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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)
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.
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Historical Note

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.

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Content Description

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.

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Use of the Collection

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.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged alphebetically by name of project. Some material housed in oversize folder and oversize box. See inventory below for more information.

Location of Collection

12:4-1

Location of Collection

5:2-5 (oversize box 6)

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Separated Materials

Photos separated to Photo Archives. See inventory below.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

  • Photographs

    • Description: List of photographs separated to the Photo Archives
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 1
      Location: Photographs

  • Subject Files

    • Description: Big Creek Lakes Storage Dam (rebuilding)
      Dates: 1941-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 2
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Big Dry Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1942
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 3
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Billings Drainage Project
      Dates: 1943-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 4
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Bitterroot Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1941-1945
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 5
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Bonanza Project
      Dates: 1939-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 6
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Broadwater - Missouri Project (proposed)
      Dates: 1941
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 7
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Buffalo Rapids No. 3 [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1937-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 8
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Haley Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1941-1948
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 9
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Marsh Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1940-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 10
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Sadie's Flat Unit [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1938-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 11
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Buffalo Rapids No. 3 - Stipek Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1942
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 12
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Calypso
      Dates: 1942
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 13
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Cartersville Irrigation District
      Dates: 1939
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 14
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Dawson County area
      Dates: 1939-1941
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 15
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Dead Man's Basin or Woolfolk Ranch Project
      Dates: 1935-1941
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 16
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Dearborn - Crown Butte Project
      Dates: 1938
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 17
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Deep Creek Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1940-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 1 / 18
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Dodson Irrigation Project
      Dates: 1943
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 1
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: East Sidney Project [see also: Sidney Pumping Project]
      Dates: 1935
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 2
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Fairfield Bench (water supply)
      Dates: 1941
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 3
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Flatwillow Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1940-1941
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 4
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Flathead County area
      Dates: 1939-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 5-6
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Fort Belknap Project
      Dates: 1943-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 7
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Fort Benton Pumping Project
      Dates: 1943
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 8
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Fort Keogh [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1940-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 9
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Fort Shaw Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1943-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 10
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Glasgow Irrigation District
      Dates: 1941-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 11
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Glen Lake Irrigation Project
      Dates: 1934-1936
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 12
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Grasshopper Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: box 6]
      Dates: 1940-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 13
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Green Meadow Farm
      Dates: 1934
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 14
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Havre Pumping Project
      Dates: 1941-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 15
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Holland Settlement Demonstration Project
      Dates: 1941-1952
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 16
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Indian Resettlement (various projects)
      Dates: 1935-1936
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 17
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Joliet-Whitehorse Bench Irrigation District [see also Whitehorse Bench (Rock Creek) Project] [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1941-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 18
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Kinsey Farms Project (pumping station)
      Dates: 1938-1940
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 19
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Kinsey Land Use Adjustment Project
      Dates: 1938-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 2 / 20
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Lewis and Clark Irrigation District
      Dates: 1940-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 1
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Little Missouri Project
      Dates: 1936-1941
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 2
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Lower Cascade
      Dates: 1934
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 3
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Lower Yellowstone Project
      Dates: 1930-1945
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 4-5
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: M.W. Ranch
      Dates: 1939
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 6
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: McCone County area
      Dates: 1941-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 7
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Manhattan Company
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 8
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Marias River [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1935-1939
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 9
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Mid-Yellowstone Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6 and Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1940-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 10
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Milk River [contains an attorney's letter of inquiry about the project, 1978; OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1936-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 11
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Miller Creek Canal Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: box 6]
      Dates: 1943-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 12
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Missoula Valley Project
      Dates: 1942-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 13
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Missouri Drainage Basin
      Dates: 1940-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 14
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Montana (general)
      Dates: 1940-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 15
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Musselshell Valley [see also Upper Musselshell Irrigation Project]
      Dates: 1941-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 16
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: N-Bar-N Project
      Dates: 1941-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 3 / 17
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Nilan Reservoir Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1943
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 1
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: North Sanders Irrigation Project
      Dates: 1940
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 2
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Pennel Creek Project
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 3
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Roosevelt and Richland Counties Project
      Dates: undated
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 4
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Rosebud Irrigation District Project
      Dates: 1943-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 5
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Ross Fork Irrigation Project
      Dates: 1940
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 6
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Ruby River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1943-1945
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 7
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: S.H. and Horton Ranch (Tongue River Valley)
      Dates: 1929-1939
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 8
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Saco Divide Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1938-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 9
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Saco Divide Project
      Dates: 1935-1943
      Container: Box/Folder 4 / 10-14
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Savage Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1937-1945
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 1
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Savage Project
      Dates: 1933-1945
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 2-3
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Savoy-Rock Creek Project
      Dates: 1936-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 4
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Shields River Ranch Company
      Dates: 1937
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 5
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Sidney Pumping Project [see also East Sidney Project]
      Dates: 1938-1942
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 6
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: South Bench Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: map case folder 1]
      Dates: 1934-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 7
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Sun River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1939-1941
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 8
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Tongue River Project [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Box 6]
      Dates: 1940-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 9
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Upper Musselshell Irrigation Project [see also Musselshell Valley]
      Dates: 1939-1944
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 10
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: "Wheeler-Case program (re administrative procedures, personnel, meetings, funding, and specific projects especially the Buffalo Rapids Project)
      Dates: 1945-1956
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 11
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Whitehorse Bench (Rock Creek) Project [see also Joliet-Whitehorse Bench Project]
      Dates: 1943-1945
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 12
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Whitetail Irrigation District [OVERSIZE MATERIAL: Archives Map Case folder 1]
      Dates: 1935-1941
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 13
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: OVERSIZE MATERIAL [Oversize: See Archives Map Case]
      Dates: 1935-1941
      Container: Oversize Folder 1
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: Yellow Creek Irrigation Project
      Dates: 1940
      Container: Box/Folder 5 / 14
      Location: Subject Files
    • Description: OVERSIZE MATERIAL
      Dates: undated
      Container: Oversizebox 6
      Location: Subject Files

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)

Finding aid prepared by MHS staff
2004

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

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