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M. L. Wilson papers, 1935-1960

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Wilson, M. L. (Milburn Lincoln), 1885-1969
Title
M. L. Wilson papers
Dates
1935-1960 (inclusive)
Quantity
8.1 linear feet
Collection Number
MSU.00003
Summary
The M. L. Wilson Collection consists of original copies of Wilson's unofficial correspondence; photoduplicates of original correspondence held by the National Archives and Records Administration documenting Wilson's activities as Undersecretary of Agriculture and Director of Extension; subject files; agricultural history and Thomas Jefferson material; speeches; statements; articles; and materials from his personal files. Topics include: the Agricultural Adjustment Administration; various agricultural bills; domestic allotment; Farm Bureau; various New Deal programs concerning labor, land, rural housing, extension schools, erosion, and subsistence homesteads; agricultural history; Thomas Jefferson; conservation, economics; social sciences; politics; and postwar reconstruction.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Languages
Collection materials are in English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
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Biographical Note

Milburn Lincoln Wilson was born in Atlantic, Iowa on 23 October 1885, the son of John Wesley and Mary E. (Magee) Wilson. He received a B.S.A. from Iowa State College, Ames, in 1907 and his M.S. in agricultural economics and rural sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1920. He began his career as a farmer in 1907. He served as Assistant State Agronomist at Montana State College, Bozeman, 1910-1912; County Agent in Custer County, Montana, 1912-1914; Montana State Extension Agent Leader, 1914-1922; and an extension agricultural economist at Montana State College, 1922-1924. Between 1924 and 1926 he took charge of the U.S.D.A. division of farm management and cost accounting. During his stint as professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Montana State College, 1926-1933, he provided consultation on large-scale wheat farming in the U.S.S.R., 1929. From May 16 to September 1, 1933, Wilson served as the Chief Wheat Production Secretary in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and then moved on to the directorship of the Division of Subsistence Homesteads in the Department of the Interior until June 30, 1934. In 1934, Wilson was appointed the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture and in 1937 the Undersecretary of Agriculture until 1 February 1940 when he became the Director of Extension Work at U.S.D.A. While Director, he also filled in as the Chief of Nutrition Programs and in the Production and Marketing Administration between 1943 and 1949. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Farm Economic Association (president, 1925), Epsilon Sigma Phi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Alpha Zeta. He was also a Unitarian and belonged to the Cosmos club. His writings include Farm Relief and the Domestic Allotment Plan (1933) and Democracy Has Roots (1939). Married on December 17, 1913 to Ida Morse from Cromwell, Minnesota, Wilson made his home in Washington, D.C. where he died in October 1969 and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery.

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Content Description

This collection includes materials created or collected by M.L. Wilson and in turn collected and arranged by Montana State University. It contains original copies of Wilson's unofficial correspondence; photoduplicates of original correspondence held by the National Archives and Records Administration documenting Wilson's activities as Undersecretary of Agriculture and Director of Extension; subject files; agricultural history and Thomas Jefferson material; speeches; statements; articles; and materials from his personal files. Topics include: the Agricultural Adjustment Administration; various agricultural bills; domestic allotment; Farm Bureau; various New Deal programs concerning labor, land, rural housing, extension schools, erosion, and subsistence homesteads; agricultural history; Thomas Jefferson; conservation, economics; social sciences; politics; and postwar reconstruction. Photographs have been removed from files marked by an asterisk (*) and placed in Series 16. Large items have been removed for separate storage and files from which they have been removed marked by an asterisk (*).

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Series 1 Non-official Correspondence, 1935-1960

Series 2 Undersecretary of Agriculture Incoming Correspondence, 1933-1940

Series 3 Director of Extension -- Correspondence, 1940-1953

Series 4 Undersecretary of Agriculture -- Correspondence, 1932-1948

Series 5 Undersecretary of Agriculture Subject Files, undated

Series 6 Division of Subsistence Homesteads, 1933-1935

Series 7 Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Office of Farm Mgt., 1924-1925

Series 8 Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering, 1934-1941

Series 9 Mordecai Ezekial, Domestic Allotment Plan, 1929-1933

Series 10 Chester C. Davis Material, undated

Series 11 Agricultural History and Thomas Jefferson Material

Series 12 Speeches, Statements, Articles, etc., 1932-1956

Series 13 General and Miscellaneous Material, undated

Series 14 M.L. Wilson Personal Files, 1914-1955

Series 15 Miscellaneous Notebooks, and Scrapbooks, 1916-1948

Series 16 Photographs

Acquisition Information

Original documents and photocopies of material pertaining to the career and activities of M. L. Wilson were compiled by employees of Montana State University in the 1960s to create this artificial research collection. Provenance of much of this material has been lost, but many files were apparently copied from originals held by the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D. C.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 April 30

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Agricultural extension work-Government policy-United States
  • Agricultural laws and legislation-United States
  • Agriculture and state-United States
  • Agriculture-History
  • Farm law-United States
  • New Deal, 1933-1939
  • Reconstruction (1939-1951)

Personal Names

  • Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Corporate Names

  • American Farm Bureau Federation
  • Montana State University (Bozeman, Mont.). Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics
  • Montana State University (Bozeman, Mont.). Extension Service.
  • United States. Agricultural Adjustment Administration
  • United States. Department of Agriculture. Officials and employees

Kim Allen Scott, 2009. Updated by Heather Mulliner, 2022.
2022

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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