| It was at Etta May Budd's urging that George Washington Carver transferred to Iowa
State from Simpson College to study agriculture. Carver's first love was art, but
Miss Budd feared that he would be unable to make a living as an artist. She felt it
would be more practical to pursue another of his interests, plant science. She
suggested he go to Iowa State, where her father, Joseph Lancaster Budd, was Head of the
Horticulture Department. In Carver's words:
Miss Budd helped me in whatever way she could; often going far out of her way to
encourage and see that I had such things as I needed.
J.L. Budd came to Iowa State in 1877 after establishing a successful nursery business
in Benton County, Iowa. He was head of the Horticulture Department from 1877 until
his retirement in 1900. Carver remembered him very fondly:
Budd was... my professor of Horticulture... kind, considerate, loving and loveable;
a great teacher, and he made of his students his personal friends.
Everybody loved Prof. Budd. |
