Charles Anderson Whittle

Charles Whittle, the first president of AAACE, was born about 1870 in Sevier County, Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1892 with a bachelor's degree after pursuing a "Latin-scientific" curriculum.

He began work at the Georgia State College of Agriculture in 1912 as an editor-librarian, the first to hold that position at the college. He was hired to "give publicity and to disseminate information about the College of Agriculture."

According to the University of Georgia archives, he was probably the president's PR man. A lot of articles under the president's name began appearing in newspapers throughout the state in 1912.

His starting salary was $600, but jumped to $2,000 per year in 1917. It is believed that he started a news service for the weekly press. While the records do not mention him by name, they say, "the employment of an editor has proven a step in the right direction. Letters received from individuals and from editors indicate that this is regarded as one of the most desirable and efficient types of extension service the college has undertaken."

An article in the January - February 1927 AAACE newsletter said Whittle was the editorial manager of the Southern Division of the National Fertilizer Association in Atlanta.

He apparently returned to the University of Georgia, because according to an article in the June 1929, ACE newsletter, "Among those sending an exhibit (to the 1929 AAACE meeting in New Hampshire), is C.A. Whittle, editor of the Georgia Experiment Station at Atlanta." Where he went and what he did after that is unknown.