and declared the collections of "inestimable value," and designated the diversity of the collections and the combination of historic agriculture photographs and objects "unique in the country."
The NJMA became a reality through the merging of state, university, private and corporate initiatives. In 1985, Rutgers University set aside 2.65 acres of land on the campus of Cook College adjacent to the Experiment Station research barns and pastures. The State of New Jersey joined the project in 1985, providing funds totaling 3.6 million dollars for the planning and construction of a two-story, 30,000 square foot exhibition building. Construction began in 1988 on the award winning building - designed by the architectural firm Short and Ford of Princeton, NJ. The Museum opened to the public in April 1990.
Major Benefactors Include:
Bristol-Myers Squibb, CTW Foundation, FMI Corporation, Large Foundation, New Jersey Farm Bureau, New Jersey State Grange, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and the State of New Jersey.
Pioneers in founding the Museum:
Pioneer Grange, Bob Simpkins, the New Jersey State Grange, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the State of New Jersey and American Cyanamid.
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