Mahaska County Farm Bureau Women's Committee records

Collection — Folder: 1

Identifier: IWA0429

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Mahaska County Farm Bureau Women's Committee history dates from 1929 to 2002 and measures 2 linear inches. The collection consists of an organizational history compiled in 1971 by Josephine Van Zomeren, which includes reproductions of most of the committee's annual reports ranging from 1929 until 2002. The materials include names of affiliated township groups and their officers, county officers, and committee chairs and members, as well as a few photocopied newspaper clippings about the group's members and activities.

Dates

Creation: 1929-2002

Creator

Mahaska County Farm Bureau. Women's Committee (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

The history is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright has been retained by the authors.

However, copyright status for some collection materials may be unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owner. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility and potential liability based on copyright infringement for any use rests exclusively and solely with the user. Users must properly acknowledge the Iowa Women’s Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, as the source of the material. For further information, visit https://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc/services/rights/

Biographical / Historical

The Mahaska County Farm Bureau developed in the second decade of the twentieth century as part of the statewide, grassroots effort to provide agricultural and homemaking science to Iowa farmers. Although originally part of the Iowa State University Cooperative Extension, the Farm Bureau separated from the extension service in 1955 and became the largest political and corporate organization representing farmer interests in Iowa.

In 1920, Mrs. Ellsworth Richardson, an active Mahaska County Farm Bureau member, became chair of the county women's group. With the support of the Mahaska County Farm Bureau, she spearheaded the development of an independently organized, statewide women's Farm Bureau committee. She insisted that the women's chair have a seat and full voting privileges on the board of directors of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. Richardson was elected chair of the statewide women's committee in 1923.

Since that time, women in the Mahaska County Farm Bureau have maintained their own local, county, district, and state committees. Farm Bureau women have actively engaged in promoting agriculture, safety, and nutrition in their communities. They actively lobby on political issues, provide leadership to local 4-H groups, and undertake a wide variety of civic and personal betterment projects. In the last two decades, Farm Bureau women have also joined the traditionally male Farm Bureau groups at the local, county and state level.