James Raley Howard papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-0157

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection (1886-1982, undated) includes biographical materials, correspondence, reports, news clippings, drafts, publications, and certificates. Most of the material was gathered by him as he intended to write an autobiography of his life, highlighting his work with the American and Iowa Farm Bureau Federations. His son, Robert Howard, finished the biography after his father’s death. Robert Howard's notes on the materials collected are also in this collection.

The collection includes papers from Howard’s days in high school and college. The bulk of the collection documents his professional career and his involvement in the presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover. Howard also wrote many articles, essays, and fictional works which are included in the collection and span the years of his education to adulthood. Included is a piece titled The Farmer Goes Afield which was considered Howard’s lost memo, since it was written in the early 1930s and not found until 1953.

Many of Robert Howard’s notes are included with the James R. Howard material, and can be found throughout the collection. These were kept with J. R. Howard’s papers not only for the sake of provenance, but in many instances they give documentation and background to the original material. More notes are to be found with Robert Howard’s edited copy of his manuscript at the end of the inventory.

Dates

Creation: 1886-1982, undated

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

Open for research.

Use/Re-use Restrictions

Consult Special Collections and University Archives

Biography/Profile

James Raley Howard was born on March 24, 1873 in Marshall County, Iowa to Henry C. Howard and Rhoda Jane (Adams) Howard. Howard grew up on his family's 160-acre farm near Clemons, Iowa. He attended Iowa College (now Grinnell College) for a year and then transferred to William Penn College where he earned a B.A. (1894) and M.A. (1897). He briefly attended the University of Chicago for two semesters for a Ph.D. in English literature. After returning to Iowa he worked as a school principal, tenant farmer, and bank cashier. He returned to farming in 1906, when he had the opportunity to purchase land adjacent to his father’s farm.

James R. Howard was a liberal arts college graduate, a farmer, leader and promoter of U.S. farmers as well as an official of farm organizations. He helped in the first Iowa rural school consolidation; was an Extension Service agent for the USDA; and was first Iowa Farm Bureau Federation president and first president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. After his term as president of AFBF he held a variety of positions relating to the promotion of agriculture. He assisted in the success of the Farm Bloc; assisted Herbert Hoover in Belgian relief; was influential in establishing better marketing of agricultural products; was a member of the National Transportation Institute, made White House visits to Presidents Wilson, Harding, and Coolidge; was a member of the St. Lawrence Seaway Commission; was prominent in the Stockyards and Packers Act; campaigned for Herbert Hoover; was on the Board of Governors of the American Farm Congress and was a field man for the Federal Farm Board. After his term of office as AFBF president he was also actively involved in farming. He wrote articles and speeches and became a much sought after speaker.

Howard collected source materials, notes, memoranda, speeches, and writings with the idea of writing an autobiography. He even got so far as to make an outline but he never finished his autobiography. His son, Robert P. Howard, and his daughter, Janet H. Paterson, collected his material and Robert Howard wrote the biography, James R. Howard and the Farm Bureau, after retiring as correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. The autobiography was published in 1982 by the Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa.

James Howard died January 27, 1954.

Extent

7.04 Linear Feet (12 document boxes and 1 map case drawer )

Additional Description

Arrangement

The collection is organized Alphabetically.

Items in related collections

MS-0093. Cherokee County Farm Bureau (Iowa) records, 1918-1962 MS-0105. Iowa Farm Bureau Federation records, 1914-2008 MS-0189. Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Women's Committee records, 1922-2006, undated MS-0479. American Farm Bureau Federation records, 1913-2000, undated