Ella Graham Agnew

Ella Graham Agnew (March 18, 1871 – February 5, 1958) was a Virginia educator and social worker. She was the first woman named a field demonstration agent by the United States Department of Agriculture, and later occupied high-level positions supporting the New Deal.

Life and career Agnew was born at the family home, Roseland, in Prince Edward County, Virginia, ninth of ten children born to Dr. James Anderson Agnew and Martha Chaffin Scott Agnew. The house soon burned, and the family moved to Burkeville, in neighboring Nottoway County. There her mother died after giving birth to another daughter, Anne Virginia, known as "Jean". In 1892 she took a position as secretary at the Stonewall Jackson Institute, a women's college in Abingdon. She was soon named the first female home demonstration agent in the country. In 1914, upon the organization of the Cooperative Extension Service, she was assigned to Virginia Tech, as it was the primary land-grand school in the Commonwealth. In 1927 she took a job as the first female editor of the "Women's Department" of Southern Planter magazine, remaining there until 1931. for both the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the Works Progress Administration; she was instrumental in developing programs which allowed women to contribute to various New Deal programs, even though she was unable to persuade the Civilian Conservation Corps to develop female-only camps. She was recognized as one of the Virginia Women in History for 2000, the inaugural year of the program.

Agnew's papers are held by the Library of Virginia and Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives.