1908 Country Life Commission a Key Beginning to Success of Smith-Lever Act

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The Smith-Lever Act of 1914, establishing the Cooperative Extension Service, celebrates its centennial next year.

President Theodore Roosevelt’s Country Life Commission, a group of educational leaders who made a thorough study of rural life in 1908 stated that the country was not related closely enough to boys’ and girls’ environment. It pointed out the need for practical education in farming and homemaking and called for increased extension activity on the part of the colleges and gave high encouragement to those country school superintendents and teachers who were already pioneering in this area of farming and homemaking skills. This helped set the stage for the formation of the Cooperative Extension Service.

The National 4-H History Preservation Program has spent most of 2013 working with state and county Extension offices on a project supporting the upcoming centennial. Voices of 4-H History encourages current 4-H members to seek out and record the recollections of  4-H alumni – past staff, 4-H leaders and members – about their personal experiences in 4-H. Information on this program can be found at http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Voices

Newest National 4-H Publication Already Considered 4-H History

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Last week National 4-H Council announced the availability of the new 2014 National 4-H Supply Catalog. The colorful catalog offers hundreds of items displaying the 4-H name and emblem to help support and enhance the 4-H program with greater visibility at club meetings and events, at the fair and 4-H camps. There are items for 4-H members, leaders, parents, Extension agents and alumni.

And, the catalog is now posted on the national 4-H history preservation website in the printed media archives. Visit: http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com

So why is something merely a week old considered history? It falls under the category of contemporary history… relevant things that are produced today must be saved just like something that is 20, 40 or 60 years old. Too much of 4-H history has been lost over the past century. One of the goals of the National 4-H History Preservation Program is to remind people to save the current “history” as well.

The National 4-H History Preservation Program can be contacted at: info@4-HHistoryPreservation.com

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4-H Report to the Nation Team History – We Need Your Help

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1963 Report to the Nation Team with President Kennedy

President Kennedy looks at the 1963 Annual 4-H Report to the Nation as the team looks on. L. To R. – Alice Todd, Tony Mellor, Veronica Vamosy, Faye Craig, Larry Pressler and Don Weeks.

For over four decades the National 4-H Report to the Nation Program was a premier high visibility program. Initiated in 1950, each year the program offered a team of young people an opportunity to represent their fellow 4-H’ers in telling the 4-H story. They met with corporate executives, with governors, congressmen and with Presidents of the United States. They were on network television in New York City and “did Hollywood” in California.

The National 4-H History Preservation Team is attempting to write the history of this exciting program and document those who participated. Unfortunately, many of the national records are gone. For some years we don’t even have the names of the team members who participated. However, we know there are people across the country who will remember… some who may have even been on one of these teams!

Please let us hear from you. A draft of what information we have been able to gleen from old newspapers and other sources appears on the 4-H history website at: http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/Report_to_the_Nation/

Please read this over. If you can help us locate some of the Report to the Nation team members – either those listed, or others who are not yet on the list – we would appreciate it. We want to get their stories. Not only do we want to complete the listing of the annual teams, but we want to know what each team did… it varied greatly from one year to the next.

Earlier this summer members of the 1963 Report to the Nation team returned to the National 4-H Youth Conference Center for a 50th anniversary. A digital video made of their recollections can be found in the digital video segment of the Film & Audio Archives on the website at: http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Media_AV.asp  We would like to see reporters from other years consider a possible reunion, as well.

Please contact the History team at: info@4-HHistoryPreservation.com if you participated in one of the reporting teams, or know of others who did. Thanks.

4-H History Preservation News Feed Now Available

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The link information for the 4-H History Preservation News has been added to all pages on the 4-H History Preservation Site at http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com.

When you visit one of the pages, your web browser should automatically detect that the feed is available and allow you to add it to your feed list.

If you use a stand-alone news reader, you can add the feed to your reader by adding http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/News/?feed=rss2

The news feed now also appears at the bottom of each page on the site.

You can also add the news feed to your 4-H related site by visiting http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Connect/ or http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Feed/

Add the 4-H History News Feed to Your Site

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Adding the 4-H History Preservation News Feed to your site is as easy as putting the following code on your site where ever you want the feed to appear.  Goto http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Connect/ or http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Feed/ to grab the code!

Once you add the supplied code to your page(s), the History News Feed will appear as you see below.

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Danforth Court’s Girl Statue

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American Farm Boy and American Farm Girl StatuesAt the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, Maryland, stroll out of J. C. Penney Hall from the Farley Lobby (named after George L. Farley, Massachusetts State 4-H Leader, 1916-1941, step down a few steps and you’re in Danforth Court. Danforth Court was a gift to the National 4-H Center by the Danforth Foundation in honor of William D. Danforth, founder of the Ralston-Purina Company and the Danforth Foundation.

In 1959, Ralston-Purina commissioned sculptor Carl Mose to execute the statue of a boy to be symbolic of American Rural Youth for the grounds of the Ralston-Purina Experimental Farm at Gray Summit, Missouri. Donald Danforth, then president of Ralston-Purina, gave a bronze copy of that statue entitled “The American Farm Boy” to the National 4-H Club Foundation. It was placed in the space between the middle and north wings of the original main building as they were being remodeled to open as the National 4-H Center. Danforth Court was dedicated the same day that the 4-H Center was officially opened by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Later, Donald Danforth commissioned Carl Mose to execute a new bronze statue of “The American Farm Girl” to be placed at the National 4-H Center. Dr. Margaret Browne, then Director, Division of Home Economics, Federal Extension Service, USDA, dedicated the statue at the 1963 National 4-H Conference. “Through the years,” she said, “this will challenge young people to stand tall, smile tall, think tall and live tall. I think it’s specially fitting that this figure of a girl joins the figure of the boy in this beautiful garden – symbolic of the equal opportunity that young people enjoy in our wonderful nation. Today, both girls and fellows can have [as] their goal a career in science, in education, in art, in government.”

More on these statues can be read in the September 2013 National 4-H History Preservation Program Newsletter on the history website.

American_Farm_Boy_1960American_Farm_Girl_1963

4-H Sheet Music Compilation Added to 4-H History Website

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4-H_Related_MusicDr. Danny Crew has recently sent the National 4-H History Preservation team a copy of his illustrated bibliography,  “Collection of 4-H Related Sheet Music, Song Books and Song Sheets” which was added today to the Sheet Music section of the Books and Printed Materials Archive on the 4-H History website.

The document shows the covers of many pieces of sheet music and song books and gives the background on each – a great resource!  Danny Crew was a member of 4-H in the 1960’s. He is an avid collector of old sheet music and has published a number of books on the subject. One of the areas he collects is 4-H sheet music, currently having over 85 pieces of sheet music and music books.

Dr. Crew is currently City Manager for the city of Miami Gardens, Florida. The history team appreciates receiving the bibliography and plans on keeping Danny involved as we move ahead in expanding the segment on 4-H music on the website.

You may view the document at http://4-hhistorypreservation.com/media.asp#MT-100

History of 4-H Club Work in Alaska added to Print Archive

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Boys and girls 4-H club work in Alaska began on July 1, 1930 when W. A. Lloyd of the Extension Service, U.S.D.A., Washington, D.C., visited Alaska and organized the Extension Service of the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines.

The history of 4-H in Alaska from 1930 through 1947 has been posted in the Books & Printed Materials Archives, in PDF form,  on the National 4-H History Preservation website under the section entitled “Pamphlets.”

Invitation to Friends of 4-H History

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4-H History will be featured at the Galaxy IV Conference in Pittsburgh Sept 17-19, 2013.Please join us and visit the National 4-H History Preservation Program’s booth #814, Tuesday Noon – Thursday noon, September 17-19, in the David Lawrence Convention Center Exhibit Hall.  Come by to learn how counties are recruiting 4-H youth and adults to become part of the 100th year celebration of Smith-Lever support to Cooperative Extension.  Award-winning youth-produced “Voices of 4-H History” films will be shown all during the Exhibit Hall hours.“Voices of 4-H History” will be featured during Poster Session 3 on Thursday, September 19, from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM in area R-18.  Author interaction times are scheduled from 8:00 – 9:00 AM and 10:30 – 11:30 AM.  “Voices of Extension Service History” will be featured during Poster Session 3 on Thursday, September 19 from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM in poster area L10.  Author interaction times are scheduled from 8:00 – 9:00 AM and 10:30 – 11:30 AM.  Please join us, and encourage others from your state and county to visit with us at one of these locations during the 2013 Galaxy IV conference in Pittsburgh.