Growth of a science : a half- Century of rural sociological research in the united states

More than 30 years have passed since the first funds made available under the Purnell Act of 1924 were paid to the state colleges of agriculture for rural sociological research. About half a century has gone by since the first inquiring investigator began asking questions of farmers and villagers alike that some felt were none of his busi ness. There is no complete bibliography of the publica tions that emerged from all this effort. Some of the studies remained unpublished; some appeared only in local newspapers; others had only limited mimeographed circulation. All told, up to 1956 more than 1000 known rural social studies have appeared as separate publications. Well over 90 percent of these have been reviewed by the present writer for the purpose of surveying their total con tributions and describing methodological and theoretical developments of the field. In addition all issues of Rural Sociology have been examined carefully as have the smaller number of research studies published as books; between 1500 and 1600 titles in all.