6. Descriptions of the Collections


stagnation and population loss. Between 1919 and 1925, approximately two million acres ceased
production and 11,000 farms were vacated--20 percent of Montana's family farms. During the same
period, over half of Montana's commercial banks failed.

The rains returned in 1925 for in a brief period of prosperity that ended with a drought in 1929 and the
crash of the stock market. Once again drought and depression marked Montana's agriculture and lumber
industries and resulted in a mass exodus of farmers. The experience of two major depressions in the
space of less than twenty years taught the remaining farmers and ranchers to diversify... In addition,
farmers and ranchers would acquire more property, mechanize their operations, experiment with new
scientific methods, and, inevitably, require aid from the federal government to make a living.

Documentary resources chronicling the decades of the 1920s and 1930s reveal that Montanans were
pioneers in agrarian reform. Research resources that are candidates for preservation include scholarly
materials documenting the innovations introduced by the Montana Extension Service and the
Agricultural Experiment Station at Montana State College and how these efforts affected rural life. By
using such imaginative techniques such as "farm success" studies and the "Fairway Farms" project (which
set up experimental farms around the state) scientists, economists, and county extension agents generated
ideas that gained nationwide attention. In 1931, Helen Mayfield published the results of her pioneering
research on the vitamin content of common vegetables including potatoes, carrots, green peas, and
cabbage.

Other notable Montana rural programs contributed greatly to the social and economic well-being of the
state including a land classification tax assessment program that enhanced unified county planning, and a
plan to retire sub-marginal farmlands and relocate the impoverished families who had been working
them--the first resettlement plan of its kind in the United States. Montana also introduced model
programs in ranching. In 1928, Montana created the first cooperative grazing district, leasing public and
private land to a group of ranchers who carefully managed the rangelands. The program was the model
used for Congress's Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. Last but not least, the literature of the era documents
that Montana contributed greatly to developing the mystique of the western way of life. By 1930, over a
hundred dude ranches--former working ranches--had opened their arms to tourists and outdoor
enthusiasts. Easterners and Europeans on vacation in Montana learned to ride western style, do cowboy
work, and hunt game.

Articles in agriculture journals provide a key to the impact of FDR's New Deal on rural life and document
the important roles that Montanans played in the reform movement. The ambitious Agricultural
Adjustment Administration began operations in 1933 with Montanans prominently involved. Montana
State College Professor M.L. Wilson helped plan the AAA and a Bozeman farm editor, Chester Davis,
directed the agency. AAA paid price supports to farmers and ranchers to not work the lands. For some,
this was their first income in years and the program breathed life into families and communities all across
Montana. Equally important was the building of rural electrification systems; the Civilian Conservation
Corps which employed thousands of young men on forest and range lands to plant trees, seed lands, and
eradicate groundhogs and gophers; and the Works Progress Administration which employed over 14,000
Montanans. However, the greatest New Deal boost to Montana was the construction of the Fort Pick Dam
on the Missouri River. Research resources chronicling this period show that Montana state politics and
government were stimulated by support from the federal government--creating new boards and agencies
and building additional dams and reservoirs across Montana--but also came to rely heavily on the federal
government for assistance.

As Montana and the nation started to recover from the Great Depression, ample rainfall and the start of
World War II created an agricultural boom. While labor shortages were common, the war ushered in an
era of prosperity. The literature of the era documents the concurrent growth and change in Montana