Lauren H. Brown collection

Record Group

Identifier: UA-17.72

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Lauren H. Brown collection contains three agricultural science manuscripts. Included are his master’s thesis, “The Comparative Advantage of Selected Areas in the United States in the Production of Dry Edible Beans," which analyzes the trends and shifts in bean production among the dry bean producing regions of the United States and his doctoral thesis, “Planning Dairy Farm Buildings,” concerning dairy barn design, layout and arrangement of equipment, the cost of housing dairy cows in a stanchion barn compared to a pen barn, and the important advantages and disadvantages of these dairy barns. “Principles of Farm Management” by Elton B. Hill and Lauren H. Brown served as a guide for students beginning Farm Management at Michigan State College (now Michigan State University).

Dates

Creation: 1932 - 1948

Creator

Brown, Lauren H. (Donor, Person)
Hill, Elton B. (Elton Brainard), 1894-1980 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Biographical Note

Born June 12th, 1909 in Maple Rapids, Michigan, Lauren Hiram Brown was a professor of agricultural economics at Michigan State University. Brown earned his B.S. from Michigan State in 1931, M.S. from the University of Illinois in 1932, and Ph.D. from Purdue University in 1948. Brown joined the Michigan State faculty in 1936. He worked as an assistant professor in Farm Management from 1936 to 1942. He was promoted to associate professor of agriculture economics in 1943 and to full professor in 1951. Brown retired from the Department of Agricultural Economics in 1974.

Brown’s fields of specialty were farm business analysis, enterprise cost and return analysis, credit analysis, farm budgeting, farm record development and analysis, dairy farm management, farm labor relations, and farm family operating agreements. Brown published in agricultural journals and magazines. Applied research based on farm record data was his area of expertise. Lauren and Doris Brown had one daughter, Mrs. James (Lauralea) Berns, two sons, Roger H. and Thomas J, and eight grandchildren. Lauren Brown died January 6, 1984 in East Lansing, Michigan.