Was the nation’s first female agriculture agent from Maryland?

This women’s history month, we honor Beatrice Pfefferkorn, who according to the Baltimore Sun, served as the first woman agriculture Extension agent in the State of Maryland, a role she held from March 6, 1944 to June 30, 1949. Pfefferkorn broke down barriers for women in a field that had long since been dominated by males, with credit due for helping shift the balance of women in Extension. Today in the college, almost half of the agriculture agents in University of Maryland Extension (UME) are women.

Historical record also demonstrates Pfefferkorn’s commitment and leadership within 4-H. According to the late Martin Hamilton, a longtime 4-H educator in Howard County who worked alongside Pfefferkorn for a number of years, she was a founding member of the Maryland 4-H Foundation, and served as a volunteer leader for upwards of 50 years. The Baltimore Sun in fact dubbed her as the “patron saint” of Howard County 4-H. We also know she owned and operated Chanceland Farm, a dairy farm in West Friendship, MD, that is now a boarding and training facility for thoroughbred race horses.

While her status as the first in Maryland is impressive in its own right, there is the possibility that her legend extends deeper as the first woman agricultural agent in the country. The Evening Sun out of Hanover, PA, printed the following in its December 8, 1975, edition, “Whether she was the first woman in the U.S. to hold such a title has not been definitely established. The overall claim to being the first female agricultural Extension worker in the nation apparently belongs to Cora Cooke of St. Paul, Minnesota.”

But our research cannot confirm or deny Cooke’s status.

To balance the narrative, we have a letter which is believed to be from the Howard County Historical Society, stating that Pfefferkorn did indeed become the nation’s first assistant county agent in 1943. The letter reveals that Pfefferkorn was a remarkable woman who made valuable contributions to her community. And she is an important piece of AGNR history.

So we honor her today, in recognition of Women’s History Month, and ask you to help us fill in the missing pieces.

If you knew Beatrice Pfefferkorn, or have seen documentation about her status as the first woman agricultural agent in the U.S. and her contribution to UME programming, help us fill in the blanks. Please share any information you have with us at binderg@umd.edu.