Payne/National 4-H Fellowship Collection

Collection

Identifier: MS0370

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Payne/National 4-H Fellowship Collection contains monthly reports written by Fellows, papers and memorabilia saved by Fellows, photographs, publications, artifacts, and materials documenting the 2008 National 4-H Fellowship reunion. The collection is 7 linear feet and occupies 12 document boxes and 1 carton.

Each Fellow was required to submit to the Federal Extension Service a monthly report of activities he or she participated in during the previous month. These reports serve as a historical narrative of the Fellowship program and invite readers to learn about each Fellow and his or her observations and opinions about their individual and group experiences. Some of the Fellows sent these reports back to their hometown newspaper or local 4-H office. Reports are available from the second set of Fellows starting in 1933 (Series I).

Some of the earlier reports included a photograph of the Fellow. A photocopy was made of each and retained with the monthly reports. Originals were moved to the Photograph series (Series III).

Materials received by former Fellows consist of the following types of documents (Series II):

Fellowship application and notification telegram Newspaper clippings or publications with articles regarding the Fellow's receipt of the fellowship or career work Biographical information Correspondence related to Fellowship Schedule of appointments for Fellows Notes/journal on Fellowship activities Works published by any of the Fellows Unique memorabilia related to Fellowship activities Invitations or programs Conference materials Travel brochures General 4-H materials and Fellowship publications not about or written by the specific Fellow who donated it were placed in the Publications series (Series IV). The Payne/National 4-H Fellows annual newsletter was begun in 2010 so that Fellows could keep in touch with each other. The newsletter is distributed electronically and includes information about 4-H at the National level as well as news about the former Fellows.

Photographs received by former Fellows were placed in the Photograph series (Series III). Photograph subjects include individuals (portrait style), Fellows posing during activities, Fellows pictured with sponsors, Fellows involved in National 4-H Club week and National 4-H Congress activities, and Fellows meeting the Secretary of Agriculture. Two former Secretaries of Agriculture are shown - Secretary Benson and Secretary Freeman. One photograph captures the Fellows meeting President Eisenhower.

Note that the Fellows attended the 4-H Club Congress in Chicago where they networked with state 4-H leaders on various committees such as the Delegates Program, the State Leaders program, and the Dress Review, and they helped host international guests. It was a week of seeing 4-H'ers and co-workers from their home states and enjoying banquets and entertainment away from their Washington schedule of government appointments and graduate studies. The Fellows also attended the 4-H Club Camp held in Washington, D.C. There are many programs and photographs related to these events. Fellows also had the opportunity to go sight-seeing in the Washington, D.C. area and surrounding states. Brochures of historical sites are numerous.

Dates

Creation: 1941-1980
Creation: Majority of material found within 1947-1969

Conditions Governing Access

Contact Special Collections for access.

Organizational History

The National 4-H Fellowship was one of the largest grants for study available to Extension Service professionals. It was awarded beginning in 1931. Initially, two fellowships were established in 1927 by U.S. Representative Frances Payne Bolton of Ohio, through the Payne Fund, Inc. The Payne organization established the 4-H fellowships as an experiment, in the hope that they would form the nucleus of a larger program of permanent educational fellowships. Sixteen fellowships were granted by the Payne Fund between 1931 and 1938. Beginning in 1939, the fellowships were financed by the National 4-H Service Committee. In 1953, the Massey-Ferguson Company assisted the committee in financial support of an enlarged program of six fellowships annually. The program ended in 1969. Fellowships were awarded to three men and three women. Over the course of the one-year fellowship, participants learned the function, structure, and relationships of the federal Extension Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). They were also introduced to professional and educational organizations, and they participated in cultural experiences in Washington, D.C. Employees of the Extension Training Branch of the Extension Service supervised the program.

Total Size of Collection

3 records_box

3 Linear Feet (1 shelf of monthly reports, 36 inches)

6.75 Linear Feet (3 boxes and 36 linear inches of unboxed material)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Content Description

The Payne/National 4-H Fellowship Collection includes photographs, publications, scrapbooks, programs, monthly reports, newsletters and news clippings, and correspondence detailing the activities of 4-H Fellows.

Accruals

This is a growing collection.

Bibliography

Banning, John. "Memo to J. Neil Raudabaugh, 'The National 4-H Fellowship Program.'" Washington : Federal Extension Service, United States Department of Agriculture, November 3, 1966.

Copeland, Harlan G. and V. Joseph McAuliffe. Windows to a Wider World: The Payne/National 4-H Fellowships 1931-1969. Arden Hills, Minnesota: Allegra Print and Imaging, 2008. NAL Call Number: S533.F66 C67 2008

The Extension Service Review (1931-1941, 1950, and 1954). Publication of the Cooperative Extension Service; U.S. Department of Agriculture and state land-grant colleges and universities cooperating. NAL Call Number: 1Ex892Ex

"Massey Ferguson ." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey-Ferguson (accessed February 23, 2010).

National 4-H News. Chicago, National 4-H Service Committee. (recipients: 1937-1942, 1947-1960, 1961, 1966, 1968; state 4-H staff changes in "State Briefs" 1933-1960; and 1939-1940 Fellows provided five articles about their Fellowship experience March-August 1940) NAL Call Number: 275.28 N212

National Archives and Records Administration. 4-H Collection. One box labeled "National 4-H Fellowship and Other Fellowships."

National Committee on Boys and Girls Work/National 4-H Service Committee Files. (Documentation pertaining to the continuation of the Fellowships in 1939-1940 by the National Committee and to the Committee's involvement in obtaining financial support of sixty-four Fellowships by Massey-Ferguson and one Fellowship by Successful Farming /Edwin T. Meredith Foundation - not located at the National 4-H Council, the National Agricultural Library, or National Archives II.)

Papers of Congresswoman Frances Payne Bolton and the Payne Fund pertaining to the Payne Fellowship. The Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio. (Collection includes correspondence between S. Howard Evans of the Payne Fund and Extension Service personnel [Gertrude Warren, C.B. Smith and M.C. Wilson] and a file of each of the 16 Payne Fellows including a photograph, monthly reports, copies of major and minor theses, reports of classes taken, reports of government agencies visited, and an academic record.)

Sternheim [Dilts], Laura S. "National 4-H Fellowship, National 4-H Doctoral Fellowship Report 1987." Elsie Carper Collection on Extension Service, Home Economics and 4-H, Subseries III.G. National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, Maryland, https://www.nal.usda.gov/finding_aids/elsie-carper-collection-extension-service-home-economics-and-4-h. (Conducted a telephone survey of 16 former National 4-H Fellows as part of her project to develop a proposed "National 4-H Doctoral Fellowship Program." Respondents cited learning about the United States Department of Agriculture and other government agencies, the national picture of Extension and 4-H and the opportunity to obtain an advanced degree as the primary benefits of the program.)

Taff, Paul C. "Forty Years of Service to 4-H Clubs - A History of the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work." Unpublished typewritten manuscript, 1956. (Cites the need for 4-H research as the need for establishing the Fellowships in 1931.)

Wessell, Thomas and Marilyn Wessell. 4-H: An American Idea 1900-1980, A History of 4-H. Chevy Chase, Maryland: National 4-H Council, 1982. (Briefly acknowledge the existence of the Fellowship program in their histories of 4-H Club Work.)