Descriptive summary
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creator:
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title:
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Farmers' Holiday
Movement Collection
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dates:
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1932-1934, n.d.
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extent:
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0.42 linear ft.
(1 document box)
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collection number:
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MS 461
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repository:
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Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.
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Administrative
information
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access:
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Open for research
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publication rights:
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Consult Head, Special Collections Department
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preferred
citation:
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Farmers' Holiday Movement
Collection, MS 461, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.
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Historical note
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The Farmers' Holiday
movement was a depression era movement which carried out withholding
actions in an effort to win a guarantee of cost of production prices
for farm products. The movement was organized through a national
Farmers' Holiday Association and state Farmers' Holiday
organizations.
The Farmers'
Holiday Association was organized in 1932 under the leadership of
Milo Reno in response to the perception by farmers that low market
prices prevented them from meeting mortgage and tax payments,
forcing them to give up their homes and farms. Members of the
Association, primarily Midwestern farmers, voted in goods until such
time as parity was guaranteed and some form of relief provided for
mortgage payments and taxes. Not only did farmers withhold produce,
they picketed highways in an effort to stop other goods from
reaching markets, intimidated prospective buyers at foreclosure and
sheriff's sales, and exerted pressure on the courts and legislatures
to adopt what they believed to be appropriate measures. Responding
to these measures, authorities employed sheriffs, militia, and
vigilante groups to control or prevent strike activities and ensure
the continued transport of farm produce as well as the orderly
disposal of farm property. Confrontations between the two groups
were frequently violent and marked by a good deal of destruction,
particularly in the Wisconsin Milk Strike. In Iowa the movement
centered in the northwest region of the state, especially around
Sioux City where railroad bridges were burned and brawls occurred
frequently along highway picket lines. The most widely publicized
event took place in Le Mars, Iowa, where Judge C. C. Bradley was
dragged from his bench, physically and verbally abused, and
threatened with lynching in an attempt to coerce him to agree to the
constitutionality of the Debtor Relief Law. By 1934, the movement
subsided. |
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Collection description
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The collection (1932-1934, n.d.) consists of
photocopied files obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
through the Freedom of Information Act and includes correspondence,
news clippings, and FBI reports. The documents were created or
collected by the U.S. Bureau of Investigation (now the Federal
Bureau of Investigation) in connection with their monitoring of the
Farmers' Holiday movement in general and, in particular, the
farmers' strike and picketing in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota in
August and September of 1932. The files contain letters and
telegrams from agents reporting on events in various towns, as well
as news clippings collected by the agents. These materials were
sent to the Bureau's director, J. Edgar Hoover, to keep him updated
on the situation. Hoover, in turn, forwarded copies to the Attorney
General's office and to President Hoover's secretary to keep them
informed.
Related material
may be found in MS 109, George J. Ormsby Papers. |
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Organization
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The collection
is in original order.
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Container list
| Box
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Folder |
Title |
Dates |
| 1 |
1-2 |
Enclosure I: Correspondence, telegrams, and news clippings, "Mob
Force" circular, and information about Continental Congress of
Workers and Farmers for Economic Reconstruction (Washington, D.C.,
May 1933) |
1932-1933 |
| 1 |
3 |
Enclosure II: Correspondence, telegrams, news clippings, and
circular for Farmers National Relief Conference (Washington, D.C.,
Dec. 1932) |
1932-1934 |
| 1 |
4 |
Enclosure III: Letters and memorandums regarding complaints about
alleged interference in interstate commerce of farm produce and
complaints about violations of fair competition laws |
1933-1934 |
| 1 |
5 |
Partial
listing of collection contents |
n.d. |
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