author
Isaac Phillips Roberts
1833–1928
A pioneering farm educator who helped shape agricultural study at Cornell, he wrote with the plainspoken authority of someone who had lived the work himself. His books blend practical advice, reform-minded thinking, and a vivid sense of nineteenth-century rural life.
1 Audiobook
The farmstead: The making of the rural home and the lay-out of the farm (5th edition)
by Isaac Phillips Roberts
About the author
Born in Seneca County, New York, in 1833, Isaac Phillips Roberts grew up on farms and later became one of the early leaders in American agricultural education. He joined Cornell University in 1873 as professor of agriculture, went on to serve as dean of the faculty of agriculture, and was later recognized as the first director of Cornell's College of Agriculture.
Roberts wrote about farming in a way that was practical, direct, and grounded in experience. His works include Autobiography of a Farm Boy and other books on farm management, potato culture, and small-scale farming, reflecting a lifelong interest in helping farmers improve both their land and their livelihoods.
He retired as professor emeritus in 1903 and died in San Francisco in 1928. Remembered as a major figure in Cornell's early agricultural history, he helped turn farming into a subject of serious study while never losing sight of the everyday realities of rural life.