Joe Givhan Papers

Joseph P. Givhan was born in 1909 on a farm just outside of Selma, Alabama. He began his career as a cattleman in the early 1920s exhibiting calves at various local and state livestock shows. His education at Auburn University in the late 1920s prepared him to continue his efforts to improve the cattle industry and agriculture in general. Givhan joined the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service in the 1930s and retired as a specialist in rural development in 1972. He was the founder and president of both the Southeastern Red Angus Association and the Alabama Red Angus Association. During his long career, he championed Alabama's efforts to increase agricultural exports and worked tirelessly to augment the number of Red Angus breeders in Alabama, the United States, and throughout the world--including such nations as Russia, Peru, China, and South Africa.