Title: American Country Life Association Records
Inclusive Dates: 1908-1983

Creator:

• American Country Life Association

Call Number: U.S. Mss AG; M64-154; PH U.S. Mss AG; M2004-117

Quantity: 6.6 c.f. (15 archives boxes and 6 volumes); plus additions of 3.8 c.f. and 42 photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

See the catalog entry for information of possible additional materials and shelf locations.

Abstract:

Papers of the American Country Life Association (ACLA), an organization that was an outgrowth of Theodore Roosevelt’s 1908 Commission on Country Life. Composed of sociologists, educators, churchmen, economists, farm newspaper editors, and others interested in rural life, the association sought to aid rural improvement by publicity, discussion, and support of persons and agencies active in the field. The papers of Benson Y. Landis, executive secretary from 1929 to 1942, comprise the bulk of the collection. Other materials, such as audit reports, treasurer’s files, minutes, and publicity releases, are incomplete. There is a small group of papers from the files of Carl Taylor, a North Carolina professor of sociology.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0000ag

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The American Country Life Association was an organization dedicated to the promotion and improvement of rural living. The purposes, as set forth in the constitution, are: to promote discussion of the problems and objectives of country life and facilitate the means of their solution and attainment; to further the efforts and increase the efficiency of persons and agencies engaged in the field; to disseminate the information calculated to promote a better understanding of country life; and to aid in rural improvement.

The ACLA was an outgrowth of the Commission on Country Life appointed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. The first meeting of the group was held in Baltimore in 1919. Thereafter the group held annual meetings or conferences until 1942 when these activities were curtailed by World War II.

The ACLA annually published a volume of proceedings that was a report of the annual conference. The organization also published ten issues yearly of the magazine Rural America from 1923 until 1942.

Prior to 1943 the affairs of the ACLA were handled by a paid part-time executive secretary. After that date the office was held by an elected official who served without pay and many of the former duties of the executive secretary were performed by other officers.

The files of Benson Y. Landis, executive secretary from 1929 until 1942, comprise the major part of this collection and present a comprehensive picture of the affairs of the group during that time. The other records, both before and after Landis, are either incomplete or are complete for relatively short periods of time.

Among these is the small group of papers of Carl Taylor, former Dean of the Graduate School at North Carolina State College, professor of sociology at various universities, and sociologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At one time or another, Taylor held almost every office in the ACLA.

This collection was received in multiple parts from the donor(s) and is organized into 3 major parts. These materials have not been physically interfiled and researchers might need to consult more than one part to locate similar materials.

• Part 1 (U.S. Mss AG): Original Collection, 1908-1957
• Part 2 (M64-154, PH U.S. Mss AG): Additions, 1925-1983
• Part 3 (M2004-117): Additions, 1930-1983

Acquisition Information

Original Collection presented by the American Country Life Association, 1957, and by David Lindstrom, Urbana, Illinois, 1958; Additions presented by American Country Life Association; Farm Foundation; and William McKinley Robinson. Accession Number: M64-154, M67-105, M67-285, M67-369, M69-234, M75-582, M2004-117

U.S. Mss AG	Part 1 (U.S. Mss AG): Original Collection, 1908-1957 Physical Description: 6.6 c.f. (15 archives boxes and 6 volumes)
	Executive Secretary's Files
Box   1	1908, 1924-1930 April
Box   2	1930 May-1931 June
Box   3	1931 July-1932 September
Box   4	1932 October-1933
Box   5	1934-1936 January
Box   6	1936 February-1937
Box   7	1938-1939 May
Box   8	1939 June-1940 March
Box   9	1940 April-November
Box   10	1940 December-1943 October
Box   11	1943 November-1948 June
Box   12	1948 July-1949 August
Box   13 Folder   1-2	1949 September-1950, 1957, undated
	President's and Vice President's Files
Box   13 Folder   3-6	1929-1930, 1941-1946 May
Box   14	1946 June-1950, 1952
Box   15 Folder   1	Treasurer's Files, 1948-1950
Box   15 Folder   2	Audit Reports, 1922-1924-1936
Box   15 Folder   3-4	Secretary's and Financial Reports and Minutes of Meetings, 1931-1939
Box   15 Folder   5	Custodian's Files, 1947-1950
Box   15 Folder   6	Carl Taylor's Files, 1909, 1919-1923, 1925-1927, undated
Box   15 Folder   7-8	Printed Material
	Account Books
Volume   1	1923-1931
Volume   2	1923-1940
Volume   3	1924-1927
Volume   4	1927-1928
Volume   5	1928-1935
Volume   6	Order Book, 1947-1950
M64-154	Part 2 (M64-154, PH U.S. Mss AG): Additions, 1925-1983 Physical Description: 1.8 c.f. (5 archives boxes) and 16 photographs  Scope and Content Note: These additions date 1925-1983 (bulk 1941-1976). They include administrative files; minutes of annual meetings and board of directors meetings; programs and other materials on the annual conferences; the files of officers Roy Buck and Arthur Wileden; and materials on the organization’s efforts to persuade the government to convene a second Commission on Country Life. These records relate in part to the readjustment of structure and membership pattern following the withdrawal in 1940 of a foundation grant under which the ACLA had operated. Photographs relate to group meetings and events of the ACLA in Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana.	⇧
	Arthur Wileden files
Box   1 Folder   1-4	American Country Life Association (ACLA), 1947-1957
Box   1 Folder   5	Mailing lists, invitations, responses, 1957
Box   1 Folder   6	Material for proceedings, 1957
Box   1 Folder   7	Miscellaneous, 1957
	Roy Buck files
Box   1 Folder   8-13	Correspondence, 1955, 1957-1959
Box   2 Folder   1	Invitation lists, membership, meeting proceedings, 1958-1959
Box   2 Folder   2-3	Commission correspondence, 1957-1958
Box   2 Folder   4	Income and expenditures, 1957
Box   2 Folder   5-7	Program correspondence, 1957-1958
	Administrative files
	Officers
Box   2 Folder   8	Swanton, Milo K., president, 1949-1951
Box   2 Folder   9	Wileden, Arthur, 1956-1958
Box   2 Folder   10	Humphreys, Gertrude, president, 1956-1967
Box   2 Folder   11	Buck, Roy C., president, 1958-1959
Box   2 Folder   12	Clark, Lois M., president, 1959-1961
Box   2 Folder   13	Gates, Aubrey, president, 1961-1962
Box   2 Folder   14-16	Frerichs, Reverend R.T., president, 1962-1965
Box   2 Folder   17	Aiton, E.W., vice president, 1957-1959
Box   2 Folder   18	Bottum, J. Carroll, vice president, 1959-1960
Box   2 Folder   19	Frerichs, Reverend R.T., vice president, 1961-1962
Box   2 Folder   20	Tudor, Dr. W.J., vice president, 1962-1963
Box   2 Folder   21-23	Clark, Lois M., secretary-treasurer, 1950-1957
Box   3 Folder   1	Mueller, E.W., secretary-treasurer, 1959-1963
Box   3 Folder   2-14	Annual meetings, 1925-1953 (incomplete), 1957-1967, 1970-1976
	Board of Directors Note: Incomplete.
Box   3 Folder   15-23	1956-1965
Box   4 Folder   1-3	1966-1976
Box   4 Folder   4	Rural Youth Section, 1941-1945
Box   4 Folder   5-7	General correspondence and minutes, 1957-1969
Box   4 Folder   8	Accounts, 1949-1950
Box   4 Folder   9	Publicity
Box   4 Folder   10	ACLA brochures - miscellaneous
	Second Country Life Commission files
Box   4 Folder   11-12	Evaluation correspondence (endorsements), 1958
Box   4 Folder   13	Members of Congress and government officers interest in commission, 1957-1958
Box   4 Folder   14	Proposal for a second Country Life commission, 1957-1958
Box   4 Folder   15	Commission correspondence, 1958-1959
Box   5 Folder   1	Milo Swanton, chairman, 1958-1963
Box   5 Folder   2	Paul Johnson, chairman, 1965
Box   5 Folder   3	Second commission report
Box   5 Folder   4	Copies of bills and resolutions by various groups
Box   5 Folder   5	Clippings, stories, etc., on the proposal
Box   5 Folder   6	Meeting with Agriculture secretary Ezra Benson and Dr. Gabriel Hauge, 1957
PH U.S. Mss AG	Photographs, including group photographs of conference attendees; a tree dedication with Dr. Kenyan L. Butterfield, president of Michigan State, 1924-1928; and photographs with D.E. Lindstrom, Joseph Ackerman and R.B. Corbett, , 1930-1948, undated.
M2004-117	Part 3 (M2004-117): Additions, 1930-1983 Physical Description: 2.0 c.f. (2 record center cartons) and 26 photographs  Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1930-1983, consisting of correspondence, conferences, meeting minutes, subject files, and proceedings. The conference files include a great deal of correspondence related to details of the conferences and their proceedings. The meeting minutes include annual meetings, the board of directors meetings, and treasurer’s reports. The subject files include funding source files, files of the various committees, and membership information. The photographs consist of portraits of various winners of the annual Citations Award given by ACLA.	⇧
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1-3	1947, 1960-1983
Box   1 Folder   4	Form letters to American Country Life Association (ACLA)
	Annual conferences
Box   1 Folder   5-8	1951-1954
Box   1 Folder   9-17	1968-1976
	Board of Directors
Box   1 Folder   18	1950
Box   1 Folder   19-29	1968-1976
Box   1 Folder   30	Budget
	Subject files
Box   1 Folder   31	Annual programs
Box   1 Folder   32	Banking
Box   1 Folder   33	Citations
Box   1 Folder   34	Constitution and certificate of incorporation
Box   1 Folder   35	Consultation meeting, September 23-24, 1965
Box   1 Folder   36	Country Life Commission Bill
Box   1 Folder   37	Dialogue Communications, Inc.
Box   1 Folder   38	Finance Committee
Box   1 Folder   39	Foundation inquires
Box   1 Folder   40	International Cooperation Administration
Box   1 Folder   41	J.B. Gunlogson, Racine, Wisconsin
Box   1 Folder   42	Kellogg Foundation request
Box   1 Folder   43	Mailing lists
Box   2 Folder   1	Mailings
Box   2 Folder   2	Membership, committee appointments
Box   2 Folder   3	Membership record, 1957-1977
Box   2 Folder   4	Nominating Committee
Box   2 Folder   5	Permanent listings, conferences and proceedings
Box   2 Folder   6-7	Potential contacts, miscellaneous mailing lists
	Presidents
Box   2 Folder   8	R.J. Hildreth, 1967-1969
Box   2 Folder   9	E.W. Mueller, 1969-1970
Box   2 Folder   10	Gene Wunderlich, 1973-1975
Box   2 Folder   11	Osgood Magnuson, 1975-1976
Box   2 Folder   12	Proceedings of conference - “Future of Appalachia,” 1975
Box   2 Folder   13	Proceedings, orders
Box   2 Folder   14	Proposed three-year strategy for ACLA, 1972
Box   2 Folder   15	Publications, clippings, and pamphlets
Box   2 Folder   16	Publicity materials
Box   2 Folder   17	Regional forums
Box   2 Folder   18	Request for grant from Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 1968
Box   2 Folder   19	Rural Development Act - resolution, 1972
Box   2 Folder   20	Sears Roebuck Foundation
Box   2 Folder   21	Sharing of Literature Committee
Box   2 Folder   22	Task force, 1965-1967
Box   2 Folder   23	Treasurer's reports, 1951-1963
Box   2 Folder   24	United States Treasury reports
Box   2 Folder   25	Wisconsin Historical Society
Box   2 Folder   26-43	Proceedings of ACLA annual conferences, 1950, 1952-1953, 1959, 1961-1966, 1968-1975
PH Box   6	Photographs include portraits of various winners of ACLA annual citation awards, as well as some photographs of groups at conferences, 1930-1959, undated