Our Founder
Arthur Ernest Morgan (1878–1975), engineer, visionary, educator, and community organizer, founded Community Service, Inc., now Agraria, in 1940.
Arthur E. Morgan was the first chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority, a president of Antioch College and, later in his life, the author of numerous books on the subject of community. He founded Community Service, Inc., to promote small communities and their contribution to society. Small communities, Morgan believed, were the foundation of democratic life and an ideal place to cultivate meaningful, cooperative, convivial economic and social relationships.
Morgan in his early years as a surveyor. As self-taught hydrologist, he went on to write the state of Minnesota's drainage laws at age 26. (Photo courtesy of Antiochiana, Antioch College)
Morgan on the campus of Antioch College during his presidency, which spanned the years 1920–1936. At Antioch, Morgan initiated the co-op program and helped students develop successful businesses. (Photo courtesy of Antiochiana, Antioch College)
Morgan, center, sits with the other TVA administrators. He was in the position for five years. (Photo courtesy of Antiochiana, Antioch College)
Morgan and his second wife, Lucy Griscom Morgan, during the period when Morgan was running Community Service, Inc., the precursor to Agraria. (Photo courtesy of Antiochiana, Antioch College)
Morgan meeting with Seneca Nation President George Heron in 1959. Morgan supported the tribe's efforts against the Kinzua Dam in Pennsylvania (Photo courtesy of Antiochiana, Antioch College).
Morgan led an anti-segregation march in Yellow Springs with Walter Anderson in 1964. Morgan was also instrumental in the formation of the Yellow Springs Human Relations Commission, which promotes racial equity in the village. (Photo courtesy of Antiochiana, Antioch College)
Morgan with Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King in 1965, when Dr. King spoke at the college's commencement. (Photo courtesy of Antiochiana, Antioch College)
A memorial plaque to Arthur & Lucy Morgan still stands at the entrance to the Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Yellow Springs, Ohio. The Morgans were instrumental in securing the land donation that became the preserve.
A glacial erratic selected by Arthur Morgan was erected as a monument to the Morgans after their death. It's located at Glen Helen Nature Preserve, Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Learn more about our founder, Arthur E. Morgan.
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Arthur Morgan & the TVA
President Franklin D. Roosevelt hired Arthur Morgan in 1933 as the first Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority. Morgan went on to provide technical assistance in both dam and community building at the TVA, though his tenure was marked by controversy.
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Arthur Morgan Legacy Event
Watch presentations from the 2021 Arthur E. Morgan Legacy Conference, held in collaboration with Antioch College.
In the session on Arthur Morgan & Education, presenters cover the development of Morgan’s progressive education vision and wrestle with some of Morgan’s more problematic beliefs.
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Mitraniketan, a Morgan legacy
Morgan was instrumental in the development of a community project in Kerala, India called Mitraniketan. The nonprofit is focused on “education, the development of sustainable agriculture, the development of rural technology and the empowerment of women,” according to its website. Projects include a school and college, a Farm Science Center, a Rural Technology Center and training and production centers fruit processing, pottery and more.
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Biography: A Mover of Earth, A Pourer of Concrete, A Shaper of Minds
Read this biography about Morgan’s life written by Mark Bernstein.
“I See A Village”
This 1968 film produced by Antioch College details Arthur Morgan’s life. It includes footage from the 1913 Dayton flood and Morgan’s innovative response, followed by his progressive approach to rebuilding Antioch College. The documentary portrays how Morgan’s early “vision in the hazelbrush” informed his life work from engineering to community building. (Courtesy of Robert Kaplan and Antiochana Collection, Antioch College).