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Agricultural Collections - Cooperatives
BLACK HAWK COUNTY (IOWA) ASSOCIATION OF COOPERATIVES COLLECTION, 1952-1976.
Extent: 0.21 linear foot.
Number: MS-191.
Description: The Black Hawk County Association of Cooperatives was established on December 15, 1952, in Waterloo, Iowa. Begun at the urging of Paul Barger, the Black Hawk County extension director, and Orville Skattom of Members Mutual Oil Company, the association was created to encourage greater collaboration among Black Hawk County dairy, grain, oil, insurance, and farm lending co-ops. Collection includes minute books containing minutes of annual meetings and board meetings, reports of receipts and expenses, and news clippings.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.
COOPERATION AND COOPERATIVE SOCIETIES. Pamphlets, n.d.
Extent: 5.04 linear feet.
Number: MS-121.
Description: Collection consists of pamphlets donated by the Iowa Institute of Cooperation. Pamphlets on "cooperation" deal with the theory and history of cooperation and the cooperative movement. Pamphlets on "cooperative societies" deal with the nature and organization of cooperative organizations and their laws.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.
CORN BELT POWER COOPERATIVE. Records, 1948-[ongoing].
Extent: 3.02 linear feet.
Number: MS-443.
Description: Cooperative organized in Humboldt, Iowa, in 1948 as a generation and transmission rural electric cooperative. Owned by 12 distribution rural electric cooperatives and one municipal electric cooperative, the Corn Belt Power Cooperative serves 27 countries in north central Iowa. Collection includes annual reports, copies of the newsletter Watts Watt (1955-1995), other publications, and a microfilm copy of Corn Belt Power Cooperative scrapbooks beginning in 1948.
Status: Container listed.
Finding Aid: Online.
IOWA ASSOCIATION OF ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES. Records, 1942-1990.
Extent: 134.66 linear feet.
Number: MS-040.
Description: Originally called the Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the IAEC promotes the use of electricity on the farm; records statistics on accidents; coordinates the work of individual electric cooperatives; and works with state, regional, and national organizations dealing with electric power. Collection includes correspondence, reports, minutes, agendas, financial statements, statistics, legislation, public relations files, conference and meeting programs, franchise applications, articles of incorporation, newspaper clippings, printed materials, and photographs. Material on the association's publication, Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative News; the Iowa State Commerce Commission; and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is also included. Correspondents include Earl King, Earl Wisdom, William Wisdom, C. Aiken, Clyde Denton, Glenn O. Loving, Charles Samanow, Ira Shesser, Vecent P. Slatt, J. K. Smith, and Dan Teare.
Status: Container listed.
Finding Aid: Available in Special Collections.
IOWA ASSOCIATION OF MUTUAL INSURANCE ASSOCIATIONS. Records, 1894-1985.
Extent: 3.54 linear feet.
Number: MS-051.
Description: Formed sometime after 1880, the Iowa Association of Mutual Insurance Associations was an association of Iowa county mutuals, some of which existed prior to 1870. The mutuals were formed to provide Iowans, particularly farmers, better access to insurance with better service than had previously been available. Collection contains records, minutes of meetings, articles of incorporation of the various county mutuals, and a book written by Iowa State University agricultural engineer Henry Giese, Of Mutuals and Men (1955), on the history of the formation of the Iowa Association of Mutual Insurance Associations.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.
IOWA INSTITUTE OF COOPERATION. Records, 1931-1941, 1948-1969.
Extent: 10.9 linear feet.
Number: MS-126.
Description: The Iowa Institute of Cooperation was incorporated in 1951 after the reorganization of the Iowa Council of Cooperation. The purpose of the Institute is to create a fuller understanding among farmers of the nature and purpose of farmer cooperatives. Collection includes articles of incorporation and bylaws; files on committees and conferences; correspondence; legislation; financial records; publications; and annual reports of individual Iowa cooperatives.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.
KNAPP, JOSEPH (1900-1983). Papers, 1915-1980 (bulk 1950-1965).
Extent: 3.15 linear feet.
Number: MS-508.
Description: Agricultural economist. Joseph Knapp attended the University of Illinois, then became a fellow of the Food Research Institute of Stanford University in 1924, receiving his Ph.D. there in 1929. In 1934 he became the principal agricultural economist for the Farm Credit Administration. From 1953 to 1966 he was the administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farmer Cooperative Service. Knapp published a two-volume history of the cooperative movement in the United States. Volume I appeared as The Rise of American Cooperative Enterprise, 1620-1920 (1969). A second volume, The Advance of American Cooperative Enterprise, 1920-1945, appeared in 1973. Collection includes speeches, publications, and a bibliography.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.
KREGER, ELMER L. (1886-1972). Papers, 1906-1970, undated.
Extent: 0.42 linear foot.
Number: MS-120.
Description: Cooperative manager. Elmer L. Kreger began his career in 1906 unloading grain and coal cars in Jefferson, Iowa. In 1908, he became manager of the Farmers Elevator Company in Grimes, Iowa. From 1912 to 1926 he managed an elevator at Ralston, Iowa. Kreger started the Farmers Elevator Service Company in 1926, with the idea that if elevator companies would cooperate in purchasing farm supplies in large units, substantial savings could be gained for their customers. Ninety-six elevator operators paid $5.00 each toward the company's operating capital, and Kreger was guaranteed $100.00 per month plus expenses. Kreger managed the company, known by the acronym FELCO, until his retirement in 1954. The original products available to FELCO members were coal, cedar posts, linseed oil meal, and office supplies. Eventually the cooperative handled a full line of farm supplies, including livestock feed, fertilizer, and petroleum. FELCO later merged with the Nebraska Farmers Union State Exchange, becoming the Farmers Regional Cooperative. In 1970, the Farmers Regional Cooperative merged with Land O' Lakes, a Minnesota-based cooperative, becoming one of the largest agricultural supply and food marketing cooperatives in the United States. Collection includes annual reports, correspondence, meeting minutes, news clippings, and a record of Kreger's business expenses during the first two years of FELCO's operation, 1926-1927. Correspondents include Paul H. Appleby, Mary H. Rumsey, and Henry A. Wallace. Of special note are materials pertaining to a trip Kreger made to Washington, D.C., in 1933 in a successful effort to reverse a National Recovery Administration decision which had declared cooperatives illegal.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.
ROBOTKA, FRANK (1889-1975). Papers, 1899-1974, undated.
Extent: 28.14 linear feet.
Number: RS 13/09/55.
Description: An educator and specialist on agricultural cooperatives, Frank Robotka (1889-1975) worked for many years at the Agricultural Extension Service (1920-1961) of Iowa State University where he became involved with agricultural cooperatives. Robotka continued his study and research on cooperatives at Iowa State until his retirement in 1961. Throughout his career as a Professor of Agricultural Economics, he produced numerous journal articles and topical studies concerning the cooperative movement. The collection contains personal and professional correspondence, writings, publications, and cooperative related material including pamphlets, brochures, meeting minutes, handwritten notes, correspondence, and Robotka's writings and research.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.
SIOUX ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION. Records, 1938-1961.
Extent: 2.5 linear feet.
Number: MS-069.
Description: Cooperative association chartered in Iowa on July 18, 1938, sponsored by the Sioux County Farm Bureau and the extension service. The contract for the first line construction of 228 miles to serve 401 members was let in October 1938. By the end of 1975 the association had grown to 2,145 members. Collection contains printed materials, construction contracts and data, system study reports, correspondence, and memoranda.
Status: Processed.
Finding Aid: Online.