Image of the federal government's agricultural farm at Indian Head, Saskatchewan. View of field of wheat stooks lined with trees.

Image of cattle in a fenced in area lined with trees at the federal government research farm located just outside of Indian Head, Saskatchewan.

[Professor Garnet H. Cutler] sits in a horse drawn cart in a field.

Bio/Historical Note: Garnet Homer Cutler (1882-1962) was appointed head of the Field Husbandry Department in May 1917. He graduated in 1909 with a BSA from Guelph (Ontario) Agricultural College. His first appointment was in the Cereal Husbandry Department of the Macdonald Agricultural College in Quebec. Cutler joined the U of S as Cereal Husbandry professor in 1913.

The Agnes (Frejd) Richards fonds consists of 34 cm of textual records. This includes 16 textbooks brought from Ontario to assist Mrs. Richards in her classroom. The textbooks cover a variety of subjects, such as poetry, composition, history, nature study, and arithmetic.

Exterior view of the Director’s house at the Melfort Research station. It was a 1 1/2 story house with a veranda and was located on the southwest side of the building area. Adolf Kaminski, Tim Wright, Dennis Ewanus were some of the people who lived there.

Aerial view of the animal sheds and feeder at the Melfort Research Station.

View looking south of rear of National Research Council building. Crop Science and Field Husbandry building at left; Physical Education visible at right.

Bio/Historical Note: In 1916 the National Research Council legislation was enacted and the institution was formed with the mandate to advise the government on matters of science and industrial research. For the first 15 or 16 years of its existence the NRC consisted of offices and borrowed lab space. It launched Canada’s first research journal, “Canadian Journal of Research” and funded research for human and bovine tuberculosis – a significant domestic problem in the 1920s. In 1932, NRC’s first dedicated lab was built in Ottawa. The NRC established a laboratory on the east side of the University of Saskatchewan campus in 1948. The original purpose of the facility was to “use chemistry and biology to diversify Canadian agriculture.” Originally called the “Prairie Regional Lab” then the “Plant Biotechnology Institute,” the facility is now known as “NRC Saskatoon.”

R.T. Coupland, Director of Matador Project (1966-1976) and professor of plant ecology, examines grain in a field.

Bio/Historical Note: From 1967 to 1972, plant ecologists at the University of Saskatchewan participated in the International Biological Program. As part of this worldwide study of agricultural productivity, ecologists established the Matador field station for grassland research carried out by scientists from thirty-four countries. The field station was located near Kyle, thirty miles north of Swift Current, in an area of natural grassland that was potentially the best wheat growing soil in the brown soil zone of Saskatchewan. The land (three square miles) was originally leased for 21 years from the Government of Saskatchewan; the lease (for $1/year) has since been renewed and currently expires in 2009. The Matador Project involved the study of the total grasslands ecosystem, including the interaction of animals, plants, microorganisms, soils and the atmosphere. Robert T. Coupland, Head of the Department of Plant Ecology, served as Director of the Matador Project.

The original veterinary laboratory, the Veterinary Hygiene Building shortly after its construction; it was in use until its demolition in 1969.

Marilyn Truscott of Glidden, Saskatchewan, a PhD candidate in geological sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, makes use of an electron probe x-ray microanalyzer. Mrs. Truscott uses the machine to analyze samples of volcanic rock from the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana. She is obtaining information that will help provide a more complete picture of the geological history of the Western Plains.