Title: Deni and Terry Durham Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1988-1999

Creator:

• Durham, Deni, 1954-

Call Number: Mss 1176

Quantity: 0.6 cubic feet (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, 1988-1999, of Deni Durham, documenting her activities with organic and sustainable agriculture organizations, including the Missouri Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (MOSAWG), the Missouri Organic Association, the Ozark Small Farm Viability Project (OSFVP), and the Ozark Organic Growers Association (OOGA). Included are materials relating to conferences Durham coordinated or attended, and background materials she gathered for articles on organic agriculture and food safety. Also included is a small amount of material related to her former husband, Terry Durham, who served as president of the Missouri Organic Association in the 1990s and is currently a leading Missouri elderberry producer. Deni Durham's current name is Deni Phillips (since 2002?).

Note:

Forms part of the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Collection.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss01176

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Deni Durham was born in 1954. She studied at the University of Missouri-Columbia during the 1970s. She established Eridu Farms, an organic vegetable farm, in 1979 with her then husband, Terry Durham. While working as a freelance and staff writer for the Boone County Journal from 1985 to 1989, Deni Durham became actively involved in various organic and sustainable agriculture organizations, including the Missouri Organic Association and the Ozark Small Farm Viability Project (OSFVP). She continued to work for these organizations on various projects, primarily conference coordination and other projects, throughout the 1990s. Since 2002, she has written fiction and non-fiction under the name Deni Cary Phillips, as well as working as a grant writer. From 2009 to 2012 she served as a project coordinator at the Small Business Transportation Resource Center of the United States Department of Transportation. Since 2014 Deni Phillips has operated Aqualine Communications, a consulting firm that offers writing, marketing, conference, and graphic design services.

Terry Durham was born in 1955, and studied agriculture at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He served in various leadership positions for a number of sustainable agriculture organizations, and served as president of the Missouri Organic Association in which he was active from 1991 to 1998. In 2004 Terry Durham began River Hills Harvest Farm, which is the largest grower of elderberries in the United States. River Hills Elderberry Producers, the growers cooperative Terry Durham established, uses wild-gathered and cultivated elderberries from other growers in the state to produce juice and other value-added products.

The bulk of the papers relate to Deni Durham, and document her activities with organic and sustainable agriculture organizations, such as conferences she coordinated (including two organized by the Missouri Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (MOSAWG)) or attended, research trips for a kitchen incubator food processing project, and background research materials for articles she was planning to write on organic agriculture and food safety. The folder on the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) includes materials on a public service announcement program promoting sustainable agriculture that CSPI administered in partnership with organizations in twelve states. There is some early coverage of the Ozark Organic Growers Association (OOGA), including by-laws, articles of incorporation, and organic certification standards; and the Ozark Small Farms Viability Project (OSFVP), including correspondence with funders, a 1990 farm field day, a 1991 farmer-to-farmer conference, and a 1992 press release about candidates the organization supported for key agriculture posts in the Clinton administration. There is also a small amount of material dealing with the effects of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and other free trade agreements including the anticipated potential for weakened pesticide regulations in the materials dealing with pesticides and additives in food (Box 2, Folder 7).

Terry Durham's activities are less well documented in the collection. Although he was president of the Missouri Organic Association for a period in the 1990s, there is a relatively small amount of material from that organization, and no meeting minutes or materials. There is one folder that includes documentation of presentations and workshops in which he participated (the second user advisory workshop on horticulture funded by the National Research Initiative on Agriculture, Food and Environment (NRI) in 1991 (Box 1, Folder 23)), and this represents one type of educational outreach work with which he was involved during this period. While elderberry cultivation is Terry Durham's current primary focus, there is no documentation of this subject in the collection.

Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Publications (M2015-143)

Acquisition Information

Presented by Terry Durham, Hartsburg, Missouri, March 25, 2015. Accession Number: M2015-142

Processing Information

Processed by Julia Wong, September 2015.

Mss 1176 Box   1 Folder   1	Booneslick Organic Growers Association (BOGA) annual directory, 1990
Box   1 Folder   2	Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 1990-1993
	Conferences
Box   1 Folder   3	The Food Alliance: Making Change in the Marketplace: A National Conference on Eco-labels, 1998
Box   1 Folder   4	International Public Market Conference, 1998
Box   1 Folder   5	Miscellaneous conference flyers, 1990-1998, undated
	Missouri Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (MOSAWG)
Box   1 Folder   6	New Directions in Sustainable Agriculture, 1993
Box   1 Folder   7	Opportunities in Sustainable Agriculture: Promoting Successful State Programs, 1992
Box   1 Folder   8	Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG): Revitalizing Family Farms, 1999
Box   1 Folder   9	United States Department of Agriculture: Building on a Decade of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), 1998
Box   1 Folder   10	Corporate concentration, 1997, 1999, undated
Box   1 Folder   11	Farm bills, 1990, 1995
	Kitchen incubator research
Box   1 Folder   12	Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet), 1997
Box   1 Folder   13	Bonner Business Center, 1997
Box   1 Folder   14	Denver Enterprise Center, 1996
Box   1 Folder   15	River Valley Foods, 1997
Box   1 Folder   16	Missouri Organic Association, 1993-1999, undated
Box   1 Folder   17	Midwest Organic Food and Farming Information Network, 1997
Box   1 Folder   18	Newsletter: Almanac, 1992 May, 1994 Spring to Summer
Box   1 Folder   19	Missouri Sustainable Agriculture Society (MOSAS) newsletters, 1991 Note: Includes promotional brochures and earlier Farm Alliance of Rural Missouri newsletter: Directions, 1988 April.
	National Initiative for Research on Agriculture, Food and Environment (NRI)
Box   1 Folder   20	1992-1993 Program Plans, 1991
Box   1 Folder   21	Competitive Grants Program, 1991
	Reports
Box   1 Folder   22	“Impact Assessment by Users of Research Products and Scientists” / USDA, 1991 February
Box   1 Folder   22	Addendum to Impact Report: 1992 National Research Initiative Program Plan and Workshop Recommendations, 1991 April
Box   1 Folder   22	“National Research Initiative on Agriculture, Food and Environment: Report on the First Year, Fiscal Year 1991” / prepared by the Cooperative STate Research Service on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1991
Box   1 Folder   22	“Research for Sustainability? The National Research Initiative's Social Plan for Agriculture” / by Elizabeth Ann R. Bird, Center for Rural Affairs, 1991 August
Box   1 Folder   23	Users Advisory Workshops, 1990-1991
Box   1 Folder   24	Organic Alliance (Minnesota) promotional packet, undated
Box   1 Folder   25	Organic Valley, undated
Box   1 Folder   26	Organics, background materials, 1989-1998
Box   2 Folder   1	Ozark Organic Growers Association (OOGA), 1989, undated
	Ozark Small Farm Viability Project (OSFVP)
Box   2 Folder   2	Conference: Harvesting Profits from Organic Farming--a Farmer-to-Farmer Conference, 1991
Box   2 Folder   3	Field Day: Floral Hill Farm, 1990 June 9
Box   2 Folder   4	Funding, 1989-1991
Box   2 Folder   5	Graphic art originals, 1991, undated
Box   2 Folder   6	Press release, 1992 December 11
Box   2 Folder   7	Pesticides and additives in food, 1988-1994
Box   2 Folder   8	Paper: “Pesticides: Pollution, Regulation and FIFRA” / by Carolyn Mathews Brittell, 1989 December
Box   2 Folder   9	Political campaigns workshops, 1994
Box   2 Folder   10	Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) resources, 1992-1995