Dr. Ralph K. Bliss, B.A. in animal husbandry, 1905; director of Extension, 1914-1946

Artist / Maker Othmar Hoffler (American, 1893 - 1954)

Date1943

OriginU.S.A.

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCommissioned by Iowa State University. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU93.19

Status

Not on view

Collections

Label TextRalph Kenneth Bliss received a B.A. in animal husbandry from Iowa State College in 1905. After operating the family farm and serving on the faculty of Iowa State and University of Nebraska, he became Director of Extension at Iowa State, a position he held from 1914-1946. Bliss served as secretary of the War Emergency Food Committee (1917), treasurer of the American Country Life Association, and chair of the state advisory committee of the Soil Conservation Service. He was on the Iowa corn-Hog Commission as part of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (1933-1935) and was a member of the state U.S. Department of Agriculture War Board, (1941-1946). During World War I and World War II, Bliss promoted the sale of bonds and served on the State U.S. Savings Bond Committee. Bliss retired in 1946 but continued as director emeritus of extension. He also delivered numerous addresses on WOI radio. Label Text: Ralph 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.

MarkingsSigned lower right corner Othmar Hoffler 43'

Locations