Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Records
Title
Sokota Hybrid Producers Records
Date(s)
- 1941-2004 (Accumulation)
Extent
1.84 linear feet (1 records center box, 1 document case, 1 oversize document case)
Name of creator
Administrative history
Sokota Hybrid Producers, Inc. made available to farmers in South Dakota and the surrounding states hybrid seed corn. / Sokota began in 1924, when Clifford Franzke, a South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station agronomist, started inbreeding local varieties of corn in an effort to produce a hybrid which could withstand the Dakota weather. In 1942, a new hybrid seed was released to farmers by the experiment station. Fred Baldridge, a retired farmer, began to standardize grading of the hybrid seed. / In 1944, Sokota Hybrid Producers incorporated as a cooperative and 24 farmers purchased certificates of equity to get the organization going with E.G. Sanderson as president. / W.L. Davis, who was a vocational agricultural instructor at Brookings high school, became manager in 1945 and the cooperative was able to erect its own plant in south Brookings. Davis served as the manager of Sokota for nearly 35 years. / Sokota continued to grow and prosper through the years, by the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sokota, had a breeding program nearly three times bigger than any program South Dakota State University had undertaken. / Sokota Hybrid Producers, Inc. was sold in 1985 to North American Plant Breeders.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Sokota Hybrid Producers, Inc. records are composed mainly of Board of Directors minutes from its incorporation in 1944 to its dissolution in 1986. Most of the minutes include an agenda and the minutes. Some may include newsletters, correspondence, and reports. The collection also includes articles of incorporation, by-laws, purchase agreement, financial material, and trademark information.
The financial material is composed of corn payments, revolving fund certificates, grower and producer ledger sheets, and other certificates related to the financial portion of Sokota.
Also included are newspapers clippings on the history of Sokota, South Dakota codified laws in relation to cooperatives, and a photocopy of the first check written.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open to researchers without restrictions. The materials in the Archives do not circulate and may be used in-house only.
Researchers conducting extensive research are asked to make an advance appointment to access archival material. Please call or e-mail prior to visiting the collection and indicate as much detail as possible about a particular topic and intended use.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
South Dakota State University supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted as a result of their fragile condition or by contractual agreements with donors.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
ID
ID
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Sokota Hybrid Producers (Subject)