MIDLAND COOPERATIVES, INC.:

An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society

Manuscripts Collection

OVERVIEW


	Creator:	Midland Cooperatives, Inc., creator.
	Title:	Midland Cooperatives records.
	Dates:	1917-1982.
	Language:	Materials in English and Finnish.
	Abstract:	Articles of incorporation, minutes, resolutions, financial information, programs, meeting files, academic theses regarding cooperation, audiotapes, printed material, and photographs relating to a Minneapolis-based farmers' oil and merchandise consumer cooperative organized in 1926 as the Minnesota Co-op Oil Company. The cooperative specialized in marketing light oil products, then added tires, auto accessories, paint and hardware, farm supplies, household appliances, groceries, fertilizer, feed and seed, and farm machinery to its merchandise stocks. The cooperative was merged into Land O'Lakes in 1982.
	Quantity:	4.85 cubic feet (7 boxes), 6 master audio files: WAV (2 GB), and 6 user audio files: MP3 (238 MB).
	Location:	See Detailed Description section for shelf locations.

The records document meetings of members and managers, and other facets of Midland's administration; other cooperative ventures among farmers; and the business of cooperative refining and marketing, particularly of light oil used on farms.

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Midland Cooperatives, Inc. Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,154; 16,043; 17,294; 17,513

Location of Master Files:

Digital masters of the audio material are maintained on the Society's secure digital collections storage servers and are managed and preserved in accordance with archival best practices.

The original audiocassettes were disposed after the material was digitally reformatted into WAV files.

Processing Information:

Legacy Amendment logo

Processed by: Bonnie B. Palmquist, 1990

Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Digital audio transferred from the master audiocassettes by the Minnesota Historical Society for preservation purposes, (November, 2019).

Catalog ID number: 990017130650104294

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION


Location	Box
151.I.5.1B	1	Historical material, undated. 3 folders.
			Includes correspondence, historical sketches, and printed material.


		Minnesota Co-op Oil Company, 1926-1928.
			Predecessor of Midland Co-op Oil Company.


		Articles of incorporation and prospectus, 1947, 1956.


		Board of directors:
			Executive board minutes, 1926-March 1938. 2 folders.
			Board of directors minutes, 1939-1943.
			Subjects under consideration at board meetings, 1937-1938. 2 folders.


Annual Meetings:
	Transcript of 13th annual meeting, June 13, 1939.
	Annual meeting resolutions, 1942-1980. 1 volume.
	Annual meeting programs, 1949-1980.
	Annual meeting (50th), 1976. 2 folders.
		Contains correspondence, invitations, programs, and other papers.
	Annual meetings, 1977-1982. 6 folders.
		Background material, activities planned for salesmen and their wives, planning documents, banquet programs, expense data, and other material.


		Financial materials:
			Financial statements, 1930-1936. 2 folders.
Location	Box
151.I.5.2F	2		Financial statements, 1933.
			Financial statements and annual reports, 1927-1951. 1 volume.


		Meetings and conferences:
			Managers' conferences, 1973-1982. 7 folders.
				Conference material, evaluations, minutes, correspondence, and conference themes.
			Director-Manager conferences, 1974-1981. 5 folders.
				Workshops, data on responsibilities of managers, correspondence, and other material.
			February district meetings, 1975-1981. 8 volumes and 1 folder.
			Member education and understanding, Fall 1976. 1 volume.
			Fall district meeting, 1974, 1979-1981. 1 volume and 2 folders.
				Reports and resolutions.
			Special Fall meeting, 1981.
				Merger with Land O' Lakes, Inc.
Location	Box
151.I.5.3B	3		Special Fall meeting, 1981.


Education:
	Education Department: The counsellor monthly newsletter, 1946-1947.
	Educational material, 1931-1934.
		Co-op oil code.
	Educational committees manual, 1941.


		Co-op gallonage in Minnesota, 1932.


		Co-operative Society of America stock certificate, 1968.
			Copy of 1921 original document.


		Co-op youth courses, 1931-1944.


		Cooperative oil manual, circa 1934. 3 folders.


		E. G. Cort Memorial Fund, 1945-1949.
			E. G. Cort was the first Midland manager. He died in 1944.
			Includes articles of incorporation.


		Local co-op workbook, 1943.


		Mailing list, undated.


		Northwest Cooperative Mills, Inc. (Saint Paul, Minn.), 1966.
			Articles of incorporation, minutes, correspondence, and audits. The cooperative produced fertilizer, seed, and feed.


		Printed material, 1953-1964.


		Slide scripts, 1968-1972.


		Tornado damage to Fridley warehouse, 1965.
			Includes photograph album and loose snapshots totalling about 50 images.


		Twin City co-operatives, 1941.


		Voting stock, 1953-1965.


		Warbasse, James Peter: Memorial, 1940-1957.


		Pamphlets on consumer cooperation. 1 volume.


Central Cooperatives, Inc. (Superior, Wis.):
	Historical materials, 1917-1942.
	History, 1917-1931.
		Includes correspondence in Finnish.
	Range Cooperative Federation survey, 1947.
	Merger with Midland Cooperative, Inc., 1966. 2 folders.
	Printed material, 1942-1957.


		George B. Cerny, "Early cooperation in the Midwest," 1938.
			Undergraduate research paper, University of Wisconsin. Folder includes "Cooperation in the Midwest in the granger era, 1869-1875," reprinted from Agricultural history, vol. 37, no. 4, also by Cerny.


		Theses:
			Martin Anderson, "Midland's educational program," 1947.
			Paul E. Hauchett, "Federal income taxation: cooperative associations and their patrons," 1946. 1 volume.
			Marvin John Simon, "Cooperative purchasing of farm supplies," 1933.
			Norman Eugene Taylor, "Midland Cooperative Wholesale, Inc.: its history and analysis," 1953.
			George M. Beal, Roots of participation in farmer cooperatives, 1954. 1 volume.
Location	Box
143.B.16.14F	5		Wilfred C. Leland, Jr., "The distribution of petroleum products through user-owned cooperative wholesale organizations," 1940. 1 volume.
			Alpha Smaby notes for Midland history:
				Notes for Wilfred Leland Jr. thesis, undated.
Location	Box
147.L.8.1	6			Note cards:
					Cover period 1925-1983. Includes excerpts from Midland cooperator newsletter, minutes, and other sources.
					Undated. 1 card file box.
Location	Box
147.L.8.2	7				Undated. 1 card file box.


Location	Box
144.C.16.2F	4	Oversize materials:
			Cooperative League of Wisconsin: articles of incorporation, 1937.
			Minnesota Co-op Oil and Midland Cooperative Wholesale clippings scrapbook, 1927-1937. 1 volume.
			Midland Cooperative Wholesale prospectus, 1948.
			Midland Cooperative Wholesale preferred stock offering, 1945.
			Newspapers: Anniversary editions, 1968, 1973.
			Photographs. 5 folders and 1 envelope.
				Annual meetings, employees, managers, and refineries.
			Negatives: Cushing refinery, undated. 1 envelope.
				[0.35 cubic feet empty, oversize]
Location
Internet			Audio recordings:
				Big things ahead by Gordon Mikkleson, May 4, 1952. 1 master audio file (1 hour, 5 minutes): WAV (329 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (40.5 MB).
					Digital audio
				18th Biennial Co-op Congress, November 19, 1952. 1 master audio file (28 minutes, 32 seconds): WAV (144 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (18.6 MB).
					Note on container:
					Panel includes Mr. Mccolough, Brean Melvin, Ed Whitney, G.W. Thompson, C Maurice Wieting.
					Digital audio
				Joe Gilbert, October 7, 1953. 1 master audio file (1 hour, 30 minutes): WAV (456 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (60.6 MB).
					Talks from Andrew Jensen, George Jacobson, Glenn Tomlinson, Art Smaby, Roy Weir, Gordon Mickleson, and Joe Gilbert.
					Digital audio
				Annual meeting featuring George Grim, 1955. 1 master audio file (48 minutes, 16 seconds): WAV (243 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (36 MB).
					Digital audio
				Midland open house in Fridley, August 26, 1957. 1 master audio file (1 hour, 19 minutes): WAV (400 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (55.4 MB).
					Digital audio
				Midland annual meeting, lady Jackson address, March 26, 1968. 1 master audio file (39 minutes, 20 seconds): WAV (198 MB) and 1 user audio file: MP3 (26.7 MB).
					Digital audio

RELATED MATERIALS

Additional photographs are in the Minnesota Historical Society sound and visual collection.

Annual reports and year books of Central Cooperatives, Inc. and Midland Cooperative are in the Minnesota Historical Society book collection.

The Midland cooperator is in the Minnesota Historical Society newspaper collection.

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CATALOG HEADINGS

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:: Consumer cooperatives -- Minnesota.; Consumer cooperatives -- Wisconsin.; Cooperative societies meetings.; Cooperative societies -- Minnesota -- Taxation.; Petroleum products -- Cooperative marketing.; Petroleum refineries.; Tornadoes -- Minnesota -- Fridley.

Persons:: Smaby, Alpha, author.; Cort, E. G.

Organizations:: Central Cooperatives, Inc. (Superior, Wis.).; Land O'Lakes, Inc.; Midland Cooperative Wholesale (Firm), author.; Northwest Cooperative Mills (Saint Paul, Minn.), author.

Document Types:: Sound recordings.; Photographs.; Slides.; Theses.

Occupations:: Farmers.

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MIDLAND COOPERATIVES, INC.:

OVERVIEW

SCOPE AND CONTENTS

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

RELATED MATERIALS

CATALOG HEADINGS