The Build Freedom with Youth Contest was sponsored by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in cooperation with the Kroger Company. The contest was conducted nationwide, with each club working with the youth of its own community to select and complete projects that would meet local needs. These development projects covered broad aspects including health, welfare, education, culture, beautification and natural resources, government and citizenship, recreation, and employment. The competition ran from February 1, 1951 to February 1, 1952. Local results were announced in March, and the national results were announced in May of 1952.
All 15,000 federated women’s clubs across the United States were eligible to enter the competition, which yielded prizes totaling $25,000. Each state was judged for a winner as long as at least five clubs entered the competition. The top winner for each state, and the District of Columbia and Alaska, was then entered into the national competition. In Montana, 43 women’s clubs entered and 23 clubs completed projects and submitted reports for final judging. The Billings, Montana Junior Women’s group won the state competition with the creation and development of their Receiving Home Corporation, which provided a temporary shelter for abandoned or neglected children. Honorable mentions for Montana were the Miles City Women’s Club receiving second place; Sher-Mont Women’s Club of Plentywood, third; Bozeman Women’s club, fourth; and Sheridan Women’s club, fifth.
Judges for the Montana entries were John A. Harris, chairman of the department of Social Work at the University of Montana in Missoula (then called Montana State University); Reverend Bruce Wood, director of the affiliated School of Religion at the University of Montana; and D.W. Hutchinson, district probation officer.
This collection includes reports for the 22 entries from Montana to the Build Freedom with Youth Contest sponsored by the General Federation of Women's Clubs in cooperation with the Kroger Company. Some of the reports were submitted as scrapbooks. A total of 23 reports were submitted for the state level competition. This collection contains all reports except for the state winner, the Junior Women's Club of Billings, whose report was sent to the national competition. The reports detail the projects the clubs selected and completed for the competition, showing insight into the issues faced by local communities in the 1950s.
The scrapbook reports are arranged in alphabetical order by the city where each women's club is located.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and The University of Montana-Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to the University of Montana.
Build Freedom with Youth Contest Reports from Montana, Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The University of Montana-Missoula.
This collection was donated to the University of Montana's Archives by Harold Tascher as part of his faculty papers. Previous custody of the papers is unknown.
Gift of Harold Tascher, 1972.
This collection was originally part of the Harold Tascher Papers and was separated out as its own collection. The reports were placed into archival grade boxes.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.