Kansas Farm Bureau records, 1919-2023

1 COLLECTION SUMMARY

1.1/1.2 Introduction/Abstract

The Kansas Farm Bureau collection contains records and ephemera created by the Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB), their employees, and members with most of it ranging from the 1940s to the 2000s. The records reflect the organization’s activities, administrative business, and involvement in the agricultural development of Kansas’ 105 counties.KSHS received this collection as a gift from Meagan Cramer, Communications & Marketing Division Director of the Kansas Farm Bureau office, in Manhattan, in February 2024.

The collection provides an all-encompassing resource for the organization as well as a comprehensive background on agriculture in Kansas (e.g. best practices and education, personal experiences, politics, women in agriculture, etc.) because the material is vast and ranges in format and material type. The bulk of the records are AV material, publications, and photographs. Other records include membership files (individual and county), meeting minutes and speeches (AV, photograph, and analog format), clippings, correspondence, scrapbooks, and administrative files including reports, histories, directories, maps, financial documents, etc.

1.3 Dates

1919-2023

1.4 Quantity

71.67 cubic feet (1 port box; 1 map folder)

1.5 Creator

Kansas Farm Bureau

1.6 Title

Kansas Farm Bureau records

1.7 UID and/or Call #

530712

1.8 Language

English

1.9 Notes

This finding aid describes materials held by the Kansas State Historical Society. Materials may be used in the Research Room during regular research hours. Support for telephone, mail, email, and online research and reference is available through email: KSHS.reference@ks.gov, phone: 785-272-8681, ext. 117, or on-site: Tuesday-Friday 9:00-4:00 and Saturdays 9:00-12:00.

1.10 Repository

Kansas State Historical Society (Topeka, Kan.)

2 BIOGRAPHY OR HISTORY

The Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB) is a non-profit agricultural advocacy organization established in 1919. They have the epithet of “The Voice of Agriculture” because their goal is to inform, protect, and fight for the rural farmers of Kansas and their communities.[1] According to the Topeka Journal, KFB “set up a non-partisan, non-racial, non-secretarian and unfetered basis” of operation to band together farm families to represent their views on the national and state affairs of agriculture.[2]

KFB’s main state office is in Manhattan, Kansas. However, as a grassroots organization, there is a county Farm Bureau in each of Kansas' 105 counties. This grassroots organization started with Otto Wulfekuhler and J. M. Gilman. Otto Wulfekuhler, president of Wulfekuhler State Bank and member of the Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce, approached J. M. Gilman, prominent Leavenworth farmer, to serve as the first president of the organization.[3] They created the first county Farm Bureau in Leavenworth County, Kansas in 1912. Other counties followed suit especially after President Wilson signed the Smith-Lever Act into law on May 8, 1914. This act helped to expand Farm Bureaus across Kansas because it provided funding for an educational program called the Cooperative Extension Service. Leavenworth, Harvey, and Jewell counties were the first to plow and grow in this program.

The federally funded program connected farmers in their county farm bureaus to the state’s College of Agriculture. The Kansas College of Agriculture (KSCA) was, and still is, Kansas State University. The program, then, connected them both to the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA). This connection allowed farmers to use the research and educational knowledge of the college and USDA to help them solve problems and improve agricultural practices.[4] They made the best better: building the Farm Bureau/Extension Service in Geary County, Kansas by Paul Gwin and Irene Rogers, cited below, gives a more in depth explanation of the Extension work done in Geary County by both Farm Bureau members and K-State including the programs (e.g. 4-H) and services that came from it. It is available onsite at KSHS. Further Extension Service history can be found at KSHS in newspaper articles on microfilm and clippings files as well as online at newspapers.com. To start your search and add on to the Geary County extension work, the Olathe Mirror wrote an article about Johnson County’s Extension Service history.[5]

A year after President Wilson signed the Smith-Lever Act, Kansas Governor Arthur Capper signed the “Farm Bureau Bill” on March 12, 1915. Both the national act and the state bill provided funding to continue the expansion of farm bureaus.[6] The bill also brought order among agencies across the state, while keeping autonomy at the local level. It gave K-State authority over all the county bureaus to name a farm advisor at the local level and help them get started. Then, with a local advisor, the local bureau would determine by a vote from their members the programs and services to provide in their county.[7] Even with state and federal intervention in agriculture during World War I, the Farm Bureau movement grew slowly from 1915 to 1919. By 1919, this would change, though, with the leadership of Harold C. Umberger.[8]

Umberger appointed a committee using his position as dean of Extension for KSCA. The committee studied a potential statewide organization that would separate from the KSCA. Eventually, the committee convened with Ralph Snyder as a guest who Umberger invited. At the meeting, they discussed a statewide Farm Bureau and decided to call for a conference. And on October 21, 1919, K-State no longer oversaw all the local farm bureaus. Thirty-eight counties sent delegates to the conference in Manhattan to create the official KFB. The first board of directors voted for Ralph Snyder to become the first president of the Kansas Farm Bureau.[9]

At the same time, on the national level, John Barron, a farmer from Broome County, New York, established a national Farm Bureau organization naming it the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). The first AFBF President, James Howard, stated, “What’s good for farmers is good for America.”[10] The organization is now known as the national, unified Voice of Agriculture.

With KFB’s foundation, the organization began to build in the 1920s. They started off by giving women an important role with full voting rights. Women “led the way in citizenship activities, home improvement seminars and foreign visitor programs”. By the 1950s, KFB women created the Kansas Farm Women’s organization, which promoted multiple programs and workshops on such topics as mental health and nurse training.[11]

Moreover, KFB started to study tax reform on property, highways and luxuries, and later began selling auto insurance through Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance and life insurance through State Farm Mutual Life Insurance. The Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company began in 1938, with the backing of Dr. Oliver O. Wolf, President of KFB, 1934-1944, and the Kansas Farm Life Insurance Company, ten years later, in 1948.[12] “Under the leadership of General Manager Louis Miller, the company provided much-needed coverage for young farm families.”[13] For a more detailed history, please see the footnote below for a source.

This momentum continued even during the Great Depression, with the aid of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933.[14] The act allowed for growth in their membership. By 1945, KFB organized 103 counties out of the 105 and had 30,831 members. It wouldn’t be until 1952 when KFB had members in all 105 counties.[15]

With their member count increasing, they started a newsletter. The first edition of the Kansas Farm Bureau News was released in 1946. The publication history of KFB from 1946 to 2023 is shown in this collection. However, KSHS has current titles, as of 2024, listed in the related materials section of the finding aid.

Unfortunately, a flood washed over Manhattan on July 13, 1951. The flood caused the destruction of KFB’s publishing materials, KFB Mutual Insurance offices, and KFB historical documents because they were all housed in the basement of their building. After assessing the flood’s damage, KFB decided to move and create a new building on an acreage of land outside of downtown Manhattan.

This renewal continued to reflect into the 1950s and 1960s. KFB started a radio farm program that eventually broadcasted on 13 stations across Kansas. That material can also be seen in this collection. Additionally, the KFB Safety Wagon traveled across the state as part of their Safety Program. Furthermore, KFB established annual Leadership Trainings for young, future farm leaders. These education efforts continued with Andrew Shearer, one of KFB’s founders, who created a library for members to check out books by mail. There is a subseries in the Audio-Visual series titled “Library Materials” and a subseries in the Publications series titled “Published books” that has items from their library.[16]

Organizationally, KFB started its own marketing association in 1961 named the Kansas Agricultural Marketing Association (KAMA). KAMA helped members bargain collectively for better prices on commodities and livestock. They created the Safemark Tire Program, which ended in the 1980s, but offered quality products at competitive prices. Going into the 70s, the program offered oil and grease products as well as farm tools and tillage-replacement equipment.[17]

During this period of internal growth and outreach, though, KFB and their members experienced external political agricultural issues. A “wheat referendum” began between policy makers, farmers, and KFB. The policy decreased acreage and increased prices. KFB lobbied against this reform and defeated the referendum, but farmers and KFB board of directors still had issues with the maintained national wheat policy. Nationally, the federal government stayed away from exporting agricultural goods because of the U.S.’ grain reserves. However, farmers and KFB realized that agriculture thrived more with global marketing. Towards the end of the 1970s, KFB members started to advocate in Congress for their interests, which was less government interference and freer markets.[18]

By the 1980s, KFB hit a stagnant period. Membership levels plateaued, and farmers went bankrupt due to environmental and governmental turmoil. KFB decided to refocus their marketing efforts. They switched from large-scale projects, like the Safemark Tire Program, to small-scale projects that helped individual members. For example, “Kansas Farm Bureau organized a state-level Natural Environmental Resources Committee (NER). The committee included members from every district and examined environmental hazards of agriculture to discover solutions”.[19] Additionally, in 1993, Farm Bureau delegates approved a Political Action Committee to establish a political fund that would operate under a grassroots fashion and support candidates they wanted in legislative offices. Since then, the state of Kansas has elected 90 percent of legislative candidates supported by the committee. With organizational restructuring and an increased lobbying effort, the KFB moved into a new building, in 1989, that provided more space for growth.

KFB’s renewed energy continued in Congress and the creation of committees. In 1996, the Freedom to Farm Act provided farmers with the flexibility to plant the crops they wanted. KFB created seven agricultural committees in each area of agriculture (i.e.- beef, dairy, foodgrains, hay and forage, oilseeds, swine, and wheat) to discuss, research, and make recommendations to the KFB board of directors as they developed policies. Moreover, KFB established the KFB Foundation for Agriculture to provide scholarships and grants to individuals and county Farm Bureaus.

Building on their successes, the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture established the White-Reinhardt Fund for Education in dedication to Linda Reinhardt, from Neosho County, Kansas, for her years of advocating for agricultural education in the classroom. She served as the American Farm Bureau Federation's women's committee chair until 2001. Throughout her years of service, Linda worked to establish the Farm Bureau connection with the Ronald McDonald House. She also helped start the national celebration of Food Check-Out Day.[20] This collection has materials on the Food Check-Out Day and Grocery Relief Day.

At the turn of the century, KFB exhibited priorities in consolidating suborganizations, educating farmers and future farmers, and awarding grants. Starting in 2000, Farm Bureau Life insurance consolidated with FBL, Financial Group, Inc., in West Des Moines, Iowa. Likewise, KFB’s Mutual Insurance Company merged with the Nebraska Farm Bureau. Parallel to that, KFB brought a program back, the Master’s Program, for anyone who wanted to learn about agriculture in Kansas. They also created Leadership KFB to develop their current members into grassroots leaders.

KFB expanded programs to the collegiate level too. They started up Collegiate Farm Bureau chapters at Colby and Fort Scott community college, in 2005, which eventually branched out to 15 college campuses across Kansas. Further, KFB offered grants to new Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapters. This collection has material on the FFA. The grant led to a partnership that created an FFA Discussion Meet Competition which fostered future leaders in agriculture. KFB also awarded grants to the Kansas Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) chapters to conduct food and farming related projects in their schools or communities. This award history of KFB is reflected in the collection including the Farm Family Awards, Natural Resources Awards, and Gold Star Awards.

Lastly, KFB started a series of seven children’s books called Kailey’s Ag Adventures. They created books to share the story of agriculture with families, schools and libraries. More than 53,000 copies have been distributed across the United States. These books are in this collection, and one is in the KSHS library listed under the “Related Materials” section of the finding aid.

As of 2018, KFB transitioned their agricultural advocacy to the fight for mobile broadband access. They participated in the Federal Communications Commission’s Mobility Fund Phases II Challenge which supported establishing and preserving reliable mobile broadband coverage primarily in rural America. “More than 400 volunteers with KFB engaged and effectively crowdsourced wireless broadband shortcomings in more than 2,000 Kansas locations.

Because of this effort, KFB is recognized as a leader in the state advocating for better broadband coverage for our farmer and rancher members and for rural communities.”[21]

The Kansas Farm Bureau is an active organization as of 2024. They still have a mission to provide legislative advocacy, programs, education, scholarships, and insurance services and benefits to members/farmers.[22]

3 SCOPE AND CONTENTS

This collection is divided into 5 series as determined by the current processing archivist, Olivia Banzet (Irwin). The 5 series are based on item types seen throughout the collection. The series are Audio-Visual (AV), Publications, Photographs, Clippings, and Administrative Files.

You will find that the Audio-Visual (AV) and Photographs series have a few of the same subseries titles because of their overlap in subjects. For example, there are slides of stills from KFB productions in the Photographs series and those films are on VHS in the AV series. Another instance, there are recordings of annual meetings in the AV series as well as photographs that complement the same annual meetings.

AV takes up one-third of the collection with a wide range of subjects and years. There are 8 subseries based on subjects. Annual meetings will include multiple years in review as they were put together in the original order. Films include broadcast titles and news releases. Events include reoccurring programs, workshops, and training. Conferences include special interviews and speeches given at those conferences. Employees and members have items like video letters, employee b-roll, the KFB board, awards, and anniversaries. Music and YF&R (Young Farmers and Ranchers) materials came up frequently enough to justify their own subseries. Finally, Library materials is a subseries because there were two large boxes full of VHS tapes noted as being in the KFB’s library. The original order was kept to preserve provenance.

Publications have a folder level organization. It has 4 subseries that include Published Books found in the KFB library, news releases, informational descriptive pamphlets, and KFB publications. Within the subseries, KFB publications, there are 20 subgroups that reflect the different titles their publications went through over the years, which reflects the holistic changes of KFB from 1919 to present day.

Photographs take up another third of the collection. As mentioned above, the AV series and this series complement each other. They are similar in their subjects and contents, which make their subseries the same. Most of the photographs are in binders (albums) or grouped together in sleeves. There were also loose photos scattered throughout the whole collection that were put into their respective subseries. Some of the loose photos are connected to files and will stay with the files in the Administrative Files series. So, you will see photos in other parts of the collection. Other loose photos are labeled miscellaneous with no date or title. Additionally, there were oversized posters, foam boards, printed photos, and framed photos. Thus, there are 9 subseries: Annual meetings and conferences, Slides of film stills, Events, YF&R (Young Farmers and Ranchers), Employees and members, Farm life, Miscellaneous, Photo albums, and Prints and posters.

Clippings and Administrative files make up the final bit of the collection. There is not as much material in these last two series. Clippings have a few scrapbooks and loose ones put into a folder for preservation. Administrative files are few, too, but they reflect the AV and Publications series in their range of subjects and dates, so they warrant subseries as well, along with folder level itemization. The 8 subseries includeAnnual reports (which have meeting speeches and minutes), Administrative assistant records, Directories, Unpublished histories and biographies (both county and general agent biographies), Business operations, Awards, Membership card samples, and Key tag registration forms (alphabetized).

4 CONTENTS LIST

Box 1

Series 1 - Audio-Visual (See also: Series 3 - Photographs)

Subseries 1.1- Annual meetings, No date-1991

*Includes year in reviews, Farm Families, PAC, and AFBF annual meetings

Box 2

Series 1 - Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.1- Annual meetings, 1992-1993

Box 3

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.1- Annual meetings,1994-1995

Box 4

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.1- Annual meetings, 1996-1997

Box 5

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.1- Annual meetings, 1998-1999

Box 6

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.1- Annual meetings, 2000-2001

Box 7

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.1- Annual meetings, 2002-2016

Box 8

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.2- Conferences

*Includes special interviews and speeches

Box 9

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.3- Films, n.d.

*Includes broadcast titles and news releases

*8mm motion picture film (Farm Bureau News commercial, n.d.) in this box added to KM. (UID: 532405).

Box 10

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.3- Films, n.d. (1980s-2000s)

Box 11

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.3- Films, 1990-2010

Box 12

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.3- Films, Accent(1985-1988)

Box 13

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.3- Films, Accent(1989)

Box 14

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.3- Films, Accent(1990-1991)

Box 15

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.4- Events, n.d.- 1989

*Includes reoccurring programs, workshops, and trainings

Box 16

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.4- Events, 1990-1999

Box 17

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.4- Events, 2000-2011

Box 18

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.5- YF&R (Young Farmers and Ranchers)

Box 19

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.6- Employees and members, n.d.-2015

Box 20

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.7- Music

Subseries 1.8- Library materials, n.d.

Box 21

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.8- Library materials, n.d. (1980s)-1987

Box 22

Series 1 – Audio-Visual

Subseries 1.8- Library materials, 1988-1998

Box 23

Series 2 - Publications

Subseries 2.1- Published books

*Includes editions of the Bureau Farmer: official publication American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). This is a national level publication, not KFB’s publication.

*The Party Line: Kansas Farm Bureau Insurance Services, Nov./Dec. 1963

*Off the Cuff : at Kansas Farm Bureau and Insurance Services, 1963-1965 (incomplete)

*Underwriting news (one issue: Dec. 1988)

*The first edition of the Kansas State Farm Bureau bulletin as the KFB transitioned from K-State oversight to local farm bureaus. The Kansas Farm Bureau board was created.

Subseries 2.2- Descriptive pamphlets

*A letter to the Publication Services Editor, Jeff Burkhead

Subseries 2.3- News releases, 1980-1982

Box 24

Series 2 - Publications

Subseries 2.3- News releases, 1983-2001

Box 25

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4- KFB publications

2.4.1- Triangle news, 1954-1956

2.4.2- KFB news, 1946- Oct. 1966

Box 26

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4- KFB publications

2.4.2- KFB news, Nov.1966-1982

Box 27

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4- KFB publications

2.4.2- KFB news, Nov.1983-1988

Box 28

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4- KFB publications

2.4.2- KFB news, 1989-Sep./Oct. 1991 (last issue)

*See “Related Materials” to find KFB news on microfilm at the KSHS research room.

2.4.3- Kansas Farm Bureau newsletter,

Nov. 1969 (Vol. 1)-1975 (Vol. 6)

2.4.4- Plains talk, 1977-1981

2.4.5- FBAgri-news, Nov. 1981-Sep 1982

Box 29

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4- KFB publications

2.4.6- Market sense, 1985-1995

Box 30

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4- KFB publications

2.4.6- Market sense, 1996

2.4.7- Tablegrams, Jan. 1983-Dec. 1989

2.4.8- Information notes, Nov. 1984-Jul. 1996

2.4.9- Staff bulletins, 1962-1975

Box 31

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4- KFB publications

2.4.9- Staff bulletins, 1983-1987

2.4.10 – KFBeeline, 1965-1969

Box 32

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4 – KFB publications

2.4.10 – KFBeeline, 1970-1978

Box 33

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4 – KFB publications

2.4.10 – KFBeeline, 1979-1989

2.4.11- Profile, 1979-2001

Box 34

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4 – KFB publications

2.4.12- Farm Bureau ambassador, May/June 1989 (Vol. 1, no.1)-May/June 1995 (Vol. 8, no.3)

2.4.13- Inside Farm Bureau, Jul/Aug 1995- Winter 1998

2.4.14- The Mutual connection, Sep. 1991 (Vol. 1, no.1)-Winter 1993 (Vol. 3, no.4)

2.4.15- The Mutual press, Spring 1997-Spring 2000

2.4.16- Accent, Jan. 1978-1987

2.4.17- Insight, 1978; 1982-1986

Box 35

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4 – KFB Publications

2.4.17- Insight, 1989-2000

2.4.18- FB today, 1989-1992; 2002

2.4.19- Farm leader letter, Oct. 1982 (Vol. 1, no.1) – 1988

Box 36

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4 – KFB Publications

2.4.19- Farm leader letter, 1989-2023

2.4.20- Kansas living, Summer 1990 (Vol. 1, no.1) – 1995

*Includes editor files

Box 37

Series 2 – Publications

Subseries 2.4 – KFB Publications

2.4.20- Kansas living, 1996-2023

*Includes editor files

Box 38