REUEL D. HARMON:

Reuel Durkee Harmon (1904-1994) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota on February 6, 1904. He was the son of Albert H. and Carolyn Durkee Harmon. The elder Harmon was one of the founders of Webb Publishing Company, a St. Paul-based publisher of farm and agricultural magazines.

Reuel Harmon attended Saint Paul Academy (1916-1922), and earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1926. He joined Webb in 1926, and in 1937 was made publisher of its Farmer's Wife magazine. During World War II Harmon served with the United States Army (1942-1945), where he attained the rank of Major. In 1945 he returned to Webb, and in 1946 was made vice president and treasurer of the company. He later served as president (1952-1968) and as chairman of the board (1968-1978). In the 1940s he served on a number of "fact-finding commissions" for the Division of Conciliation of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, helping to investigate Minnesota labor disputes.

Harmon served as a trustee of the St. Paul, Amherst Wilder, and Archibald Bush foundations, Carleton and St. Thomas colleges, and the Charles T. Miller Hospital. He was on the boards of the First National Bank of St. Paul and the First Trust Company of St. Paul, president of the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the St. Paul Civic Center Authority, and a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission of the Minnesota Department of Economic Development. He was involved with the Minnesota Parks and Trails Council, the Fort Snelling State Park Association, the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Minnesota Zoo, the Carpenter Nature Center (Hastings), and the Dodge Nature Center (West Saint Paul).

Harmon died on April 26, 1994 at his home in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. He was survived by his wife Margaret (b.ca.1910), and a daughter, Ann Clapp.

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Includes correspondence and memoranda, newspaper clippings, reports, master plans, maps and site plans, archaeological reports, photocopies of deeds, some minutes, a few snapshot photographs, and other miscellaneous papers.

Much of the material relates to Harmon's gifts of money and/or land to the various organizations and programs, most of which have to do with environmental education and conservation. Information focuses on finances and fund raising activities, the construction of visitor centers and other buildings, long-range planning, management issues, and budget reductions and staff cutbacks. There is also information about labor-management disputes (1940s); the establishment of Harmon Park Preserve, Inver Grove Heights; Balance Inc., Minneapolis, an African-American management and personnel consulting firm that Harmon helped to finance; the restoration of the St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church building at Mendota, Minn.; the Minnesota Agricultural Interpretive Center (Farmamerica), a living history farm/agricultural interpretive center; and Fort Snelling State Park, including a proposed visitor center and a fire at the restored commandant's house at Historic Fort Snelling (1981). A copy of Now and Then (Winter 1919-1920), a literary publication of Saint Paul Academy, contains an article written by Harmon.

Correspondents include board members, executive directors, and other officials of the various organizations; state and local government officials, including the Minnesota Division of Conciliation and the City of Inver Grove Heights Parks and Recreation Department; officials of Balance Inc.; and attorneys, particularly members of the Briggs and Morgan law firm.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Reuel D. Harmon Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 15,332

Processing Information:

Processed by: David B. Peterson, August 1998

Catalog ID number: 990017349190104294

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Materials related to the Webb Publishing Company are found in a variety of formats in various Minnesota Historical Society collections.

St. Croix Current, the newsletter of the Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center, is in the Minnesota Historical Society serials collections.

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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:

African American business enterprises -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.

Agriculture -- Minnesota -- History.

Environmental education -- Minnesota.

Historic farms -- Minnesota -- Waseca.

Industrial relations -- Minnesota.

Mediation and conciliation, Industrial -- Minnesota.

Nature centers -- Minnesota.

Publishers and publishing -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Places:

Fort Snelling State Park (Minn.).

Harmon Park Preserve (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.).

Organizations:

Balance Inc. (Minneapolis, Minn.).

Carpenter Nature Center.

Church of St. Peter (Mendota, Minn.).

Fort Snelling State Park Association (Minn.).

Inver Grove Heights (Minn.). Parks and Recreation Department.

Minnesota Agricultural Interpretive Center.

Minnesota. Division of Conciliation.

Science Museum of Minnesota.

St. Croix Watershed Research Station (Marine on Saint Croix, Minn.).

Thomas Irvine Dodge Nature Center (West Saint Paul, Minn.).

Occupations:

Businessmen -- Minnesota.

Philanthropists -- Minnesota.

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