About this Exhibition

Spring 2026-2027

Morgan Library (Archives & Special Collections Area)

CSU Libraries presents Outstanding in Our Field: CSU’s Impact on Colorado Horticulture, a new exhibition opening April 3, 2026, in CSU’s Morgan Library. On view through Spring 2027, the exhibition details the deep and enduring relationship between Colorado State University and horticulture, tracing CSU’s lasting impact on food and flower production in Colorado and throughout the world.

Much of Colorado’s 20th-century economic infrastructure was built on horticultural production, from sugar beets grown across the Eastern Plains to carnations cultivated in the San Luis Valley. The exhibition illuminates how CSU’s Experiment Station and Extension Service have been at the heart of this agricultural legacy, equipping farmers, growers, and producers throughout Colorado with research-backed knowledge and hands-on training.

Crop cultivation still has a complex and interconnected relationship with Fort Collins and Colorado State University today. Many farms and crop producers throughout Colorado learned their trade using research from CSU’s Experiment Station or through the Colorado Extension Service, or were educated at CSU. This exhibition explores those ties, describing the depth in which CSU has helped local communities grow Colorado’s economy and reputation as an agricultural powerhouse.

Curated and designed by Max Fields, Instruction & Outreach Student Assistant in Archives & Special Collections, and Silvia Minguzzi, Exhibition Coordinator & Graphic Designer, the exhibition draws on materials held in CSU’s Archives and Special Collections to tell a story of scientific innovation, community partnership, and agricultural transformation across more than a century.

The exhibition covers the cultivation of staple crops such as sugar beets and carnations, the role of the Colorado Extension Service in spreading agricultural knowledge to rural communities, and the ways CSU research has informed farming practices both locally and globally. Visitors will gain a rich picture of how science, education, and community have combined to shape Colorado’s agricultural identity.

For more information, visit the library website or contact Silvia Minguzzi at silvia.minguzzi@colostate.edu.