Business correspondence to and from M.L. Wilson, his employees, and colleagues referring to agricultural, academic course, and war related topics, during his period at the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of Agriculture, Fairway Farms Corporation, Extension Service, the Ford Foundation and post retirement. Also includes copies of correspondence to and from others given to Wilson as courtesy, and enclosures regarding speeches, schedules, programs, professional papers, notes, etc. Files are arranged chronologically. Much of the enclosure material is not obviously related to the contained correspondence, but was part of the original correspondence files. See Series 5 for other correspondence. All photographs have been removed from the correspondence and placed in numerical order in Series 12: Photographs. Each Folder from which photographs have been removed is marked by an asterisk in this finding aid.

Biographical Material contains biographical notes and articles on M.L. Wilson's life, excerpts of his work and letters reflecting on his life. Speeches includes remarks, talks, addresses in manuscript form, presented papers, drafts for speeches, and notes by Wilson. Next, this series provides articles, trip reports, unpublished materials, itineraries, and miscellaneous notes. Notes/Clippings provides notes from M.L.'s book collections and newspaper clippings on various topics, memberships, miscellaneous pamphlets, photos, and tickets. Typed Manuscripts includes parts of typed manuscripts of unknown origin. All photographs have been removed from the correspondence and placed in numerical order in Series 12. Other publications by M.L. Wilson are found in Series 7. Each folder from which photographs have been removed is marked by an asterisk.

Radio addresses, speeches, magazine articles, statements, and releases by Henry A. Wallace, Secretary of Agriculture (1933-1940). Topics covered include farm relief, past and future of the U.S.D.A., politics, the cooperative movement, National Recovery Administration, farm depression, agricultural production control, land planning, agricultural economics, national agricultural planning, Arbor Day, corn, capitalism, foreign trade, Thomas Jefferson, farmers and consumers, unified action, national forests, taxes and tariffs, social change, agricultural adjustment, religion, states' rights, weather forecasting, home markets, technology, George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington, dairy farming, agricultural security, conservation, peace, farm tenancy, rural resettlement, rural poverty, price/supply stabilization, farm leaders, U.S. Constitution and federal courts, information access, Southern agriculture, insects, plant disease, cotton agriculture, textile workers, Weather Bureau, morality, economic democracy, democracy, land values, roads, grass, pellagra, legislation, flood control, Ever Normal Granary, radio broadcasting, books, wheat, railroads, national farm program, government regulation, phosphate, and research. Speeches and radio talks by associates of Henry A. Wallace follow. Topics include timber, agricultural limestone, tobacco, cotton, the agricultural conservation program, extension work, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, soil conservation, farm programs, Agricultural Farm Act of 1938, and referendums. Papers by, about, and related to Henry A. Wallace are arranged according to the list found in Folder 31. Topics addressed include Wallace's ideas on agriculture, agricultural research, religion, a book review, and economics. Speeches, reports, releases, and radio broadcasts by and referring to Chester C. Davis, administrator of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (1934-36), Professor of Agricultural Economics (University of California) include items arranged in the order found on the list in Folder 39. Subjects provide information on benefit payments, farm income, grass, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, agricultural adjustment, referendums, farm politics, Supreme Court decisions, and economic development. Speeches, addresses, radio broadcasts, news articles, and papers from Wilson's "collection of speeches by others" cover agricultural marketing methods, national farm problems, 4-H, cooperative extension, cow testing associations, U.S. agricultural history, farm relief, labor unions, tariffs, fertilizers, McNary-Haugen bill, farming business, agricultural economics, Northern Great Plains, Agricultural Conservation Program, commencements, inaugurations, farm policy, land settlement, grain marketing, wheatland, grass, precipitation, Western Kansas, manufacturing, Missouri River, Basin, land adjustment, and farm production adjustment.

This series includes materials in the form of reports, letters, maps, notes, itineraries, surveys, programs, reviews, forms, charts, leaflets, calling cards, interviews, newspaper clippings, and questionnaires mainly on India and Pakistan arranged in alphabetical order by region and by subject. Produced by M.L. Wilson's office as U.S. Director of the Extension Service, subjects include Indian community development, village life, state farms and schools, land reform, agricultural economics, agricultural conditions, training, the cooperative movement, rural credit, crops, education, extension service, farm organizations, seminars, course outlines, curricula, planning, food grains, politics, health services, experiment farms, research, self-sufficiency, veterinary, electrification, sanitation, technology, geography, museums, religion, fertilization, intensive cultivation, socio-economic research, land reform, youth, and women workers.

Series 5 encompasses materials found in the original arrangement of the collection as M.L. Wilson Home Office Collection, 1935-1971 and is divided into 14 topical sections closely following the subdivision used in the original office collection format. Topical headings are not in alphabetical order. Teaching includes items on the teaching of agriculture topics and the history of science, with clippings related to teaching. Extension Meeting Excerpts, 1944-45 regards excerpts from extension meetings from 1944 through 1945. Letters to State Extension Directors accesses letters to state extension directors, mostly in mimeograph form and as newsletters, from 1946 to 1952, and is arranged in chronological order. Thomas Jefferson reflects Wilson's interest in Thomas Jefferson. M.L. Wilson Correspondence includes correspondence to and from Wilson. Other M.L. Wilson correspondence is found in Series 1. Cooperative Extension Service addresses program planning, World War II activities, postwar issues, and nutrition, with regards to the part played by the Cooperative Extension Service and other agencies. Cooperative Extension Work considers educational aspects, leadership training, and land grant colleges/universities, with relation to the Cooperative Extension Service. Extension Service Review includes issues of the Extension Service Review from 1950 to 1952. Retired Overseas Group contains an item on a 1957 meeting of the Retired Overseas Group. Graduate Education for Foreign Service addresses graduate seminars, correspondence courses, workshops, and the USDA graduate school. Extension to Backward Countries regards field workers, foreign trainees and visitors, government agencies and nutrition in developing countries, agricultural science, community development, communication, foreign cultures, public administration, conferences, and bibliographies. Science and Agriculture has three issues of Agricultural Science Review. History of Science concerns the history of science, tractors, culture, USDA, and scientific method., M.L. Wilson publications, encompasses writings about community development, extension, culture, nutrition, education, and notes for a speech. Also see Series 2 for Wilson publications.

Series 6 is presented in the original order found in M.L. Wilson's arrangement of these items and in alphabetical order. It begins with bibliographies of suggested books for overseas libraries and biographies. Community Development regards UN - sponsored training and technical assistance. Cuba covers the Cuban Commission, sugar problems, revolution, and economics. Democracy includes several papers dealing with democracy, liberty, agricultural depression, leadership, pragmatism, society, and economics. A list of papers covered is in Folder 15. Election Campaigns has a single pamphlet from a 1926 Montana legislative campaign. Exploration provides three samples of a celebration announcement dedicated to explorers of the Upper Missouri River. Fragments is a catchall for stray pages separated from the main bodies of letters. Germany treats agriculture in Baden-Württemberg and includes photographs. Great Britain relates a British agricultural committee meeting report. Greece includes Wilson reports on extension and training in Greece. Dag Hammarskjold provides abstracts from lectures in his honor. India contains items about extension training programs, extension principles and methods, Wilson's itinerary and trip, agricultural problems and progress, community development, adult education, social structure, notes, village life, newsletters, industrial development, seeds, fertilizers, religion, culture, newsclippings, soils, extension organization, food production, home science, urbanism, economic planning, population, office forms, land reform, family planning, and politics related to India. Iran discusses political demonstrations. Latin America includes requests for technical assistance. Pakistan concerns cooperative extension, fertilizer, village aid, and agricultural problems Pakistan. Soil Conservation provides access to items on water planning, soil chemistry, and land reclamation. Syria/Lebanon reports on M.L. Wilson's 1951 trip. Photographs have been removed to Series 12; an asterisk appears next to the file number from which photographs have been removed.

Series 7 is arranged in alphabetical order by author. "Pamphlets" is the original designation of this part of Wilson's collection. It contains magazine clippings, papers, journals, books, newsletters, annual reports, maps, and pamphlets about Cuzco, agriculture, botany, agricultural history, archeology, professional meetings, world geography and history, land grant colleges, wheat, Rome, agricultural policy, Lord Nelson, soil conservation, legislation, Thomas Jefferson, government, Salt Lake region, Near East, civilization, New Mexico, British agriculture, democracy, Japanese history, Illinois agriculture, global exploration, songs, agricultural adjustment, Chautauqua, plants, erosion, remembrances (memoirs), U.S. patent system, Virginia history, farm programs, Nebraska water-bearing formations, Roman writers, farmer organization, the Bible, Thomas Jefferson, food habits, plows, working classes, British agriculture, German history, economics, Canadian Hutterites, American settlement and government, grain, sweet corn, absenteeism, Judaism, rural life, prehistoric humans, Chaco Canyon, employment, copper, Isle Royale, Yorktown battle, philosophy, geology, land tenure, maize, American presidents, anniversaries, Jamestown (VA), Bavarian agriculture, Native American agriculture and crafts, land, human intelligence, bread, French history, UNESCO, presidential inaugural ceremonies, Chinese temples, education, apples, Japanese farming, Greek and Roman farming, anthropology, religion, agricultural statistics, fruit trees, collectivization, settlement, literature, archaeology, diversification, fairs, livestock, paleontology, Custer Battlefield, physical geography, potatoes, evolution, horses, science, machinery, national defense, Mount Vernon, Europe, Napoleon, opinion polls, public policy, technical assistance programs, historic landmarks, social justice, Philadelphia Society, buildings, cheese, Great Plains, airplane manufacture, Lavoisier, Egypt, Suez Canal, Roman forum, Admiral Dewey, Roman camps, French agriculture, cooperative extension, Chinese history, Vermont history, Roman baths, Native American language, Italian history, Montana gold camps, public lands, flax, hemp, agricultural imports, rural leadership, home economics, Greek history, sociology, English language, Montana agriculture, community development, dryland farming, human culture, Native American beadwork, and irrigation. Note that some of these items were authored by M.L. Wilson. Other Wilson publications are found in Series 2. Photographs have been removed to Series 12; an asterisk appears next to the file number from which photographs have been removed.

This series was originally called "Ford Foundation." Since the focus of this collection was actually extension related items, the series is now called "Extension Publications (Ford Foundation)." Materials appear as reports, magazines, newsletters, booklets, programs, fact sheets, case studies, questionnaires, mimeos, maps, manuals, syllabi, leaflets, newspaper clippings, and speeches. There is a sizable section concerning topics on India and the United States. Folders are arranged in alphabetical order according to country. Topics covered include community development, Christian missions, U.N. conferences, non-American cultures, economics, education, country studies, religion, agricultural extension, leadership training, agricultural development, agricultural congresses, Danish agriculture, geography, technology, national defense, French maps, demography, public health, German agriculture, agricultural surveys, British colonies, archeology, Greek government, foreign aid, Food and Agriculture Organization, marginal land, Greek public administration, tropical agriculture, forestry, creative arts, pilot projects, sociology, social education, U.S. cooperatives, rural credit, Indian history and culture, castor, coorka, potato, tapioca, seed treatment, dryland farming, irrigation, grain smut, jowar, rice, wheat, organization, groundnuts, cotton, fertilizer, insects, plant diseases, crop storage, recipes, self-sufficiency, five year plans, agricultural surpluses, Ford Foundation, sugar cane, catalogs, cattle, youth, public opinion, child welfare, fisheries, watersheds, artificial insemination, pottery, agricultural implements, agricultural cooperatives, soil conservation, celebrations, family planning, U.S. agricultural institutions, Ford Foundation, technical cooperation, schools, ethnobotany, international relations, public administration, home economics, Farm Bureau, national security, World Wars I and II, Works Project Administration, group discussion, nutrition, Point Four, plow, and USDA.

This series regards publications arranged by M.L. Wilson which he considered of some value to extension workers for reference. Items appear as papers, reports, journals, articles, pamphlets, newspaper clippings, booklets, seminars, bibliographies, syllabi, memos, interviews, and bulletins. Photographs have been removed to Series 12 and folders have been marked with an asterisk in this finding aid to signify this fact. Series 9 is arranged in two sections according to subject and by country. Topics covered include marketing, federal-state relations, agricultural policy, opinion, anthropology, cultures, atomic energy, community development, extension education, foreign aid, training, agricultural research, county agents, democracy, nutrition programs, extension work, personnel administration, extension organization, college extension, self-improvement, citizenship, state agricultural extension, Farm Bureau, farm management, extension programs, food, nutrition, pricing, surpluses, credit, 4H programs, international extension, land grant colleges, rural development, technical assistance, and materials concerning various countries. The files have been arranged by subject.

Series 10 includes materials gathered and arranged by M.L. Wilson during his tenure at the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1934 to 1953. Materials are in the form of journals, magazines, articles, papers, pamphlets, syllabi, and notes. They are arranged by subject and in some cases authors, following Wilson's original arrangement. Therefore, some items may appear out of alphabetical order. Topics include anthropology, philosophy, Native Americans, culture, environment, zoning, extension service, food habits, extension meetings, agriculture and society, world government, and discussion. Photographs have been removed to Series 12 and folder numbers are marked with an asterisk to indicate this fact.

Series 11 contains materials describing M.L. Wilson's collecting activities for his Lincoln collection. In spring 1914 Wilson's residence in Fallon, Montana, and his entire Lincoln collection were destroyed by fire. He immediately began to rebuild his Lincolniana. This series includes correspondence arranged according to dates and the Lincoln Collection bibliography/inventory. Folders marked with an asterisk have had photographs removed to Series 12.

Series 12 includes both photographs removed from boxes 1 through 57 and those found already separated in the collection. Categories of photographs include people, agriculture, exhibitions and miscellaneous. The photographs have been sequentially numbered.