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.

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.

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.

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)