Ralph K. Bliss, Director of Agricultural Extension at Iowa State

Artist / Maker Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)

Date1950

OriginU.S.A.

MediumPlaster

Dimensions24 x 17 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (61 x 44.5 x 3.8 cm)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineGift of the Friends of the University Museums. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU89.27

Status

Not on view

Collections

Label TextRalph Bliss was born on a stock and grain farm near Diagonal in southern Iowa. His father died when he was 13 years old, leaving him and his older brother to run the farm. At the Iowa State Fair, Bliss learned that “any boy of good character” could enter a preparatory program at Iowa State College and he became Ringgold County’s first student there. He graduated in 1905, and after a year on the home farm, returned to Iowa State as head of animal husbandry in the newly established Extension Service. He was appointed director in 1914. When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Extension distributed more than 560,000 bulletins on food and clothing economy, food production and food preservation. By 1918, there was an extension office in every Iowa county. Early anticipation of the national need for increased food production for World War II gave Bliss a head start in helping coordinate federal and state agency activities that increased Iowa food production far beyond national averages. Fast fact: Bliss began weekly radio talks on WOI Radio in 1932, which he continued until 1968 at the age of 87.

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