Saving the Voices of South Dakota Farmers Union

The South Dakota Farmers Union (SDFU) records were donated to the SDSU Archives and Special Collections in 1997. Since then, there have been several additions made to the collection. The records consist of administrative documents, publications, scrapbooks and photographs, oral history interviews, audiovisual materials, and the records of local unions. The collection spans 25 linear feet, and includes the Cooperative Legacy Project oral history interviews. The finding aid for the full South Dakota Farmers Union Records. For more information on the South Dakota Farmers Union Collection, please contact the SDSU Archives.

The audiovisual materials, are comprised of audio cassettes, open reel audio recordings, wire recordings, and 16mm films. The films depict state camp activities, tours, picnics, and parades. The audio recordings include both state and national conventions, speeches, radio programs, and advertisements. There are also recordings promoting legislation, discussions with politicians in South Dakota, and featuring speeches by national figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, George McGovern, and Hubert Humphrey who was a native South Dakotan.

Due to the fragility of tape based recordings, these materials were facing deterioration and would soon become unusable.   The audiovisual materials were digitized and preserved in part by support from a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. 

Brief History of SDFU

The national Farmers Union began as the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union at Point, Texas in 1902, and became a national organization in 1905. The South Dakota Farmer's Union officially formed in 1917, making it one of the oldest existing farmer organizations in South Dakota. Its members include farmers, ranchers, and others in rural communities.  SDFU promotes education, cooperation, and legislation at local, state, and national levels. It advocates for agricultural issues and programs affecting South Dakota agricultural producers and their families. SDFU is a strong proponent behind the cooperative movement, which united farmers and ranchers to sell their commodities and purchase supplies at fair prices, and helped provide utilities to remote areas, including electricity, water, and telephone. The organization is still active today.

The items within the South Dakota Farmers Union Records cannot account for all viewpoints relative to Farmers Union members in South Dakota or the Northern Plains. Other regional collections, such as the National Farmers Union and National Council of Farmers Cooperatives Collection at Iowa State University, can help provide a broader depiction. For a comprehensive history of the SDFU, please see The Family Farmer's Advocate: South Dakota Farmers Union, 1914-2000 by Lynwood Oyos (call number:  HD6515.A292 S68 2000).