1896: Professor Harcourt A. Morgan was the first departmental entomologist to discuss the need for a centralized insect reference collection to assist faculty and extension personnel in identification and decision making.
The composition of the entomology collection, as well as the person responsible for its curation, is unknown.
1921: The collection was destroyed by fire.
1922 - 1940: The collection was no longer kept in a single place but instead each individual researcher used wooden Schmitt boxes to hold their specimens.
