Entomology

The Department of Entomology of the University of Maryland can trace its beginning to the origins of the Maryland Agricultural College. When the college opened on October 6, 1859, the chair of Botany and Entomology was vacant, but only briefly. That fall, Townend Glover, the first entomologist of the United States government, accepted the postion. With Glover's appointment, the teaching of entomology at Maryland began. This was, probably, the first such course offered in the United States.

Entomological work at Maryland was limited largely to teaching for the next thirty years. With Glover's return to his former position in the federal government in 1863, entomology at Maryland entered a period of instability and uncertain growth. Its place within the curriculum was not always secure. From 1876 to 1881, zoology replaced entomology as a subject in the course catalog of the college. New developments in the late 1880s would stabilize the department and provide a surer path for future growth.

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