There are many locations which contain significant archival collections of 4-H history – records, artifacts and other historical 4-H memorabilia. They include 4-H history museums and websites, and other collections housed at national repositories, state and university libraries and even some local archives.

A new database on the 4-H History Preservation website lists over 20 of these repositories. This is just a beginning and we will be adding more as they come to our attention.

You can visit the repositories’ listing directly at:
http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Repos_National.asp

from National 4-H History Preservation Program.
info@4-HHistoryPreservation.com
http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com

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Films documenting 4-H projects and events, and telling the personal stories of 4-H members, go back before the 1920’s. Even at the earliest stages, these efforts provided a variety of purposes. Some simply were produced to promote the 4-H movement… to show the benefits of becoming a 4-H member. Others were educational or instructional, often centering in on a particular 4-H project area. And, still others were produced for sheer entertainment. Many of the films were produced on location. Some were even made by Hollywood! Regardless of its origin, nearly every film showed accomplishments of young people and how 4-H affected both the family and the community.

Over 80 4-H films have been identified and placed in the website database. Now, the 4-H history preservation team is scouring the country looking for copies of these films to digitize so they can be accessible to everyone through the site.

Visit the film directory at:
http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/Media_AV.asp

If you are aware of the locations of any of these films or other A/V items listed, please let us know at: info@4-HHistoryPreservation.com

National 4-H History Preservation Program
http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com

The latest 4-H History Newsletter has just been posted on http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com Read how local 4-H alumni clubs are being formed and about the National Park Service joining forces with Virginia Extension to reenact history at the George Washington Birthplace National Monument 4-H Club.

The latest section added to the National 4-H History segment of the website covers the 56 year history of the National 4-H Service Committee, one of the predecessors of National 4-H Council. This section provides a rich history of many areas of 4-H’s past – the awards programs, National 4-H Congress in Chicago, National 4-H News, educational aids, National 4-H Supply Service, and more.

If you have friends who would enjoy receiving this newsletter, there now is an easy form to sign-up for it directly from the website.

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Recently, http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com added the history of the National 4-H Service Committee (originally National Committee on Boys and Girls Club Work), one of the predecessors of National 4-H Council.

In the early 1900’s, as a new concept of education (first 3-H, then 4-H from 1911) grew in rural areas, two groups of people played important roles. First, progressive rural educators took the lead in three-fold, then four-fold developmental training for farm boys and girls, leading to government support of Boys’ and Girls’ Club work, administered by the Extension Services of the Land Grant University system and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The second group included generous business firms and individuals who aided the educators by furnishing incentives to youth for outstanding accomplishments. This effort evolved into the National Committee on Boys’ and Girls’ Club Work, established in Chicago in 1921.

For 56 years, until its merger with the National 4-H Foundation to become National 4-H Council in 1977, the role of the National 4-H Service Committee was that of service.

There was no comparable entity for the Committee to emulate in the 1920s; it survived and thrived in unchartered waters due to strong leadership and committed staff. Working closely with Federal and State Extension Services, with little money and a small staff, the Committee was determined to fill the role of providing support in those areas 4-H most desperately needed. Many of those areas remained central to the committee’s offerings at the time of the merger: awards programs, National 4-H Congress, National 4-H News, National 4-H Supply Service and a strong media service.

There probably was no stronger example of public/private partnership than that of the national 4-H awards programs. Dozens of donor corporations provided county medals, state trips and national scholarships as recognition to hundreds of thousands of 4-H members each year. State winners lucky enough to receive a trip to National 4-H Congress in Chicago experienced a celebratory week they would never forget, and national winners appreciated their scholarships as an assist in going to college and launching a career.

The National 4-H Supply Service started out offering just a couple of items, eventually becoming a million dollar a year service featuring over 1,000 different items annually.

During the depression years of the 1920s and 1930s, the committee did its part to uplift the spirits of young people and farm families served by 4-H. They solicited writers and composers for plays, skits, songs and recreational activities, offering many through the Supply Service and National 4-H News.

Educational Aids – member manuals, leader guides, slide sets, films and videos – became a large support service for the committee in the 1960s and 1970s. Produced with the direction and support of Extension Developmental Committees and supported by donor funding, nearly 1,000 educational aids were produced at the national level, accounting for millions of copies sold annually.

The National 4-H News magazine served the 4-H Extension system for 65 years; bringing continuous news and features to the local club level in supporting volunteer leaders.

Through its entire history, the National 4-H Service Committee placed a heavy priority on promotion, visibility and media support. The National 4-H Poster Program, National 4-H Calendar Program, Report to the Nation, weekly national network radio programs, and public service announcements for National 4-H Week were all a part of this effort. The public exposure during National 4-H Congress, where between 300 and 600 media representatives covered the event in person, where Chicago newspaper writers worked nights prior to the event writing hundreds of releases, and where Extension Information staffs helped cover the event with even more press, radio and television, made National 4-H Congress one of the top four media-exposed conventions in the entire country year after year.

Although the National 4-H Service Committee traditionally did not have a large staff, they knew how to get the job done. Their impact on 4-H was felt from the national level to the grassroots in every area – medals and awards, support for new pilot programs, supply items, leaders’ magazine, educational aids, leader training, and publicity support – for all of the 56 years of its existence.

Take time to read this new website section on the National Committee’s history. We think you will find it not only enjoyable and inspirational, but will learn more about a piece of 4-H history that makes the program what it is today.

From National 4-H History Preservation Program. info@4-HHistoryPreservation.com

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Historical 4-H Trivia. As reported in the July 1928 National Boys’ and Girls’ Club News. Not to be out done by the recent large 1928 political conventions, the 4-H club girls of Iowa under leadership of Miss Josephine Amquist, State Agent for Girls’ Club Work, staged what is said to be the largest 4-H girls’ club convention ever held. Two thousand five hundred girls and 100 leaders from 97 of the 99 Iowa counties attended. The comprehensive and inspiring, program will give added interest to 4-H club work in Iowa. (Iowa 4-H Girls Annual Meets were held for a number of years.)

From National 4-H History Preservation Program. http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com

Through the cooperation and ingenuity of two governmental agencies, Virginia 4-H’ers are helping to save and interpret U.S. history. This unique club (based in Colonial Beach, Virginia) was formed three years ago by National Park Service Ranger Dick Lahey, who has previous 4-H leader experience. When asked how he got the idea for the club he replied, “I had heard at a National Association for Interpretation workshop of such clubs in the west. Also, my wife, Wendy Herdman is the 4-H Extension Agent for Westmoreland and Richmond Counties, and she suggestd that I start the club.” He applied for and received a Special National Park Service Youth Project Grant to create this club which now has about 50 members ranging from Cloverbud through the traditional member ages.

Dick told us, “Member projects include: [making] hand-forged goods like hooks and nails, dancing, and hearth cooking… The members perform living history demonstrations in costume: cooking, spinning, dancing, and blacksmithing at least once a month, year round. We not only demonstrate at the (George Washington) birthplace, we have helped with special events at Booker T. Washington National Monument and local events, most notably the Richmond County Fair.” When asked whether members exhibit at the county fair he said, “Only recently, and mostly non-historic goods, although one member submitted a `kick toaster (1800s iron toasting rack for fireplaces),’ and a leader put in a bed gown.”

You might wonder if the members weren’t doing these demonstrations would anyone else do it. He said, “Very few people do this, and with little regularity, so they are definitely filling a niche and need. Most importantly, they advance the appreciation of the contributions that the Northern Neck (of Virginia) has made to American history.”

If you’d like to learn more about this 4-H Heritage Club or have a similar club in your area, Dick says that he’d like to hear from you. Email Richard_Lahey@nps.gov or call 804.224.1732, ext. 235.

From National 4-H History Preservation Program. http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com

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by Bill Svendsgaard, Former Hennepin County 4-H Agent.

For nearly 100 years, 4-H Youth Development has been conducted in Hennepin County. It is Minnesota’s most populous county, including Minneapolis, Bloomington, and Edina. It also includes many rural areas that have been rapidly becoming urbanized and throughout history, both these rural and urban communities have hosted community 4-H clubs and many other innovative 4-H delivery models. It needs to be formally documented. There currently exists no inclusive chronological and interpretive written account that captures its history.

There are many people still living who can account for much of its history, and now is the time to collect their stories and their boxed records. This proposed history project was first announced at the 2010 Hennepin County Fair. About 20 names were collected from past 4-H adult leaders who were excited to become a part of it by helping to recover past 4-H history memorabilia. One current 4-H leader, Florence Larson, a 4-H leader for nearly 40 years, has consented to take leadership in collecting, sorting, classifying and authenticating found literature. Her mother, Florence Gaulke, was also a 4-H leader for over 50 years, one of the first charter 4-H leaders in Hennepin County.

They have boxes of valuable 4-H history. One 4-H alum, Amy Scherer, currently also a 4-H leader, has volunteered to help write drafts for this history, using her computer skills. I will enjoy working with all of these people while serving as author of this history as they were all active in 4-H while I served them as their Hennepin County 4-H Agent or Extension Educator between the years of 1976 to 2002, a total of about 1/4 of its total history. I have kept boxes of records from the years I served, and salvaged Hennepin County Agricultural Extension Annual Reports for the years 1914-1937, now saved in my basement. Documents from all other years have been destroyed, but those saved will reflect the earliest years.

All history is cherished, but Hennepin County 4-H history encompasses so much transitional 4-H; from rural to urban, from early days to present, from traditional to innovative programming, from all-white to very diverse participants, and from piloting many national 4-H curricula and employing various staffing formats over the years.

The time line of this projct begins in March, 2011, with proposed completion within two years, culminating in a book with a possible title: “Hennepin County 4-H History, the First 100 Years.”

If your county has produced a 4-H history book, or is considering doing so, we would like to hear about it: write to: info@4-HHistoryPreservation.com

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com

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