Title: Orville Merton Kile Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1921-1930

Creator:

• Kile, Orville Merton, 1886-

Call Number: U.S. Mss AO

Quantity: 2.9 c.f. (1 archives box, 5 flat boxes, and 1 oversize volume)

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 of Orville Kile, an agricultural economist, lobbyist, and writer. Included are correspondence, 1921-1928, mostly concerning articles which Kile was writing for farm journals; radio scripts, 1925-1926, of farm news broadcasts which focused on attempts at federal farm legislation; reports, 1926-1928, written by Kile and others on farm surplus and price problems; and ten scrapbooks. Eight indexed scrapbooks consist of press releases prepared by Kile, 1923-1930, on topics of interest to farmers, including prices, crop conditions, legislation, and foreign agricultural news; and two scrapbooks include newspaper clippings on miscellaneous agricultural topics.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0000ao

Orville M. Kile was born in New Vienna, Ohio, on February 17, 1886. He received his bachelor of science degree in agriculture from Ohio State University in 1912, and went on for graduate study at the same school. From 1912 to 1913, Mr. Kile was an agricultural extension lecturer at Ohio State, and from 1913 to 1916, he was an editor of publications and lecturer at West Virginia University. From 1916 to 1919, Mr. Kile served as manager of the educational bureau for the National Association of Fertilizer Manufacturers. Always active in the formation of a farm bloc in Congress, he served as assistant Washington representative for the American Farm Bureau Federation in 1920 and 1921.

Mr. Kile was chairman of the Farm Hands Club in Washington from 1935 until 1952, and served as the Washington representative of Sears, Roebuck and Company, 1933-1948. Over many years, he contributed articles on political and agricultural subjects to magazines. Mr. Kile's books include: The Farm Bureau Movement, 1921; The New Agriculture, 1932; and The Farm Bureau Through Three Decades, 1948.

The collection includes correspondence, October 18, 1921-1928, practically all concerned with articles which Kile was preparing for magazines such as Successful Farming and Country Gentleman. There are also radio talks, all on agricultural matters, and two reports, Congress and the Farm Problem, May 3, 1926, and Resolution of the Wheat Problem, 1926. Some speeches and reports on farm subjects not by Kile also have been retained in the collection.

There are two scrapbooks of clippings, one of general agricultural articles, and a small book of articles by Kile. By far the greatest amount of material, however, is copies of press releases on agricultural subjects prepared by Kile. The releases are in chronological order in eight large scrapbooks, and an index to each year's releases is in the back of each volume.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Orville M. Kile, Washington, D.C., July 8, 1954.

U.S. Mss AO	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1921, October 18 - 1923, September 27
Box   1 Folder   2	1923, October 3 - 1927, July 25
Box   1 Folder   3	1927, August 2 - 1928; undated
Box   1 Folder   4	Radio talks
Box   1 Folder   5	Speeches and Reports, not by Kile, 1924, March 28 - 1928, October 29; undated
	Clippings
Box   6	1921, February - 1923, May (Volume 1)
Box   4	1921, November 23 - 1922, February 26 (Volume 2)
	Press Releases
Box   6	, 1923 (Volume 3)
Box   2	, 1924 (Volume 4)
Oversize Volume	, 1925 (Volume 5)
Box   3	, 1926 (Volume 6)
Box   4	, 1927 (Volume 7)
Box   6	, 1928 (Volume 8)
Box   5	, 1929 (Volume 9)
Box   5	, 1930 (Volume 10)