Category Archives: History

4-H History Preservation Newsletter
March 2016

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March is Women’s History Month

In 1978, Sonoma County (CA) Council on Women established a US Women’s History Week, tied to March 8, International Women’s Day. In 1987 Congress established Women’s History Month. Fortunately for 4-H, women and girls make up great percentages of members, leaders and Extension educators. What special activities do you have planned to honor the women in your local 4-H program?

Two Notable 4-H Women

We feature two 4-H women who represent different dimensions of 4-H: Gertrude Warren was an early federal level pioneer of girls’ club work; 4-H member Martha Ann Miller was a champion baker who won a full scholarship to Purdue University at age 14.

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Promotion

Do you know what Hopalong Cassidy, Ann Landers, J. C. Penney, and Amelia Earhart have in common? Check it out in the expanding National 4-H Promotion Compendium.


Birds of Spring

From a 1919 article comes a variety of plans for bird houses, and ideas for care of birds in the Spring. Will those ideas work for your club or your community to bring history alive?




For Sale

Historical 4-H calendar art postcards are now on sale through the 4-H Mall; proceeds help restore and preserve the growing collection of original paintings used for the national 4-H calendar program from the late 40s to mid-90s.

To purchase your cards, please visit the 4-H Mall at http://bit.ly/4HPostcards


4-H in Popular TV

4-H became a central theme of “The Waltons,” a popular TV series, in a March, 1978, episode.

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St. Patrick’s Day

Besides Women’s History Month, March is also the time we honor St. Patrick who was all about green and shamrocks. Pour a cup of green tea in his honor and to pay tribute to all the women of 4-H – and enjoy this issue.

Why a National 4-H Film Festival?

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The following story is from the January 2016 issue of the 4-H History Preservation Newsletter

As we think about harnessing “Voices of 4-H History,” we know that today’s young people must be prepared to live and work in a world that no one completely envisions. They must be prepared for jobs that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented, and solving problems that haven’t been identified. FilmFest 4-H helps youth become producers – and not just consumers – of digital media.

Creating something real from one’s imagination is a powerful experience. It motivates many creative young people to develop their talents, and drives them to master skills with technologies old and new.

When a young person finds that interest that drives them, and explores it in an enriching environment that supports further growth, great things happen. Research shows that these young people tend to become more optimistic, have a larger sense of purpose in life, and develop stronger self-esteem.

Filmmakers_Toolbox.

If that passion is film making, however, the options for teens are very limited. Opportunities to nurture their talents are usually priced out of reach, if they can be found at all. While all will face the future, these teens will approach it on a different trajectory than those who found enriching environments that helped them develop their “sparks.”

It’s not too early for 4-H staff to start preparing youth to prepare entries and or prepare to attend the 2016 National FilmFest 4-H in Kansas City, Missouri, July 31 – August 3. Learn more about the idea and the program and watch top finishers from the past few years at: http://4h.missouri.edu/go/events/filmfest/

Bradd L. Anderson – Missouri State 4-H Youth Development Specialist

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


Corn Clubs Spread Through the South

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website at

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

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Following the successes in the midwest, by 1909 corn clubs were spreading through the South at a rapid rate. In Virginia that first year, 10,543 boys joined corn clubs and while many of them merely went along with the crowd, some of them made records that surprised their communities. Other states were having similar experiences. On one of his trips from Washington to Mississippi, Dr. Seaman Knapp, highly pleased with the way boys’ demonstration work was going, offered a trip to Washington to the Mississippi boy who made the best record with his corn crop. His offer started something. Following up the lead, O. B. Martin made a similar offer in his own state of South Carolina. T. O. Sandy, in Virginia, raised the purse to send the Virginia champion to the Capitol, and the bankers of Arkansas promised a trip to their champion.

Four young winners – representing four states – made the trip: Ralph Bellwood, Virginia; Bascom Usher, South Carolina; Dewitt C. Lundy, Mississippi; and Elmer Halter, Arkansas. These four teen-age boys were honored for their proficiency in cultivating soil. They were introduced to President William Howard Taft at the White House, and awarded the first diplomas of their kind by Secretary of Agriculture Wilson. They became charter members of the All-Star Corn Club, a national honorary organization of champion growers.The following story is from the October 2015 issue of the 4-H History Preservation Newsletter

Knapp’s idea of giving prize trips to Washington was continued the following year, and the record made by these boys was more sensational than those of the 1909 winners. The hero of the trip was Jerry Moore, 16-year-old Winona, South Carolina, boy who had raised the amazing total of 228-3/4 bushels on his acre.

Jerry was headlined throughout the nation as the champion corn grower of all time. Newspapers and magazines carried his story in detail, picturing the slight, straw-hatted boy sitting on the edge of an immense mountain of husked corn – the product of his one-acre experiment. His thorough records show exactly how he prepared the soil and what he used for fertilizer. He planted Batts’ Four-ear Prolific corn by hand, about three inches apart in the drill, thinning the plants to about six inches when a half-foot high. He cultivated his corn every four days. Jerry Moore’s story is worth recalling because news of his great yield arched over the nation like a rainbow, providing an apt object lesson for farmers whose yields were lower than they might have been.

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


National 4-H News… Reaching the Local Level

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website at

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/


Pic_008a[1]The only national magazine devoted exclusively to the 4-H program, National 4-H News, was created by the National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work, serving as an exchange of information and fresh ideas and resources for volunteer adult and junior leaders for 65 years – the first issue appearing in April 1923… and the last issue in April 1988.

4-H news was channeled from the national level to local 4-H leaders directly to the club and community level. Conversely, volunteer leaders were some of the major contributors to the magazine, sharing their success stories… as well as their challenges and problems, so News traveled from the local level directly to the national level, as well as from top down.

Pic_008b[1]The National 4-H History Preservation program team members doing research on various aspects of 4-H history have come to find that National 4-H News is the singular best source for 4-H history in existence. The magazine was undoubtedly also one of 4-H’s best nationwide visibility tools, month after month. The magazines have been digitized and will soon be on the history website.

The history of the national magazine can be found on the National 4-H History Preservation website at:
http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/Nat_4-H_News/

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


American Oil Company Provides World Globes to 4-H

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website at

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/


In 1962 the National 4-H Service Committee worked with the national 4-H donor of the 4-H Tractor program in supporting an activity to enhance 4-H’s international exchange programs, including shipping the globes out across the country. During the first six months of the year over 50,000 plastic inflatable globes were made available without charge to state leaders for 4-H distribution. The retail value of the gift was estimated at $522,000.

A 4-H'er blows up the plastic world globe so club members could trace the scope of 4-H in other countries.

A 4-H’er blows up the plastic world globe so club members could trace the scope of 4-H in other countries.

Many clubs, responding to a suggestion accompanying the shipment of globes, took part in an activity entitled “Everybody Learn Where 4-H is Around the World.” Using a list of 70 countries where a 4-H type organization exists, members placed tiny 4-H seals on the globe to show the world-wide scope of 4-H. Other clubs used them for following the progress of IFYE delegates or by participating in the People-to-People program. Some members used the globe to trace Col. John Glenn’s first orbits around the earth in February of that year.

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


Latest Updates to 4-H Promotion Compendium

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The following articles have recently been added to the 4-H Promotion Compendium. The Compendium contains over 170 stories on how 4-H has been promoted on a national level over the past 100+ years.

These stories and more are available  from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website — http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


African American 4-H in Black History Month

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The following story is from the January 2016 issue of the 4-H History Preservation Newsletter



The story of Black History Month began in 1915, 50 years after slavery was abolished in the United States (and one year after the passage of the Smith-Lever Act). In 1926 the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) sponsored a “National Negro History Week.” The second week of February was selected to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. President Gerald R. Ford officially recognized Black History Month in 1976. (Excerpted from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-history-month )

The National 4-H History team continues to build the repository of historically significant resources that document the history of African American 4-H programs.

Did you know?

In North Carolina club work for African American youth began in 1914 with the organization of a group in Sampson County under the leadership of G. W. Herring. Participation grew steadily and by 1945 African American youth participation in North Carolina 4-H exceeded 29,000. “…the 4-H Club Foundation of North Carolina was founded in 1950 in order to raise money for the establishment of a camp for African American boys and girls.” (History of 4-H in North Carolina, NCSU Libraries, NC State University https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/specialcollections/greenngrowing/4H_history.html )

West Virginia initiated “camp-outs” in the 1920s for African American youth and had the first African American State 4-H Camp (Camp Washington-Carver), as well as many segregated county camps. Learn about the beginnings of this camp at:

http://www.marshall.edu/special-collections/cwc/PDF/Jordan-CWC2.pdf
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4-H’ers from 11 Southern States participated in the American Negro Exposition held in Chicago in the summer of 1940 to celebrate “the 75th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the achievements of African Americans.” Extension had a prominent spot for the duration of the exposition with 4-H members giving demonstrations on projects and skills they were learning including sewing, canning, raising chickens and hogs, and peanut farming.

(4-H History Preservation Website http://4-hhistorypreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/Single_Story.asp?ps=161 )
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In 1965 black 4-H’ers in South Carolina “attended the State 4-H Club Week at Clemson University, the National 4-H Conference in Washington, DC, and the National 4-H Congress in Chicago with white 4-H’ers from South Carolina for the first time.” Passage of the Civil Rights Act brought changes to 4-H but not without challenges. When separate programs were eliminated, some programs were discontinued until adjustments could be made. (From The History of South Carolina Cooperative Extension Service by Clyde E. Woodall, http://www.clemson.edu/extension/100/background/145.html )

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (founders of Black History Month) has selected Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories as the theme for this year’s celebration of Black History Month. It is to bring attention to the centennial celebration of the National Park Service and the more than twenty-five historical sites and the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom that are part of America’s hallowed grounds, including the home of the father of black history, Dr. Carter G. Woodson.


You can map significant people, places, and events that help to tell the story of African American 4-H programs in your state by participating in the 4-H History Map Project at http://4hhistorypreservation.com/History_Map/ and by getting involved in “Voices of 4-H History” at http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/1890/.

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


100 Likes!

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The 4-H History Preservation Program page on Facebook has just received it’s 100th Like!

Thanks to all of you out there that like our page and are interested in 4-H history preservation.

Don’t know what we’re talking about? Check us out at https://www.facebook.com/4H.History/?ref=aymt_homepage_panel

By the way, our 100th like is from the Chickasaw County Extension.

Now, how fast can we get to 1,000 likes?

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


4-H History Preservation Newsletter
February 2016

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February is Black History Month and the 15th is Presidents’ Day
Before 4-H was racially integrated, Extension Youth Development programs for African American youth emanated from the 1890 universities, which celebrated their 125  anniversary last year. North Carolina started 4-H for African American youth in 1914; West Virginia started camps for black youth in the 1920s and had the country’s first state camp for African American 4-H’ers.

In recognition of Presidents’ Day we acknowledge the US Presidents who served as honorary chairmen of 4-H, and quote many who “liked” the program over the years.


Calendar Art Hands-on History

The collection of these historic art pieces continues to grow! Antique mall hunters and internet shoppers have added three pieces to the collection already this year. There are many more to find and you can help.


Hands-on History

From a 1920 article about farm mechanics and a 1945 article on Live Power to today’s robotics programs, mechanical engineering has been an important part of 4-H. Some ideas to bring that history into your current club work.



Virginia African American Corn Club members (early 4-H clubs) learn how to judge corn, 1923.

Virginia African American Corn Club members (early 4-H clubs) learn how to judge corn, 1923.


President Franklin D Roosevelt with 1940 National 4-H Delegates on the mall. (Photo courtesy of USDA.)

President Franklin D Roosevelt with 1940 National 4-H Delegates on the mall. (Photo courtesy of USDA.)



February in 4-H History

A 4-H TV series produced with NASA was premiered, Franklin Roosevelt expressed thanks to 4-H’ers for helping achieve wartime goals, the first club meeting of farm boys, later 4-H’ers, was held in Illinois, and a 4-H movie on health was premiered. Different years, of course, but an important month.


C. B. Smith

Seventh in the series of “Folks who Helped Make 4-H Great.” Smith helped create the 4-H Subcommittee of the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, helped implement the Smith-Lever act nationwide, and established the first National 4-H Camp on the Washington, DC, Mall.


Besides Black History Month and Presidents’ Day, February also has Valentine’s Day.
And who doesn’t love 4-H? Sit down with your box of Valentine chocolates and ponder the New Year’s Resolution you made last month: to read this Newsletter each month and forward it to at least one other person. And while you’re munching on the chocolates, enjoy this issue!

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .


Popular TV Show Honored 4-H Annually

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website at

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

The Lawrence Welk Show – aired nationally for nearly 30 years on the networks and in syndication – was one of the most popular entertainment shows during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Bandleader Lawrence Welk grew up in rugged North Dakota, his parents having been original homesteaders, and he never forgot his rural roots. The same can be said for a number of the band members and entertainers on the show.

During many of these years during National 4-H Week, Lawrence Welk paid tribute to 4-H and to the special week being celebrated. Often Myron Floren, the popular accordian player in the orchestra, and a former 4-H’er, would give the tribute and play a special song, or it could just as well be another member of the Welk musical family.

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4-H members and their families always enjoyed this recognition. Welk, in his home-spun manner, had a way of making people feel special… and, it worked with 4-H every year.

 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .