Twenty-five years of preserving agricultural history and rural living by the Pasto Agricultural Museum will be celebrated in August.

At Penn State’s Ag Progress Days, August 19–21, you can see a special exhibit titled, “Twenty-five Years and Growing.” Twenty-nine photographs and text illustrate the growth of the museum’s collection to over 900 items since 1978.

According to the museum’s volunteer curator, Darwin Braund, the idea to gather and preserve pieces of agricultural history began in 1974 with the College of Agricultural Sciences Alumni Society. With a mere $1,500 and a few display cases in the Agricultural Administration Building, the Pasto Agricultural Museum was born.

The Ag Alumni Society made the decision May 6, 1978 to move forward with a building project, and on May 5, 1979 the building was dedicated. It was officially opened to the public on August 22, 1979 during the University’s Ag Progress Days.

Starting with an initial collection of about 150 items the total collection of over 900 items far exceeds available exhibit space in the museum. “In honor of our 25th anniversary many larger items including several horse drawn vehicles will be moved from storage and displayed in an adjacent tent,” Braund says. “Less that two-thirds of the collection can be exhibited in the museum at any given time.”

In 1980 the museum was named after Jerome K. Pasto. Dr. Pasto was the first curator and served as associate dean of the college and professor of agricultural economics. In 1998 the torch of volunteer curatorship was passed from Dr. Pasto to Dr. Darwin Braund, professor emeritus of animal science at North Carolina State University and 1956 Penn State alumnus.

The Pasto Agricultural Museum serves between 8,000 and 10,000 children and adult visitors per year. Visitors during the 2003 Ag Progress Days who sign the guest book will receive a special bookmark.

Tours can be scheduled from April 15 through October 15 by calling 814-863-1383, sending an e-mail to pastoagmuseum@psu.edu or registering on line at pasto.cas.psu.edu.

Darwin Braund, Volunteer Curator
06-25-03