Oldest Farmer Contest [RG4296.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG4296.AM:  Oldest Farmer Contest

Correspondence:  1952

Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska

Size:  0.5 cu.ft.; 1 box

BACKGROUND NOTE

The “Oldest Farmer Contest” was sponsored by the Omaha World Herald from January to March of 1952.  Entrants were asked to write a letter telling when they started farming or working at farm labor; where they started; and how many years they had been farming.  The contest was open to all men still actively farming in a six state area.  The area included all of Nebraska, and in Iowa: Monona, Crawford, Carroll, Harrison, Shelby, Audobon, Pottawatamie, Cass, Mills, Montgomery, Adams, Fremont, Page and Taylor counties.  In Kansas: Cheyenne, Sherman, Rawlins, Thomas, Decatur, Norton, Phillips, Smith, Jewel, Republic, Washington and Marshall counties.  South Dakota counties included Bennett, Todd, Tripp and Gregory.  Also included in the contest were Atchison and Nodaway counties in Missouri, and Sedgewick County in Colorado.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of one box containing letters from and replies to entrants in the Oldest Farmer Contest.  The letters relate to early settlers in Nebraska, as well as the surrounding counties in Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Missouri and Colorado.

INVENTORY

Box 1

Folder

1. 1. List of contest entrants by number of years farmed

1. 1. Correspondence from entrants, 38-59 years

1. 1. Correspondence from entrants, 60-64 years

1. 1. Correspondence from entrants, 65-69 years

1. 1. Correspondence from entrants, 70-74 years

1. 1. Correspondence from entrants, 75-83 years

1. 1. Correspondence, incomplete entries, retired or otherwise ineligible

Subject headings:

Agricultural laborers

Farm life

Frontier and pioneer life — Colorado

Frontier and pioneer life — Iowa

Frontier and pioneer life — Kansas

Frontier and pioneer life — Missouri

Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska