Academic Affairs. College Of Natural Science, Forestry And Agriculture. Animal And Veterinary Sciences (University Of Maine) Records

Much of the material in this record group is related to testing animals for diseases, particularly pullorum disease which is an infectious poultry disease caused by the bacterium salmonella pullorum. Pullorum testing began in Maine in 1921 under the supervision of Maine Extension Service (now known as the Cooperative Extension Service) poultry specialist O. M. Wilbur. Working alongside the Extension Service were faculty and staff from the University of Maine’s Department of Bacteriology and Veterinary Sciences (part of the College of Agriculture), including Dr. F.L. Russell and Florence Chandler.

In 1922, Elmer Reeve Hitchner was appointed associate professor of bacteriology. The Department of Bacteriology and Veterinary Sciences first officially tested for pullorum disease on September 30, 1930 and produced accredited lists for flocks tested that didn’t have the disease. In 1933, the Department was renamed the Department of Bacteriology and Hitchner was appointed department chair.

In 1938, Maine adopted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Poultry Improvement Plan. The University of Maine was the official state agency for the administration of the plan and through its Pullorum-Typoid Testing Service was responsible for testing flocks for thypoid and pullorum diseases.

Professor Hitchner would oversee the Pullorum-Typoid Testing Service until his retirement in 1959 (Hitchner Hall is named in his honor), at which point the Service was placed under the supervision of Dr. John Franklin Witter, Head of the Department of Animal Pathology who had come to the University in 1932 as a professor in animal industry. Dr. Harold L. Chute, professor of animal pathology was appointed program director; a position he would hold until 1969 when he became the University’s Director of Development.

Roscoe F. Cuozzo was appointed the director of pullorium laboratories in 1965. Cuozzo was also the director of the American Rabbit Breeder Association and was employed by the Extension Service as their rabbit consultant and hatchery inspector (1939-1943).

In the 1968-1969 academic year the department was renamed the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, with Stanley D. Musgrave appointed as its chair. Dr. John Franklin Witter retired as professor of animal pathology in 1971 with Witter Farm named in his honor. In 1986, Donald D. Stimpson replaced Musgrave as department chair. Donald D. Stimpson (1986-1990) and Robert G. Hawes (1991-1996) both served as chairs of the department.

By the 1997-1998 academic year the Animal and Veterinary Sciences was a program in the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering with Charles R. Wallace as its chair. In 2003, Martin R. Stokes with appointed chair. For the 2013-2014 academic year, the Animal and Veterinary Sciences program was no longer its own department, and was instead part of the School of Food and Agriculture.

Also in this record group is material related to poultry science, which has been studied at the University of Maine since the 1880's. The Department of Animal Science which included poultry science was established in 1893 with Professor G.M. Gowell as its head. The poultry plant was built in 1897 under Gowell's direction. Starting in 1907, Dr. Raymond Pearl carried out extensive research on eggs using egg production data from the plant. In 1908, Poultry Science became a part of the newly organized Department of Biology with Pearl as its head. Pearl was assisted by Dr. Frank M. Surface and Dr. Maynie R. Curtis. The College of Agriclture's Department of Poultry Science was established in 1929 with Professor J.R. Smyth its head. In 1948, Dr. Richard W. Gerry joined the department and would stay at the University until his retirement in 1984. The Department of Poultry Husbandry became the Department of Poultry Science under the direction of Gerry and Francis Howe Bird in 1961. By 1969 the department was renamed the Animal and Veterinary Sciences Department and was in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture.