Title: Thomas and Pamela Saunders Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1974-1993 (bulk 1979-1989)

Creators:

• Saunders, Thomas, 1947-1989
• Saunders, Pamela

Call Number: Mss 1203

Quantity: 2.0 cubic feet (2 records center cartons)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, 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, 1974-1993 (bulk 1979-1989), of Thomas "Tom" Saunders, organic dairy farmer, farm activist, and a founder of Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance (WFUA), National Save the Family Farm Coalition (NSFFC), and the Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy (WFC). Also documented is his involvement with the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC), Ojibwe spear fishing rights, and land loss and other issues faced by African American farmers. Although the bulk of the collection consists of Tom Saunders papers, also included are papers, 1977-1981, of Pamela (née Hendrickson) Saunders related to the Barron Electric Cooperative, People Against Nuclear Energy (PANE), and Farmers United for Safe Energy (FUSE).

Note:

Forms part of the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Collection.

The WHS Library holds copies of related newsletters:

• Alliance Eagle (Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance), 1985-1991
• North American Farmer (North American Farm Alliance), 1984-1990 (on microfilm)
• RuralAmerica (Rural America Inc.), 1977-1984 (on microfilm)
• Wisconsin Commonwealth (Labor and Farm Party), 1983-1990

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss01203

Thomas “Tom” F. Saunders was born on January 30, 1947, in Fargo, North Dakota, and was raised in Bird Island, Minnesota. In 1969, he graduated from Macalester College with a B.S. in biology. Saunders taught for a year, and attended graduate school in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Saunders married Pamela Hendrickson in 1970; the couple had four children. In 1975 the Saunders family moved to Prairie Farm, Wisconsin. Tom Saunders made and sold hand-thrown pottery, and after the family established a dairy farm, performed much of the farm work using draft horses (the children's book entitled Farming Today Yesterday's Way by Cheryl Walsh Bellville (Carolrhoda Books, 1984) tells the story of the Saunders family and is illustrated with photographs of their farm). In response to the farm crisis of the early 1980s, Saunders became involved in various actions to draw attention to the plight of small family farms, including demonstrations protesting farm foreclosure proceedings, helping to organize Farm Aid concerts, and in 1982 founding, with other farmers, Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance (WFUA). The next year WFUA became a member of North American Farm Alliance (NAFA), a coalition of twenty-eight farm organizations which formed in response to the farm crisis of the 1980s, and sought to address the issues of farm credit and farmers' legal rights. Viewing the plight of farmers in a broader context, it also worked to forge alliances on common issues with farmers worldwide.

In 1985 he was a founding member of the National Save the Family Farm Coalition, and in 1987 he was a founder and then president of the Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy, which acted to preserve farmland in trust for future generations.

In addition to his work with numerous farm organizations, Saunders occasionally wrote on environmental and agricultural topics using three pseudonyms (including Peter Underhill and W.M. Child) as well as his given name.

Tom Saunders died on June 22, 1989 in a logging accident near Dallas, Wisconsin. Pamela Saunders continued her work with sustainable agriculture organizations such as the Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy (currently known as the West Wisconsin Land Trust), and worked with the meat producers team at Coulee Region Organic Producers Pool (CROPP Cooperative, commonly known under its brand name, Organic Valley), and as part of Organic Prairie (the brand name of the meat products line at Organic Valley) from 1997 to 2017. She also serves as Board Chair of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

The papers are arranged in seven series: BIOGRAPHICAL, CORRESPONDENCE, ENERGY/NUCLEAR POWER, FARMERS ORGANIZATIONS, OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, WRITINGS, and SUBJECT FILES.

The bulk of the papers in the collection relate to Tom Saunders. Researchers interested in papers related to Pam Saunders should look at the folders for the Barron Electric Cooperative, People Against Nuclear Energy (PANE), and Farmers United for Safe Energy (FUSE).

The BIOGRAPHICAL series includes articles written about Tom Saunders work as a farm activist, as well as a folder regarding relationships with labor unions and other groups with which he saw possibilities for coalition building, and a flyer for his pottery business.

The CORRESPONDENCE series includes incoming and outgoing correspondence, notably from Paul Gilk, a farmer and Labor-Farm Party (LFP) candidate for elected office; and Meridel Le Sueur, a writer and radical political activist. Included with the Gilk correspondence is an LFP discussion paper, authored by Gilk, on appropriate technology. Other correspondence is included throughout the collection, particularly in the organizational files of groups with which Tom and Pam Saunders were involved.

The ENERGY/NUCLEAR POWER series includes papers related to various groups (People Against Nuclear Energy (PANE), People for Safe Energy (PSE), Farmers United for Safe Energy (FUSE), and other organizations) concerned with the risks of nuclear energy, particularly the effects of low-level radiation on milk produced on dairy farms situated near nuclear power stations; and the controversy over the proposed Tyrone nuclear power station near Durand, Wisconsin. Also included is correspondence regarding energy conservation and annual meeting materials for the Barron Electric Cooperative (BEC), of which the Saunders were members; and materials related to Pam Saunders' candidacy for a directorship with the BEC.

The FARM ORGANIZATIONS series is arranged by group, consisting primarily of papers relating to: National Save the Family Farm Coalition (NSFFC), North American Farm Alliance (NAFA), and Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance (WFUA), organizations in which Tom Saunders was actively involved.

The National Save the Family Farm Coalition (NSFFC) papers includes meeting minutes, a briefing book on the farm crisis, papers concerning the National Rural Crisis Action Campaign, and committee files related to pricing and sustainable agriculture.

The North American Farm Alliance (NAFA) papers document the activities of an umbrella organization of which the WFUA was a part, and includes meeting materials, committee files, and specific campaign activities such coalition building with other groups, such as labor unions, African-American farmers, and farmers across the world. The Executive Director's reports are particularly helpful in documenting these activities. Also of note are materials relating to the Parity Lobby, a project designed to encourage grassroots political lobbying by farmers that would be funded by a one-cent per hundred-weight checkoff on milk. Other papers relating to the parity issue (purchasing power related to the cost of production versus the prices a farmer ultimately receives for a product), a prominent theme in the papers, can be found in the subject files and with the National Organization for Raw Materials (NORM) files under the OTHER ORGANIZATIONS series.

The Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance (WFUA) is the most extensively documented farm organization in the collection, and provides the strongest documentation of Tom Saunders' work and the issues with which he was most engaged, notably building coalitions with labor unions, African American farmers, and farmers in Central America, as well as supporting farmland preservation and Ojibwe spear fishing treaty rights in his role as President of the Wisconsin Farm Conservancy, originally a project of WFUA. Also documented is his work on behalf of federal legislation benefiting family farms.

The OTHER ORGANIZATIONS series includes additional organizations with which Tom Saunders was engaged: the Coordinating Committee for Responsible Bio-Technology, an organization concerned with the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) issue and animal patenting; the Sustainable Agriculture Working Group; and various rural advocacy organizations.

The WRITINGS series includes essays, editorials, commentaries for public radio, and a speech, in addition to various drafts and notes.

The SUBJECT FILES series includes topics of interest to multiple farm organizations, such as the Farm Credit Crisis, the Federal Reserve System, debt restructuring, biotechnology, and various legislative initiatives related to these issues. Many of the farm organizations in the collection were involved to some extent on many of these issues. The files on the Production Credit Association (PCA) include information on the action in Mondovi, Wisconsin, on December 1, 1982 that ultimately led to the formation of the Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance. Also of interest are a few materials relating to the platforms of candidates for President in 1988, particularly the Rev. Jesse Jackson, as well as the Democratic and Republican nominees, and their views on issues of concern to rural voters.

• Clara Bauer Papers (Stout Mss 12)
• Dennis Boyer Papers (Mss 900)
• Family Farm Defenders Records (Mss 1198)
• Labor and Farm Party Records (Mss 1048)
• Project Self-Help and Awareness Records (M2010-049)
• John Stauber Papers Related to rBGH (Mss 1199)
• Cynthia and Lee Theorin Papers (Mss 1205)
• Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Publications (M2017-065)

Acquisition Information

Presented by Pamela Saunders, Viroqua, Wisconsin, July 19, 2016. Accession Number: M2017-064

Processing Information

Processed by Julia Wong, September 2017.

Mss 1203	Series: Biographical
Box   1 Folder   1	Activity and mileage log, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Articles and papers about Tom Saunders, 1984-1993?
Box   1 Folder   3	Calendar pages, 1988-1989
Box   1 Folder   4	Coalitions, personal, 1983, 1986
Box   1 Folder   5	Hay River Stoneware flyer, undated
	Series: Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   6	General, 1981-1988
Box   1 Folder   7	From Gilk, Paul, 1983-1986
Box   1 Folder   8	With Le Sueur, Meridel, 1987
	Series: Energy/Nuclear Power	⇧
	Badger Safe Energy Alliance (BSEA)
Box   1 Folder   9	Third Draft Generation Plan for Western Wisconsin Utilities: working copy, 1979 April 4
	Barron Electric Cooperative
Box   1 Folder   10	Annual meetings, 1979-1981
Box   1 Folder   11	Correspondence, 1979-1981, 1989
Box   1 Folder   12	Dairyland Power Cooperative, circa 1980
Box   1 Folder   13	Tyrone nuclear power plant (proposed), correspondence, editorials, 1977-1978, undated
	Environmental Policy Institute/Center (EPI/EPC)
Box   1 Folder   14	First National Citizens Conference on Energy Facility Siting, 1978 September 16-17
Box   1 Folder   15	Mailing, 1978 September
Box   1 Folder   16	Rural Electric Administration (REA) case studies, 1978
Box   1 Folder   17	Dairyland Power Cooperative paper, 1978 December 15
Box   1 Folder   18	Drafts: preliminary, final, circa 1978
Box   1 Folder   19	Farmers United for Safe Energy (FUSE), 1979
Box   1 Folder   20	Other organizations, 1981, 1986, undated
Box   1 Folder   21	People Against Nuclear Energy (PANE), 1977-1978
Box   1 Folder   22	People for Safe Energy (PSE), 1978-1979, undated
Box   1 Folder   23	Rural electric cooperatives (RECs), general, 1980-1981, undated
	Series: Farm Organizations	⇧
Box   1 Folder   24	Family Farm Organizing Resource Center (FFORC), 1986
	National Farmers Union (NFU)
Box   1 Folder   25	1990 Farm Bill Title Outline: working paper, 1989 February 23
	National Save the Family Farm Coalition (NSFFC)
Box   1 Folder   26	Board of Directors meeting materials, 1986-1987
Box   1 Folder   27	Briefing book, 1986 July
Box   1 Folder   28	National Rural Crisis Action Campaign, 1986 January-April
Box   1 Folder   29	Price Committee, 1988
Box   1 Folder   30	Sustainable agriculture sub-committee, 1988-1989
Box   1 Folder   31	Wheat farming, 1986, undated
	North American Farm Alliance (NAFA)
Box   1 Folder   32	General, 1983-1984
Box   1 Folder   33	Campaign for Economic Justice, 1986
Box   1 Folder   34	Campaign strategy conference, Madrid, Iowa, 1984 September 1-2
Box   1 Folder   35	Correspondence, 1983-1986
Box   1 Folder   36-37	Executive Director's reports and summaries of activities, 1985-1986
Box   1 Folder   38	Farm Policy Reform Act, 1985
Box   1 Folder   39	Funding, 1985-1986
Box   1 Folder   40	International Farm Crisis Summit: "Forging the Links," Ottawa, Canada (July 7-10, 1983), 1983 July-August
Box   1 Folder   41	Meeting materials, 1983
Box   1 Folder   42	National Farm Program Committee, farm bill model legislation, 1983
Box   1 Folder   43	National Save the Family Farm Committee, 1985
Box   1 Folder   44	Naylor, George, education director, 1985-1986
Box   1 Folder   45	News clippings, 1985
Box   1 Folder   46	Parity lobby, circa 1986
Box   1 Folder   47	Strategy, coalition building, 1984, 1986, undated
Box   1 Folder   48	Labor unions, 1983
Box   1 Folder   49	Small Farmer Information Project, 1976-1977 Note: Regarding tobacco farming, environmental impacts of power stations.
	Wisconsin Farm Unity Alliance (WFUA)
Box   1 Folder   50	General, 1982
Box   1 Folder   51	Articles of incorporation and by-laws, 1983
Box   1 Folder   52	Black/White Farmer Solidarity Network, 1986
Box   1 Folder   53	Kinsman, John, 1985-1987 Note: See also Project Self-Help and Awareness under Subject Files.
	Board of Directors
Box   1 Folder   54	Meeting minutes, 1982-1986
Box   1 Folder   55	Update mailing, 1987 June 30
Box   1 Folder   56	Brochures, 1986
Box   1 Folder   57	Community Land Trust (CLT) Committee, 1987
	Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy (WFC)
Box   1 Folder   58	Articles of incorporation and by-laws, 1987
Box   1 Folder   59	American Farmland Trust (AFT), 1989
Box   1 Folder   60-61	Board of Directors meeting materials, 1988 May-1989 June
Box   1 Folder   62	Brochure, undated
Box   1 Folder   63	Committees, 1989
Box   1 Folder   64-65	Fundraising, 1988-1989
Box   1 Folder   66	Mooney, Patrick H., farmland tenure articles, 1986, 1990
Box   1 Folder   67	Noreen, Herbert, correspondence with, 1988-1989
Box   1 Folder   68	Treaty rights, 1986, 1988-1989
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   69	Incoming, 1982-1987
Box   1 Folder   70	Outgoing, circa 1982-1984
Box   1 Folder   71	Grant proposals, 1985, undated
Box   1 Folder   72	Groundswell Project, 1986?
Box   1 Folder   73	Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America (IUMSWA), 1985-1986
	Labor and Farm Party
Box   1 Folder   74	General, 1983
Box   1 Folder   75	Boyer, Dennis, 1982-1985
Box   1 Folder   76	Issues Task Force, 1983
Box   1 Folder   77	Mailing lists, undated
Box   1 Folder   78	National Coordinating Committee (NCC) for the Farm Policy Reform Act of 1985, 1985
Box   1 Folder   79	National/Farm Crisis Day (October 2, 1982), 1982
Box   1 Folder   80	National Rural Crisis Action Campaign, 1986
Box   1 Folder   81	Rural Crisis Action Campaign Steering Committee, 1986
Box   1 Folder   82	Regional meetings, 1982
Box   1 Folder   83	Save the Family Farm Act, 1986
Box   1 Folder   84	Senate Subcommittee hearing testimony, 1987 June 18
Box   1 Folder   85	Testimony (Tom Saunders) before House Agriculture Committee, 1986 May 23
Box   1 Folder   86	Wisconsin Farmers Union membership contract, 1977
	Series: Other Organizations	⇧
Box   2 Folder   1	Coordinating Committee for Responsible Bio-Technology, 1987
Box   2 Folder   2	National Coalition for Land Reform, 1974
Box   2 Folder   3	National Organization for Raw Materials (NORM), circa 1977, undated Note: See also M2017-065 for Carl Wilken publication and NORM newsletters.
Box   2 Folder   4	Prairiefire Rural Action, 1985-1986
	Rural America
Box   2 Folder   5	Farm credit crisis paper, 1982 June
Box   2 Folder   6	Rural Coalition, 1985
	Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG)
Box   2 Folder   7	Public Policy and Sustainable Agriculture workshops, 1989 January-February
	Series: Writings	⇧
Box   2 Folder   8	Article drafts (The Progressive?), circa 1980s
Box   2 Folder   9	Essays, editorials, drafts, notes, 1980s
Box   2 Folder   10	Radio commentaries, 1982-1984
Box   2 Folder   11	Speech, undated
	Series: Subject Files	⇧
	Agriculture and public policy, articles
Box   2 Folder   12	Left-wing, 1981, 1985, undated
Box   2 Folder   13	Right-wing, 1983-1986
Box   2 Folder   14	Posse Comitatus in Wisconsin, 1980-1982
	Biotechnology and agriculture
Box   2 Folder   15	Animal patenting, 1987-1988 Note: Includes Tom Saunders testimony, August 21, 1987.
Box   2 Folder   16	Coalition for Responsible Technology (CRT) founding conference, 1989 April 1
Box   2 Folder   17	Environmental Policy Institute (EPI), Doyle, Jack, testimony regarding biotechnology, patent law, and agriculture, articles, 1987
Box   2 Folder   18	Genetic engineering, background articles, 1987-1988
Box   2 Folder   19	Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), articles, papers, 1986-1989
Box   2 Folder   20	Special Committee on Biotechnology, legislation, 1987-1989
Box   2 Folder   21	Testimony of Tom Saunders and others, 1988-1989
	Central America
Box   2 Folder   22	Farmer to Farmer, 1988-1989, undated
Box   2 Folder   23	Conferences, 1986, 1989, undated
Box   2 Folder   24	Contacts, mailing lists, 1986-1989
Box   2 Folder   25	Conyers, John, Representative, urban-rural coalition, 1984-1985
Box   2 Folder   26	Dairy, 1982-1986
Box   2 Folder   27	Canadian dairy policy materials, 1982
Box   2 Folder   28	Democratic Party, 1986
Box   2 Folder   29	Electoral work, 1982-1984
Box   2 Folder   30	Farm Credit System (FCS), 1983-1985
Box   2 Folder   31	Agricultural Conservation Corporation (ACC), 1985
Box   2 Folder   32	Farm movement history, 1976-1988, undated
Box   2 Folder   33	Farm stress materials, 1975, 1984, undated
Box   2 Folder   34	Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) loan program, 1986, undated
Box   2 Folder   35	Farming with horses, 1982, 1989
Box   2 Folder   36	Federal Reserve system, 1985 February
Box   2 Folder   37-38	General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), background materials, 1989
Box   2 Folder   39	Herd buy-out program, 1986
Box   2 Folder   40	International monetary policy, 1984
Box   2 Folder   41	Jackson, Jesse
Box   2 Folder   42	National Rainbow Coalition, 1986
Box   2 Folder   43	Krebs, Al, meat packers union, 1977-1979, 1983
Box   2 Folder   44	Legal work, farm defense, 1983-1986
	Legislation
Box   2 Folder   45	Fair Credit Act of 1986 (Farm Credit Emergency Office): discussion draft, 1986 March 21
Box   2 Folder   46	Farm Policy Reform Act, 1985-1986
Box   2 Folder   47	Milk Marketing Control Act (H.R. 4148), 1986
	Minnesota
Box   2 Folder   48	Kanten, Anne, affidavit regarding farm crisis, 1983 June 16
Box   2 Folder   49	Milk pricing, 1986, 1989
Box   2 Folder   50	Non-Partisan League, undated
	Organic certification standards
Box   2 Folder   51	International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), 1984 August 31
Box   2 Folder   52	Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA), 1987-1988
	Organic Growers and Buyers Association (OGBA)
Box   2 Folder   53	Grower's questionnaire, revised, 1988 March
Box   2 Folder   54	Various states, 1979-1989
Box   2 Folder   55	Organic Food Standards Advisory Committee, State of Wisconsin, 1988-1989
Box   2 Folder   56	Parity, presentation transparencies, undated
	Production Credit Association (PCA)
Box   2 Folder   57	General, 1982-1983
Box   2 Folder   58	Statement of grievances, 1982-1983
Box   2 Folder   59	Project Self-Help and Awareness, 1987, undated
Box   2 Folder   60	Recycling, local, 1987-1989
Box   2 Folder   61	Rural voters, 1986-1987
Box   2 Folder   62	Stauber, John, Earth Day: draft, circa 1989
Box   2 Folder   63	Sustainable agriculture articles, 1989
Box   2 Folder   64	Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant Program application, 1987
	Terry, Dixon C.
Box   2 Folder   65	Memorial service program, news clippings, 1989 June 1
Box   2 Folder   66	Third world, hunger, 1986
Box   2 Folder   67	Vermont, property tax increases, 1985-1986
	Wisconsin
	Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP)
Box   2 Folder   68	"Farmer and Farm Creditor Financial Stress: Alternative State Response to the Crisis" / by Richard D. Rodefeld and Cheryl Furstace Daniels: report, 1986
Box   2 Folder   69	Rural development, 1988-1989
Box   2 Folder   70	Wisconsin Private Sector Initiative Program (WPSIP) proposal, 1979-1980s Note: "A proposal that did not get legs - likely early [19]80s. P[am]S[aunders]"