01/30/2001

History of Ag Hill Book Released

AUBURN, Ala. --Which two Auburn University (AU) entomology professors provided secretive bee-sting treatments to arthritis sufferers? Which AU Ag Hill administrator was dangerous with the men's room door? What AU veterinary program leader developed a life-long limp after letting a fellow veterinarian set his broken leg? Who was the Alabama Extension specialist who slipped beagle references into all his conversations? What AU horticulturist believed his field of study was the key to a solid marriage?

Answers to these questions, and a host of other fascinating facts about the personalities and events that affected the development of AU's Ag Hill, can be found in the new book Inside Ag Hill: The People and Events that Shaped Auburn's Agricultural History from 1872 to 1999, recently published by the AU College of Agriculture.

The book, written by Auburn residents Joe Yeager and Gene Stevenson, chronicles the history of Auburn's Ag Hill from its infancy through the end of the 20th Century. This comprehensive and candid book captures Ag Hill's historical events and the personalities involved with the events, many of whom the authors knew personally.

Yeager, a Cullman County farm boy, came to Auburn in 1939 as a student and immediately fell in love with the town and the college. Except for a stint in the military (the U.S. Army) and time away working

on his Ph.D. at Purdue University, Yeager has spent his entire adult life in Auburn. He joined the faculty of AU's Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology as an assistant professor in 1951 and worked his way quickly through the ranks to become professor and soon department head, positions he held from 1964 until he retired in 1991.

Stevenson grew up on a farm in Harvest and came to school at Auburn in 1947. He, too, was bitten by the Auburn bug and has spent most of his adult life in the town. After completing a self-designed degree in agricultural journalism, he went to work for Farm and Ranch Magazine in Nashville, Tenn., and then was called into active duty with the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict. Stevenson returned to Auburn in 1955 as an assistant editor with the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station's (AAES) Department of Research Information (then known as the Publications Department). He became the department's head and editor in 1982, and was also assistant director of the AAES from 1990 until he retired in 1991.

The two began researching Inside Ag Hill in 1997 at the request of Jim Marion, who was then dean of the College and director of the AAES. Marion originally asked Yeager, whose reputation as a fine researcher and writer was well known at Auburn, to write a history of Ag Hill. Yeager agreed to the task only if Stevenson, who is regarded as one of agriculture's finest writers and editors, would join him in the effort.

The two scrutinized thousands of documents and conducted scores of interviews to gather the information contained between the covers of Inside Ag Hill. Though Yeager and Stevenson consider themselves more storytellers than historians, the book was meticulously researched and documented and is considered the most complete history of Ag Hill ever written. Reviewers have praised Inside Ag Hill for its intriguing stories and engaging narrative style, its candid discussions of controversial and sometimes divisive moments in Ag Hill's history and for its focus on the personal stories of Ag Hill's founders.

Inside Ag Hill is on sale at Anders and J&M bookstores in Auburn and through the Auburn University Agricultural Alumni Association. To order a book from the Ag Alumni Assoc., call 334-844-3198 or send a check or money order made out to the AU College of Agriculture to Martha Patterson at 107 Comer Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849. Cost through the Ag Alumni Assoc. is $25, which includes shipping and tax. Proceeds from all book sales will be used to establish a new endowed scholarship, the Gene Stevenson and Joe Yeager Scholarship in Ag Journalism.

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
Contact Katie Jackson, 334-844-5886 or smithcl@auburn.edu

01/30/01

EDITOR'S NOTE: PHOTO AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.