Archives West Finding Aid
Table of Contents
U.S. Farm Security Administration records, 1928-1956
Overview of the Collection
- Creator
- United States. Farm Security Administration
- Title
- U.S. Farm Security Administration records
- Dates
- 1928-1956 (inclusive)19281956
- Quantity
- 3 linear feet of shelf space
- Collection Number
- MC 206
- Summary
- The U.S. Farm Security Administration (FSA) was established to implement the provisions of the Bankhead-Jones Tenant Act of 1937. It took over the duties of the U.S. Resettlement Administration, making loans available to tenants and sharecroppers, and operating migrant farm labor camps. After the FSA was abolished in 1946 the U.S. Farmers Home Administration (FHA) continued this work. Records consist of subject files (1928-1956) concerning individual resettlement and irrigation projects in Montana.
- Repository
-
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov - Access Restrictions
-
Collection open for research.
- Languages
- English
- Sponsor
- Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Historical NoteReturn to Top
The Farm Security Administration (FSA) was established within the United States Department of Agriculture to implement the provisions of the Bankhead-Jones Tenant Act of 1937. The agency also took over certain functions of its predecessor, the Resettlement Administration (RA). The FSA made available and administered long-term loans to tenants and sharecroppers, loaned funds to rural cooperatives, and operated camps for migrant farm workers. The FSA was abolished in 1946; the Farmers Home Administration (FHA) continued its work. The Resettlement Administration, an independent agency, was created by executive order on April 30, 1935. Among its many duties, the RA directed rural rehabilitation, resettlement projects, and the operation of migrant farm worker camps. The RA had been given responsibility for relief programs previously administered by the Emergency Relief Administration and the Department of the Interior's Subsistence Homestead Division. Local aid to farm tenants under the RA consisted of relocation, loans, and experimental community farming. The FSA's activities in Montana consisted of resettlement and irrigation projects intended to aid farming and ranching, or to increase the production of existing farms and ranches in areas where the rural economy was in crisis. Many of these projects were undertaken through the provisions of the Wheeler-Case Act of 1940, whereby the secretary of agriculture was given the responsibility for land acquisition, development, and settlement of irrigation projects. However, it was the responsibility of the secretary of the interior to transmit any recommendations for the construction of projects under the Act. the FSA also administered projects under the wartime Food for Victory program. The FSA accomplished its projects with the help of other federal and state agencies, including the Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service and Bureau of Agricultural Economics; the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation; the Public Works Administration; and the Montana State Water Conservation Board.
Content DescriptionReturn to Top
Records. 1928-1956. 3 linear feet. The bulk of the collection consists of subject files concerning individual resettlement or irrigation projects in Montana. Some files concern local irrigation districts or specific areas such as counties, ranches, farms, etc. Additionally, some files consist only of proposals for projects which were never approved. The files include intra-agency and inter-agency correspondence and memoranda; project proposals; progress reports; engineering reports; preliminary budgets; Wheeler-Case Act forms and data; water flow and precipitation statistics; work orders; appraisal reports; and project maps. In some cases it is unclear from the records when a project is developed as an individual project and when it is tied to a larger project (e.g. the relationship of the Milk River project and the Saco Divide project). Projects that are possibly related to each other are so indicated in the folder titles. Two files, "Wheeler-Case program" and "Indian resettlement" do not relate to specific projects; instead, those files contain general information about the indicated subjects. Prominent correspondents include Dr. P.L. Slavgold, principal agricultural economist for the Denver regional office; John A. Goe, assistant area director; J.D. Matthews, associate agricultural economist; C.H. Wilson, area director; Senator Burton K. Wheeler in his capacity as chairman of the Interstate Commerce Committee concerning the Kinsey Land Use Adjustment project and Fort Keogh; and Senator James Murray concerning the Whitehall Irrigation District.
Use of the CollectionReturn to Top
Restrictions on Use
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.
Preferred Citation
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
Administrative InformationReturn to Top
Arrangement
Arranged alphebetically by name of project. Some material housed in oversize folder and oversize box. See inventory below for more information.
Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection
Photographs Return to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1 / 1 | List of photographs separated to the Photo Archives |
undated |
Subject Files Return to Top
Container(s) | Description | Dates |
---|---|---|
Box/Folder | ||
1 / 2 | Big Creek Lakes Storage Dam (rebuilding) |
1941-1942 |
1 / 3 | Big Dry Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6] |
1942 |
1 / 4 | Billings Drainage Project |
1943-1944 |
1 / 5 | Bitterroot Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6] |
1941-1945 |
1 / 6 | Bonanza Project |
1939-1943 |
1 / 7 | Broadwater - Missouri Project (proposed) |
1941 |
1 / 8 | Buffalo Rapids No. 3 [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and
Archives Map Case folder 1] |
1937-1943 |
1 / 9 | Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Haley Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL:
Box 6] |
1941-1948 |
1 / 10 | Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Marsh Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL:
Box 6] |
1940-1943 |
1 / 11 | Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Sadie's Flat Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1938-1942 |
1 / 12 | Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Stipek Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1942 |
1 / 13 | Calypso |
1942 |
1 / 14 | Cartersville Irrigation District |
1939 |
1 / 15 | Dawson County area |
1939-1941 |
1 / 16 | Dead Man's Basin or Woolfolk Ranch Project |
1935-1941 |
1 / 17 | Dearborn - Crown Butte Project |
1938 |
1 / 18 | Deep Creek Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1940-1942 |
2 / 1 | Dodson Irrigation Project |
1943 |
2 / 2 | East Sidney Project [see also: Sidney Pumping
Project] |
1935 |
2 / 3 | Fairfield Bench (water supply) |
1941 |
2 / 4 | Flatwillow Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1940-1941 |
2 / 5-6 | Flathead County area |
1939-1943 |
2 / 7 | Fort Belknap Project |
1943-1944 |
2 / 8 | Fort Benton Pumping Project |
1943 |
2 / 9 | Fort Keogh [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1940-1943 |
2 / 10 | Fort Shaw Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1943-1944 |
2 / 11 | Glasgow Irrigation District |
1941-1944 |
2 / 12 | Glen Lake Irrigation Project |
1934-1936 |
2 / 13 | Grasshopper Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: box 6] |
1940-1943 |
2 / 14 | Green Meadow Farm |
1934 |
2 / 15 | Havre Pumping Project |
1941-1942 |
2 / 16 | Holland Settlement Demonstration Project |
1941-1952 |
2 / 17 | Indian Resettlement (various projects) |
1935-1936 |
2 / 18 | Joliet-Whitehorse Bench Irrigation District [see also
Whitehorse Bench (Rock Creek) Project] [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1941-1943 |
2 / 19 | Kinsey Farms Project (pumping station) |
1938-1940 |
2 / 20 | Kinsey Land Use Adjustment Project |
1938-1942 |
3 / 1 | Lewis and Clark Irrigation District |
1940-1942 |
3 / 2 | Little Missouri Project |
1936-1941 |
3 / 3 | Lower Cascade |
1934 |
3 / 4-5 | Lower Yellowstone Project |
1930-1945 |
3 / 6 | M.W. Ranch |
1939 |
3 / 7 | McCone County area |
1941-1942 |
3 / 8 | Manhattan Company |
undated |
3 / 9 | Marias River [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1935-1939 |
3 / 10 | Mid-Yellowstone Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and
Archives Map Case folder 1] |
1940-1942 |
3 / 11 | Milk River [contains an attorney's letter of inquiry
about the project, 1978; OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1] |
1936-1942 |
3 / 12 | Miller Creek Canal Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: box 6] |
1943-1944 |
3 / 13 | Missoula Valley Project |
1942-1943 |
3 / 14 | Missouri Drainage Basin |
1940-1943 |
3 / 15 | Montana (general) |
1940-1943 |
3 / 16 | Musselshell Valley [see also Upper Musselshell
Irrigation Project] |
1941-1943 |
3 / 17 | N-Bar-N Project |
1941-1944 |
4 / 1 | Nilan Reservoir Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6] |
1943 |
4 / 2 | North Sanders Irrigation Project |
1940 |
4 / 3 | Pennel Creek Project |
undated |
4 / 4 | Roosevelt and Richland Counties Project |
undated |
4 / 5 | Rosebud Irrigation District Project |
1943-1944 |
4 / 6 | Ross Fork Irrigation Project |
1940 |
4 / 7 | Ruby River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1943-1945 |
4 / 8 | S.H. and Horton Ranch (Tongue River Valley) |
1929-1939 |
4 / 9 | Saco Divide Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6] |
1938-1943 |
4 / 10-14 | Saco Divide Project |
1935-1943 |
5 / 1 | Savage Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6] |
1937-1945 |
5 / 2-3 | Savage Project |
1933-1945 |
5 / 4 | Savoy-Rock Creek Project |
1936-1944 |
5 / 5 | Shields River Ranch Company |
1937 |
5 / 6 | Sidney Pumping Project [see also East Sidney Project] |
1938-1942 |
5 / 7 | South Bench Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: map case
folder 1] |
1934-1944 |
5 / 8 | Sun River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6] |
1939-1941 |
5 / 9 | Tongue River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6] |
1940-1944 |
5 / 10 | Upper Musselshell Irrigation Project [see also
Musselshell Valley] |
1939-1944 |
5 / 11 | "Wheeler-Case program (re administrative procedures,
personnel, meetings, funding, and specific projects especially the Buffalo Rapids
Project) |
1945-1956 |
5 / 12 | Whitehorse Bench (Rock Creek) Project [see also
Joliet-Whitehorse Bench Project] |
1943-1945 |
5 / 13 | Whitetail Irrigation District [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives
Map Case folder 1] |
1935-1941 |
Oversize Folder | ||
1 | OVERSIZE MATERIAL [Oversize: See Archives Map Case] |
1935-1941 |
Box/Folder | ||
5 / 14 | Yellow Creek Irrigation Project |
1940 |
oversizebox | ||
6 | OVERSIZE MATERIAL |
undated |
Names and SubjectsReturn to Top
Subject Terms
- Agriculture
- Agriculture and State
- Irrigation
- Irrigation Districts
- Range Management
- Soil Conservation
Corporate Names
- United States. Farm Security Administration (creator)