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.
