History Preservation Newsletter
May-June 2017


400,000 Website Visits!

After 10 years of the 4-H History Team existence, and six years of counting website visitors, your 4-H History website has received over 400,000 visits worldwide. Thanks for your support.



4-H WWI Support

As patriotism swept the country, 4-H members joined the war effort enthusiastically. With slogans like “Back up the Cannon with the Canner,” the government promoted conservation and food preservation.



Camp Vail Trained Youth for War Effort

In 1917, the Theodore N. Vail School of Agriculture started training non-farm youth to meet the critical farm labor shortage due to the war. Camp Vail, later a part of the Eastern States Exposition, was seen as “a means to show the public the value of club work.”


National 4-H Camp, Hits a Milestone

Ninety years ago this month the first 4-H Members pitched their tents on the Washington Mall to learn, share and make their presence known in the Nation’s Capital.

Delegates and chaperones meet National 4-H Staff as they arrive at one of the early National camps in Washington DC.



“Son of a Southern Chef” wins TV Cook-off to Gift 4-H

Lazarus Lynch, a multimedia personality and chef beat out 15 other celebrity chefs to win a substantial financial gift for 4-H. The TV cooking show “Chopped” sponsored the competition. Google his name!


First Lady Lou Hoover Addressed 4-H

In a 1929 radio broadcast during National 4-H Camp on the DC Mall, Mrs. Hoover asked 4-H clubs to “be of service to their communities.” Continuing her interest in gender equality, Mrs. Hoover stressed that boys had an equal responsibility in homemaking.



We Ask Your Help – Again

You are the most important resource in preserving 4-H History and we rely on your kind assistance to help accomplish our goals. This time, we’re looking for a copy of the 1953 national 4-H poster; the original was painted by W. C. Griffith who painted 18 4-H posters and 16 national 4-H calendars.



 

Please help us preserve 4-H History . . .



National 4-H Camp Comes to D.C.

4-H_CampNational 4-H Camp, an annual event since 1927, was held in Washington, DC 26 times before being replaced by National 4-H Conference in 1957; no 4-H Camps held during World War II.

For those 26 years, National 4-H Camp made an indelible impression on the countless youth who participated in the event and experienced the speeches by national leaders, field trips to nationally significant sites, and camaraderie among participants that made it a much anticipated yearly tradition by 4-H members and leaders from around the country. The sitting Presidents and First Ladies often visited the camp site and talked with the delegates or 4-H’ers visited the President at the White House.

The annual “tent city” of the 4-H’ers on the National Mall, next to the USDA Administration building and in the shadow of the Washington Monument, could not help but be noticed by Washington, DC residents and visitors, alike, including the Representatives and Senators. It was most definitely a high visibility event.

The complete history of the National 4-H Camp is posted on the 4-H History Preservation website at: http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Camp/