Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1914-2009 (Creation)
Extent
58.63 linear feet (61 boxes)
Name of creator
Administrative history
Newspaperman Isaac Newton Gresham founded the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union at Point, Texas in 1902. The Union was organized to protect and promote the interests of family farmers. The Union became a national organization in 1905.
The Farmers Union came to South Dakota about 1914. Former members of the Nebraska Farmers Union who moved to South Dakota to farm introduced the organization. Farmer’s Union officials did much of the early work in organizing from Nebraska.
The Farmers Union of South Dakota was organized into a state unit at Mitchell on March 16, 1917. This was the first state convention to be held in South Dakota. There were fourteen counties represented at the convention by 268 delegates. By this time, there were 134 locals in South Dakota.
The educational program of the South Dakota Farmers Union has been a vital part of the state organization. The Union pioneered many activities in education that other state units adopted. One of the important functions of the early Union was the collective purchasing of supplies such as flour, coal, twine, etc.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The records are comprised of correspondence, meeting minutes, publications, scrapbooks, photographs, oral history interviews, audio-visual materials, and the records of local unions.
System of arrangement
This collection is arranged into series:
- Audio-Visual
- Collected material
- Cooperative Legacy Project
- General
- Local Unions
- Photographs
- Publications
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Open. Items in this collection 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South Dakota State University supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections.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
-
Emil Loriks: builder of a new economic order, Williams Elizabeth E., Sioux Falls, S.D., Center for Western Studies, 1987.
Call number: SD Collection: F651.L67 W54 1987 -
The family farmers' advocate: South Dakota Farmers Union, 1914-2000, Oyos, Lynwood , Sioux Falls, S.D.: Center for Western Studies,
2000, c1999
Call number: SD Collection: HD6515.A292 S65 2000 -
The inventional components of Emil Loriks' agrarian farmers'union rhetoric, 1934-1938, Williams, Elizabeth E., Thesis (M.A.) Speech Dept., South Dakota State University, 1983.
Call number: Archives: LB2385.W67 1983 -
South Dakota union farmer, Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America. South Dakota Division, Huron, S.D.: South
Dakota Farmers Union, 1917
Call number: 630.7305 So87 -
Saving the Voices of South Dakota Farmers Union online exhibit https://www.sdstate.edu/sdsu-archives-and-special-collections/saving-voices-south-dakota-farmers-union
-
South Dakota Farmers Union Records on the Digital Library of South Dakota https://explore.digitalsd.org/digital/collection/p17102coll5/search
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
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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
- South Dakota Farmers Union (Subject)