According to the author, service or outreach activities by faculty members at research oriented institutions, including land-grant ones, typically go unregarded, with the most highly esteemed effort being productive scholarship (through such endeavors as journal articles, papers, and research grants), teaching being of secondary importance. In this paper, the author analyzes the factors which established the dominance of scholarship in American higher education. Particular attention is paid to a 40-year period following the Civil War, when the nature and diversity of universities was becoming clear. Events in this century, leading up to World War I are also analyzed. The rhetoric which advocated service and practicality in courses is compared with emerging tendencies of faculty members to concentrate on discipline oriented research. Effects of the German university model and the emergence and recognition of scientific inquiry are examined. Particular attention is given to alienation of faculty members from a growing materialism in American society, with the intention of determining what effect, if any, this tendency had on outreach by faculty members. The search for themes in the post-Civil War period is tied to an examination of two land grant institutions--the Universities of Georgia and Illinois. (Author/SH)