JAMES FORD BELL AND FAMILY:

James Ford Bell

James Stroud Bell

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Access Restrictions:

Access to and use of reserve materials requires the curator's permission.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. James Ford Bell and Family Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession numbers: 7345; 9113; 16,152; 16,419; 16,706; 17,269; 17,332; 17,443; 17,837; 17,868

Processing Information:

Catalog ID number: 990017174350104294

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Business papers document Bell's career as salesman, vice president, and president of the Washburn-Crosby Company (1901-1928) and as president and board chairman of General Mills (1928-1947); transportation (particularly rail) and food processing industries; agriculture and the grain trade in Canada, England, and France; economic conditions in various parts of the world; the Depression and Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1930s New Deal legislation and relief programs, especially in agriculture, transportation, and economic and monetary policy; relief activities and reconstruction in Europe during and after World War I; military operations, diplomacy, and the wartime economy during World War II, and postwar reconstruction in Europe and Japan; the Korean War; other aspects of U.S. foreign policy; state and national politics and presidential campaigns; Sister Elizabeth Kenny's treatment of polio (1940s); the Minnesota Resources Commission (1940s-1950s); and conservation of wildlife and natural resources.

1917-1922: Milling operations under the Food Administration during World War I. Comments by correspondents on Europe; especially economic conditions, Red Cross care of refugees in France, the armistice; and European reconstruction. Correspondence with Walter H. Newton concerning congressional hearings relating to the revision of the Tariff Act of 1913, and correspondence regarding economic theories and conditions.

1923-1929: Correspondence pertaining to wildlife conservation; the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill, expressing opposition to the bill; politics and the presidential campaigns and elections of 1924 and 1928; comments on business and economic conditions; and the railroad situation and the anthracite coal strike of 1925.

1930-1935: Letters discuss the depression, unemployment, the National Industrial Recovery Act, economic recovery and devaluation of the currency; the International Monetary, Economic, and Tariff Conference held in London (1933); Europeans' comments on the devaluation of United States currency and its effect on international trade; the Agricultural Adjustment Act; silver's increasing value and its affect on China (1935); and New Deal legislation.

1936-1939: The depression, relief and recovery measures; railroads' economic problems and a possible increase in rail freight rates (1937-1938); the Hugo Black senate committee investigating lobbying practices; the presidential campaign and defeat of Alfred M. Landon (1936); the program and progress of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration; letters from congressmen and senators regarding the Reorganization (tax) Bill, on whether relief programs should be handled by local or the federal government, and the attitude of congress toward business (1938); Stassen's gubernatorial campaign; possible Republican presidential candidates (Thomas E. Dewey and Arthur Vandenburg); the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis; Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Supreme Court; causes of Sino-Japanese War.

1940-1946: Invasions of Normandy and Sicily; the Cairo Conference (December 1943); the Pacific war; the Allied liberation of Paris; reconstruction and economic conditions in Europe and Japan; accidents in defense plants resulting in loss of manpower; the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis and Elizabeth Kenny (polio patients' care and treatment); U. S. Commission of Inter-American Development (Nelson Rockefeller, chairman); conservation in the Minnesota Quetico-Superior area; Minnesota Resources Commission; Russia and its foreign policy; and comments on Winston Churchill's "iron curtain" speech.

1947-1960: Minnesota Resources Commission; the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program); postwar economy, taxation and reconstruction; the Korean War; communism in Russia and China; possible Republican presidential nominees in 1948 and 1952; Dwight D. Eisenhower and the 1952 presidential campaign; Minnesota's congressional delegation and the world trade situation; Ezra Taft Benson, Secretary of Agriculture (November-December 1952).

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The newspaper clippings cover flour milling; agriculture; the St. Lawrence Seaway; McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill; economic, business and financial subjects; editorials on the depression and the New Deal; politics and elections; the Black Senate Committee investigation of lobbying; Franklin Roosevelt and the Supreme Court; World War II; Sister Elizabeth Kenny and the treatment of infantile paralysis; Will Keith Kellogg (1951); articles by Vannevar Bush regarding national security; and John S. Pillsbury (November 1959).

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Topics: agriculture and farm relief; the depression and economic recovery; the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill; tariff policies; biographical data on William C. Edgar; the United States and the silver issue; milling industry; agriculture; Sister Elizabeth Kenny and the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis; postwar economy and tax programs; diseases of dogs; Minnesota resources; education and science.

Of particular interest: a farewell edition of The Bellman (June 28, 1919) autographed by William C. Edgar; Coolidge's veto message on the McNary-Haugen Farm Relief Bill (1927); "The Hoover Administration and the Maintenance of Wages" by Walter Lippmann (1931); a memorial to John Russell Van Derlip (1935); "John M. Gorris, M. D." (1950); an article on Korea in Monsanto Magazine (1953); and "A Keepsake in Honor of Vannevar Bush" (1957).

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Includes correspondence from James Stroud Bell to James Ford Bell regarding James Ford Bell's travels in the Great Lakes Region and Poland Springs, Maine, family matters, fishing, boating, and his father's concerns of Bell's business career ambitions (1895).

Also included are correspondence among James Ford Bell; his wife, Ann Louise Heffelfinger; his son, James Ford Bell, Jr.; and their friends and family. The letters mostly discuss day-to-day activities—highlighting gatherings with family and friends, including Andrew Carnegie, Fred Hubbard, George Wullsen, John Donaldson, and Charles S. Pillsbury—and trips taken by James Ford Bell to Egypt and by Louise Heffelfinger Bell to New York, Georgia, Montana, and Chicago.

Specific topics include their engagement, marriage, first child, deaths in the family, a trip on the Santa Fe Railway, the Great Chicago Fire (1871), the untimely death of President Benjamin Harrison, a musical performance at the White House, and the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. There is also a three-page typescript of a letter from Major Christopher Heffelfinger to his sister, recounting in detail the Civil War's Battle of Bull Run (1861).

Topics discussed between James Ford Bell, and his son James Ford Bell, Jr., discuss family matters; the studies of Bell, Jr. at the Thatcher School in Ojai, California and Columbia University; politics, including Bell Sr.'s support of Herbert Hoover during the 1920 Republican Convention in Chicago, Illinois; waterfowl hunting in Winnipeg, Manitoba; business matters; and Ford Bell, Jr.'s personal relationships (1918-1923, 1943-1944).

Some papers relate to General Mills management matters and to Bell's activities to promote business interests and prohibition during the 1930s.

See the scrapbooks for additional correspondence.

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Contain correspondence and loose material, playbills and concert programs, telegrams, restaurant menus, hotel receipts, photographs and autographed portraits, wedding invitations, and newspaper clippings. Correspondence from envelopes fixed in the books has been removed and placed in folders next to its volume.

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The diaries discuss both business and personal matters. The first volume is handwritten, and the rest are typed; all are contained in 9" x 7" loose leaf binders. Roman numeral designations appear on many of the diaries.

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Typed reminiscences written by Bell on a variety of subjects and individuals.

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Diaries are typed and filed in 9" x 7" loose-leaf binders. They mainly document business affairs, but also include some more personal entries.

The memorial books were prepared by the board of directors or trustees of various companies and organizations James S. Bell led or held significant professional and personal ties to. They include resolutions and tributes to James S. Bell.

Postcards include an order card from The Booklovers Library, which shows orders placed by James S. Bell (approximately 1902). Another postcard is sent from Wm. C. Edgar to James S. Bell regarding a delivery from the ship South Point to Brussels, Belgium, and distribution of its cargo to the Commission for Relief in Belgium (March 10, 1915).

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RESTRICTED.

Photocopies of original correspondence are in the non-reserve material.

Location

+Reserve 27

Alsop, Thomas to President Abraham Lincoln, October 14, 1861.

Alsop (Springfield, Illinois) recommends James Stroud Bell for a patronage post in Pennsylvania, with Lincoln's handwritten endorsement (October 28,1861).

Digital version

Bell, Alexander Graham, check to Hotel Belmont, May 21, 1918.

Digital version

Benson, Ezra Taft, Secretary of Agriculture, January 3 and May 26, 1953; October 17 and November 2, 1955.

Digital version

Eisenhower, Dwight D., U. S. President, March 9, 1949; August 18, September 3 and 9, 1952.

Digital version

Forrestal, James, Secretary of Defense, September 14 and November 30, 1948.

Digital version

Jardine, William M., Secretary of Agriculture, February 26, 1925.

Digital version

Jones, Jesse H., Secretary of Commerce, May 26, 1942.

Digital version

Roosevelt, Franklin D., U. S. President, October 7, 1937.

Digital version

Wallace, Henry A., Secretary of Agriculture, April 6, 1933.

Digital version

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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:

Prohibition -- Minnesota.

Agricultural laws and legislation -- United States.

Agriculture -- Europe.

Agriculture -- United States.

Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- United States.

Communism -- China.

Communism -- Norway.

Communism -- Russia.

Conservation of natural resources -- Minnesota.

Depressions -- 1929 -- United States.

Grain -- Milling.

International trade.

Korean War, 1950-1953.

Money -- United States.

Poliomyelitis -- Treatment.

Railroads -- Cost of operation.

Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945.

Stock exchanges.

Tariff -- United States.

Wheat trade.

World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Red Cross.

World War, 1914-1918.

World War, 1939-1945.

Persons:

Anderson, Sydney, 1881-1948, author.

Andresen, August H. (August Herman), 1890- , author.

Archibald, Allice, 1880-1964, author.

Astor, John Jacob, 1763-1848.

Ball, Joseph H. (Joseph Hurst), 1905-1993, author.

Barnes, Julius H. (Julius Howland), 1873-1959, author.

Baruch, Bernard M. (Bernard Mannes), 1870-1965, author.

Bell, Ann Louise, 1879-1961, author.

Bell, Charles Heffelfinger, 1907-2003, author.

Bell, James Stroud, 1847-1915, author.

Benson, Ezra Taft.

Black, Hugo LaFayette, 1886-1971.

Bullis, Harry A. (Harry Amos), 1890-1963, author.

Bush, Vannevar, 1890-1974, author.

Butterworth, William, 1864-1936, author.

Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965.

Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933.

Crosby, Franklin Muzzy, 1875-1947, author.

Crosby, John, 1867-1962, author.

Davis, Donald D., 1888-1950, author.

Dewey, Thomas E. (Thomas Edmund), 1902-1971.

Edgar, William C. (William Crowell), 1856-1932, author.

Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969, author.

Gannon, E. H., author.

Gorrie, John, 1803-1855.

Hearst, William Randolph, 1863-1951.

Heinz, Howard J., author.

Henry, Frank F., author.

Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.

Johnson, Hugh S. (Hugh Samuel), 1882-1942, author.

Kellogg, W. K. (Will Keith), 1860-1951.

Kenny, Elizabeth, 1886-1952, author.

Landon, Alfred M. (Alfred Mossman), 1887-1987, author.

Lingham, Fred J., author.

Loomis, E. E. (Edward Eugene), 1865?-1937, author.

Loring, Albert Carpenter, 1858-1932.

Morrill, J. L. (James Lewis), 1891-1979, author.

Newton, Walter H., 1880-1941, author.

Pearl, Raymond, 1879-1940, author.

Pillsbury, John Sargent, 1878-1968.

Robson, Herbert, author.

Shipstead, Henrik, 1881-1960, author.

Smith, Alfred Emanuel, 1873-1944.

Stassen, Harold E. (Harold Edward), 1907-2001, author.

Taussig, F. W. (Frank William), 1859-1940, author.

Taylor, Alonzo Englebert, 1871-1949, author.

Vandenburg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951, author.

Van Derlip, John Russell, 1860-1935.

Vilgrain, Ernest, author.

Vilgrain, Jean, author.

Washburn, Stanley, 1878-1950, author.

Whitney, Richard, author.

Organizations:

Canada. Agriculture Canada.

Carnegie Institution of Washington.

Delta Waterfowl Foundation.

General Mills, Inc.

Inter-American Development Commission.

International Board for Plant Genetic Resources. Wheat Programme.

Marshall Plan.

Minnesota Resources Commission (1939-1947)

National Association of Manufacturers (U.S.)

National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )

United States. Agricultural Adjustment Administration.

United States. Department of Commerce.

United States. Federal Farm Board.

United States. National Recovery Administration.

United States. Supreme Court.

United States Food Administration.

University of Minnesota.

Washburn-Crosby Co.

Meetings:

Monetary and Economic Conference.

Places:

Europe -- Economic conditions.

Europe -- Politics and government.

Minnesota -- Politics and government.

Saint Lawrence Seaway.

United States -- Economic conditions.

United States -- Politics and government.

Document Types:

Diaries.

Photographs.

Memorial books.

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