Agricultural Sciences

North Carolina State Professor To Follow Jerome Pasto As Curator Of Penn State's Pasto Agricultural Museum

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. --Jerome K. Pasto, associate dean emeritus in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, will step down as volunteer curator of the Pasto Agricultural Museum this fall. Darwin Braund, professor of dairy science at North Carolina State University, will assume Pasto's duties as volunteer curator.

This unusual museum, which bears Pasto's name, houses more than 300 rare antique implements used for farming and homemaking in the era before electricity and gasoline power. Items in the museum include a 6,000-year-old clay sickle used for grain harvesting, a poultry lice killing machine and a dog-powered treadmill used to churn butter and wash clothes. During his 20 years as curator, Pasto collected and meticulously restored many of the items.

"Dr. Pasto has left a wonderful legacy here," says Braund. "I'm excited by the museum committee's enthusiasm. This museum is a jewel that deserves to be better known."

Braund, who was raised in Bradford County on a dairy farm, earned his bachelor's degree in dairy science from Penn State in 1956. He went on to earn his master's degree in dairy science from the University of Wisconsin in 1961 and his doctorate in dairy science from Michigan State University in 1968.

"Besides his background in dairy science, Darwin has a personal interest in collecting antiques," says Pasto. "He has a natural curiosity about methods in the old days and loves to talk with people about antiques and how they work."

Before joining North Carolina State in 1992 as professor and dairy extension specialist, Braund served as director of Research and Applied Technology for Agway Inc. in Syracuse, N.Y. He also published the book "Tomorrow Finally Came" from Chapel Hill Press in 1998, which describes his experiences in post-communist Poland as an agricultural advisor in the Polish-American Extension Program.

Braund was on the Board of Directors of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Alumni Society in 1978 when the society established the Pasto museum. Over the years, he has donated several important items, including a gravity cream separator and two rare butter churns.

"The pendulum churn is like none Jerry and I have ever seen," Braund says. "It has beautiful cast iron casting and gears and is handpainted with nice detailing -- it's another example of folks doing what they didn't have to do by adding color, classiness and distinctiveness to their inventions."

Braund also has an extensive personal collection of dairy antiques, including butter churns, molds and prints, as well as ice cream freezers, scoops and dippers.

The Pasto Agricultural Museum is located nine miles southwest of State College on Route 45 at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs. For information about group tours, call 814-865-2541, or send e-mail to pastoagmuseum@psu.edu.

###

EDITORS: For more information, contact Jerome Pasto at 814-865-2541.

Contacts: Kim Dionis KDionis@psu.edu 814-863-2703 814-865-1068 fax

Last Updated March 19, 2009