MINNESOTA ASSOCIATION OF COOPERATIVES

The Minnesota Association of Cooperatives is a trade organization that was formed in 1946 to advance public perception of the cooperative movement and to advocate the interests of member-owned and controlled businesses.

The impetus for the association came from several regional cooperatives who wanted a common front to counter legislation proposed by the National Tax Equality Association that would have changed the tax status of cooperatives. Organizational meetings were first held in August 1945 and the Association was incorporated as a non-stock, nonprofit membership corporation on January 12, 1946 with Harry J. Peterson as its executive secretary.

In its early years, under the leadership of organizational director Frank Paskewitz, the Association focused on a program of legislative, political, and public relations activities. Public relations activities were principally aimed at combatting the perception fostered by the National Tax Equality Association and the National Associated Businessmen that cooperatives were socialist structures that took advantage of the American free market. Political and legislative activities were directed at countering legislation that proposed taxing cooperative dividends as corporate income. Reports given during the Association's first annual meeting described accomplishments that resulted in the development of mailing lists, pamphlets, a legislative bulletin service, a speaker's bureau, county fair exhibits, a school education package, a manager training institute, and a personnel relations service.

Since its formation the Association has maintained an active legislative and public relations program representing the interests of grain elevators, dairy and poultry processing plants, livestock shipping and marketing associations, wool suppliers, credit unions, production credit associations, farm loan associations, livestock breeders, transport companies, rural electric power producers, petroleum suppliers, telephone services, publishing companies, health maintenance organizations, insurance providers, and housing communities.

In 1948 the Association succeeded in securing a proclamation from Governor Luther Youngdahl declaring October as Co-op Month and began a promotional advertising service. Programs for youth were included in the Association's annual meetings beginning in the mid-1950s and educational materials for vocational agricultural instructors and county extension services were developed. The Association and its executive director have also collaborated with a number of other international, national, regional, and state organizations including American Institute of Cooperation, Cooperative League of the USA, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Overseas Cooperative Development Council, 4-H Foundation, Minnesota Highway Users Conference, and Minnesota Society of Association Executives. The Cooperative Foundation, a fund established in 1946 by Thomas F. Ellerbe for the promotion of cooperative education and rural development in the Midwest, moved its headquarters to the St. Paul office of the Minnesota Association of Cooperatives in 1970 and the Association's executive director also serves as a member of the Foundation's board. Annual tours of farm operations, production facitilites, and cooperative businesses for congressional staff members were added in the mid-1980s.

In 1956 Edward E. Slettom, formerly Minnesota's deputy commissioner of agriculture, replaced Harry Peterson as executive secretary. Allen Gerber replaced Slettom upon his retirement in 1986. Directors of the Association's educational acitivites have included Frank Backburn.

Historical information was taken from the collection.

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The records include financial statements, legislative bills, minutes, membership mailings, instructional curricula, promotional advertising copy, policy statements, speeches, newsletters, press releases, and news clippings that document the Association's activities in legislation, public relations, youth education, rural development, farm services, workshops and conferences, and its relations with other cooperatives and related organizations.

Files regarding MAC's annual meetings, regional district membership, district meetings, regional and local cooperatives, and state and national legislative candidates are also included. In addition, the activities of other organizations are heavily represented within the Association's records, These organizations include the American Institute of Cooperation, Cenex, Central Cooperative Wholesale, Cooperative League of the U.S.A., Farmer Cooperative Service, Farmers Union Central Exchange, Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association, 4-H Foundation, Future Farmers of America, Group Health Plan, Inc., Land O'Lakes, Midland Cooperatives, Inc., National Institute for Cooperative Education, and the University of Minnesota.

The records also include material pertaining to other voluntary and governmental organizations with which the Association or its executive secretary participated, such as the Missouri Basin Survey Commission, the Cooperative League of the USA, and the Minnesota Highway Users Conference.

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The collection is arranged in groups according to the manner that records were transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society. These groups are identified by accession numbers and the box contents of each group are further described in individual container lists available in the Minnesota Historical Society library. Within each accession group the records are further arranged into sets of general correspondence and subject files, organizational, records, executive director's files, and miscellaneous files.

General correspondence and subject files were kept by the Association on a fiscal year basis (July-June) and have been transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society in numerous progressive sequences. These files are described within the container lists under a variety of headings such as subject files, alpha correspondence files, and general correspondence and subject files. Throughout the collection, these files are arranged chronologically by year and thereunder in alphabetical subject order.

Organizational records variously consist of articles of incorporation, minutes, membership lists, annual reports, annual meetings, district meetings, financial statements, policy statements, printed materials such as legislative reports and bulletins, speeches, news releases, and news clippings. These records were not kept on a fiscal year basis and sets within each accession group may span one or more years. Researchers should also note that these types of records were not routinely kept as a distinct set and can be found scattered throughout the general correspondence and subject sets as well.

Files kept by Edward E. Slettom primarily reflect the activities of the Association's executive director during the thirty-year period between 1956 and 1986.

Other subject files were retained by the Association for much longer periods of time; these files are identified as sets of miscellaneous files or miscellaneous subject matter files and researchers should be aware that their content may overlap with materials in the general correspondence and subject files.

Additional sets of records pertain to specific Association functions or projects such as the Andew J. Volstead House Project, the Cooperative Foundation, and the Foundation for Agricultural Cooperation.

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Access Restrictions:

Access to records less than 25 years old, by date of creation, requires written permission. Please consult the reference staff for more information.

Use Restrictions:

Quotation or publication, beyond the fair use provision of the copyright law, from records less than 25 years old, requires written permission. For further information concerning copyright status and/or permission to publish please consult the reference staff.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota Association of Cooperatives Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 10,610; 10,921; 11,190; 11,377; 11,536; 11,688; 11,869; 12,034; 12,235; 12,348; 12,760; 12,976; 13,237; 13,653; 13,980; 14,250; 14,316; 14,430; 14,651; 15,013; 15,271; 15,444; 15,730; 15,846

Processing Information:

Processed by: Jeffrey J. Pitman, 1971; Kathryn A. Johnson, May 1980, January 1981, May 1982, August 1983, May 1986, April 1988, April 1989, November 1990, March 1992; Monica Manny Ralston, February 1997, June 2001; Alex Kent, October 2011

Processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with a Basic Project grant awarded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Catalog ID number: 001733634

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Records from this first group of accessions were arranged in three sections. The first section (boxes 1-53) contains chronologically arranged general correspondence and subject files dating from 1946-1968. The second section (boxes 54-57) contains files related to the participation of the Association's executive director on several committees and organizations, particularly the Missouri Basin Survey Commission. The third section (boxes 58-59) contains printed pamphlets, booklets, and other materials on individual cooperatives and the cooperative movement in general. Box 60 contains six volumes consisting of proceedings of the 1956 and 1966 biennial congresses of the Cooperative League of the U.S.A., 1952 reports of the Missouri Basin Survey Commission, a file of 1958 activities of the Minnesota WHO and Centennial Health Committee, and receipts from the 1966 Great Lakes Member Relations Conference.

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This group includes a number of accessions received by the Minnesota Historical Society. Hence, the boxes contain alternating sets of general correspondence and subject files for a given fiscal year followed by a set of scattered organizational records. As a whole the general correspondence and subject files document the Association's fiscal year operations for 1968-1975. The organizational records contain materials dated 1956-1977 consisting of correspondence, financial statements and reports, printed materials including annual reports, the MAC Bulletin, speeches, news releases, and news clippings.

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Boxes 1-4 of this group contain general correspondence and subject files for 1975-1977. Boxes 5-9 contain unorganized miscellaneous files that primarily focus on legislative and public policy issues of the 1970s. However, these miscellaneous files also include materials regarding other voluntary associations, the activities of the state government, Minnesota congressmen, and public relations speeches given 1971-1975. Audits of the Association's finances for 1947-1979 are also included here.

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This group contains general correspondence and subject files for the 1977-1978 time period; a set of project files that documents the Association's purchase of the Andrew J. Volstead residence and their gift of the Volstead house to the city of Granite Falls for rennovation as a museum; an alphabetical subject set containing miscellaneous files dated 1956-1981; a set of printed materials; and a small set of oversized materials.

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This accession includes a set of general correspondence and subject files for 1978-1980; a set of numbered miscellaneous subject matter files spanning 1959-1981; a set of alphabetically arranged miscellaneous subject files dated 1955-1983; organizational records dated 1947-1983; and a set of speech files documenting the Association's public relations activites during 1949-1982.

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This group of records includes a set of general correspondence and subject files that document 1980-1982 fiscal operations; two sets of miscellaneous subject files dated 1949-1985 containing information on business associations, cooperatives, and government agencies; and a set of organizational records dated 1969-1985.

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These records consist of general correspondence and subject files that cover the 1983-1984 fiscal years and organizational records consisting of annual reports produced during 1968-1977 and 1980-1985, and additional printed materials.

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This group of accessions includes general correspondence and subject files from 1985-1986; printed materials (newsletters, etc.) from other state and national cooperative associations; and additional files once kept by Edward E. Slettom. Included within Slettom's files are records pertaining to the Cooperative League of the U.S.A.

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This accession includes general correspondence and subject files that document the Association's operations during the 1987 and 1988 fiscal years.

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This group of accessions includes general correspondence and subject files for the fiscal years 1989-1995; a set of organizational records containing policy statements and legislative reports from 1988-1992; files pertaining to the administration of The Cooperative Fund, 1980-1995; files originally kept by the Executive Vice President of the Foundation for Agricultural Cooperation, 1969-1986; and a set of files kept by Edward Slettom before he retired from the Minnesota Association of Cooperatives.

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Annual reports, legislative bulletins and dispatches, and a variety of printed materials published by or related to the Minnesota Association of Cooperatives are available in the Minnesota Historical book collection.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Associations, institutions, etc. -- Minnesota.

Cooperative societies -- Minnesota.

Agriculture -- Economic aspects.

Agriculture, Cooperative -- Minnesota.

Banks and banking, Cooperative.

Consumer cooperatives -- Minnesota.

Consumer education -- Minnesota.

Consumer protection -- Minnesota.

Cooperative marketing of farm produce -- Minnesota.

County agricultural agents -- Minnesota.

Eggs -- Minnesota -- Marketing.

Electric utilities -- Minnesota.

Farm produce -- Minnesota -- Marketing.

Forestry law and legislation -- Minnesota.

Housing, Cooperative -- Minnesota.

Income tax -- Minnesota.

Insurance, Cooperative -- Minnesota.

Milk trade -- Minnesota.

Petroleum industry and trade.

Rural development -- Minnesota.

Rural electrification -- Minnesota.

Taxation -- Minnesota.

Turkeys -- Minnesota -- Cooperative Marketing.

Vocational education -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Blackburn, Frank.

Gerber, Allen.

Paskewitz, Frank.

Peterson, Harry J.

Slettom, Edward E.

Williams, Howard Yolen, 1889-1973.

Organizations:

4-H Foundation.

American Institute of Cooperation.

Central Cooperatives (Superior, Wis.).

Citizens Committee on Progressive Legislation.

Consumers Cooperative Association.

Cooperative Foundation (St. Paul, Minn.).

Cooperative Health Federation of America.

Cooperative League of the U.S.A.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

Farmers Union Central Exchange (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Farmers Union Terminal Association (Minn.).

Future Farmers of America. Minnesota Association.

Group Health Plan, inc.

International Cooperative Alliance.

Lake States Forestry Alliance.

Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Midland Cooperatives, Inc.

Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation.

Minnesota Highway Users Conference.

Minnesota League of Credit Unions.

Minnesota League of Women Voters.

Minnesota Vocational Agriculture Instructors Association.

Minnesota Vocational Association.

Mutual Service Insurance Companies.

National Cooperatives, inc.

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

National Tax Equality Association.

Northern States Cooperative League (U.S.).

Northern States Power Company (Minnesota).

Tennessee Valley Authority.

Twin Cities Milk Producers Association.

United States. Missouri Basin Survey Commission.

University of Minnesota.

Volstead Home Museum.

Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives.

Places:

Minnesota.

Minnesota -- Economic conditions.

Minnesota -- Politics and government -- 1951- .

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