08/20/2026
There are 15 federal executive departments and 21 state executive departments in Ohio. We may be biased, but the United States Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources are our favorites!
The Department of Agriculture was established by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, though the push for research, development, and education of agriculture started decades earlier. In 1923, a Bureau of Home Economics, renamed the Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics during World War II, was created by the USDA to help families cook, ration, and shop for their food. One of their research projects involved women using pedometers throughout their day to design more efficient kitchens. You can read more about this on our kitchen panels in the farm house!
Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources descends from the Ohio Fish Commission, which was created in 1873 to combat declining fish populations. In 1949 the 98th General Assembly enacted Senate Bill No. 13 to combine various wildlife, resource management, and conservation agencies into one unified Department of Natural Resources. Some divisions, like those of Forestry, Wildlife, and Geological Survey remained the same, while some new ones were added, and others changed names. The Division of Coastal Management was first called the Division of Beach Erosion!
Here are some examples of informational books and pamphlets in our collections that these executive departments produced over the years, and one example from today!
