Stevenson Whitcomb Fletcher (1875-1971) was a professor and university administrator in the field of agriculture. Fletcher was born in Littletown, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1896 from Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts.) He went on to receive his master's degree and doctorate from Cornell University in 1898 and 1900, respectively. Fletcher served as professor of horticulture at Washington State College from 1900-1902, and then at West Virginia University from 1902 to 1903. He was employed as assistant professor of extension teaching in agriculture by Cornell from 1903 to 1905, which was the year he married Margaret Rolston, with whom he would have six children. From 1905 to 1908 Fletcher was professor of horticulture for Michigan State College, and from 1908 to 1916 he served as director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. In 1917 Fletcher came to Penn State, where he headed the Horticulture Department until 1927. From 1927 to 1940 he served as Vice-Dean and Director of Research, and in 1940 he became Dean of the Penn State College of Agriculture. He retired as Dean Emeritus in 1945. Over the course of his career, Fletcher authored several books, including: How to Make a Fruit Garden, a Practical and Suggestive Manual for the Home Garden (1906); Soils: How to Handle and Improve Them (1907); Strawberry Growing (1917); The Strawberry in North America (1917); A History of Fruit Growing in Pennsylvania (1933); Pennsylvania Agriculture and Country Life (two volumes, 1950), Leaders in Pennsylvania Agriculture (1957) and The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, 1785-1955 (1959). Fletcher also operated a family fruit farm in an adjoining county, in order to keep in touch with fruit growers' problems. Fletcher died in 1971.
From the description of Stevenson W. Fletcher papers, 1896-1964. (Pennsylvania State University Libraries). WorldCat record id: 568401843
