Guide to the Greenwood Farmer's Union Coop.​ Shipping Assc.​ Records,​ 1929-​1971

Summary Information

Title: Farmer's Union Cooperative Shipping Association (Greenwood, Wis.) Records Inclusive Dates: 1929-1971

Creator: Farmer's Union Cooperative Shipping Association (Greenwood, Wis.)

Call Number: Eau Claire Mss AW

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository: Housed at the Area Research Center, William D. McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Library-Archives Division

Archival Locations: UW-Eau Claire McIntyre Library / Eau Claire Area Research Ctr. 

Abstract: Records of a non-profit association which bought, sold, and transported livestock for its members, and which affiliated with the Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association in 1931. Included are minutes, correspondence, annual reports, auction sales records, tax returns, and other records.

Language: English

Search Terms/Subject Terms

• Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association
• Agriculture, Cooperative—Wisconsin
• Livestock—Wisconsin—Cooperative Marketing
• Greenwood (Wis.)
• Greenwood Shipping Association

Biography/History

The Farmer's Union Cooperative Shipping Association, known also as the Greenwood Shipping Association, was founded at Greenwood, Wisconsin, on December 3, 1929. Located in a small town in west-central Wisconsin, the co-op functioned as a non-profit association that bought, sold and transported livestock for its members. By 1931 it affiliated with the Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association, Milwaukee, to which it shipped livestock for sale. Equity opened regional markets, first for direct shipments to packers and later as auction markets. The Farmer's Union Cooperative shipped primarily to the Stratford and Altoona markets. These records best document the coop's part in Equity's auction marketing system.

In 1966 the members of the Farmer's Union Cooperative voted to join with other area sales co-ops that were members of Equity Cooperative to form the Equity Stratford Livestock Marketing Cooperative. The last meeting of the Farmer's Union Co-op, at which the directors determined what property and records to turn over to Equity Stratford, was recorded on January 28, 1967.

Scope and Content Note

The records primarily document the 1950s and early 1960s and are divided into three series: Administrative, Financial, and Published Material. Within the ADMINISTRATIVE series, the Record Book is the best source of history for the cooperative. Minutes from annual membership and quarterly directors meetings are recorded from the birth of the organization to its dissolution in 1966. The volume also provides an undated listing of members. Scattered documents comprise the Equity annual meetings file while clippings, correspondence and undated administrative documents, including a draft of bylaws, constitute the Miscellany file.

The Ledger in the FINANCIAL series is indexed and lists the expenses and income of the co-op from 1950 to 1966. The 1954 Federal Census of Business is a copy of the co-op's return. Composing the largest portion of this series are the Sales reports, records indicating the prices received for various types of livestock by individual farmers. They note at which auction the animal was sold as well as the association fees and other expenses deducted.

The Equity Livestock News Round-Up and the Wisconsin Council of Agriculture Cooperative Newsletter constitute the PUBLISHED MATERIAL series. The issues contained within the files are for scattered months during the years listed.

Administrative/Restriction Information

Acquisition Information 

Presented by Ernest Elmer, Greenwood, Wisconsin, 1977. Accession Number: M77-267

Processing Information 

Processed by Vivian Laflamme and Joanne Hohler, February 1983.

Contents List

Series: AdministrativeBox/Folder 1/1Record book, 1929-1971 Box/Folder 1/2State of Wisconsin, Secretary of State, annual report of co-operative associations, 1945, 1951-1955 Box/Folder 1/3Annual report of domestic corporations, 1956-1965 Box/Folder 1/4Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association, annual meetings, 1963, 1968-1969 Box/Folder 1/5Miscellany, 1944-1966, undated 
Series: FinancialBox/Folder 1/6Ledger, 1950-1966 Box/Folder 1/7Annual financial statements, 1933, 1935-1937, 1940- 1950, 1952-1966 Box/Folder 1/8Exempt cooperative association income tax returns, federal, 1943-1945, 1947-1960 Box/Folder 1/9Employer's quarterly federal tax returns, 1953-1954, 1958-1959 Box/Folder 1/101954 census of business, federalBox/Folder 1/11Members who sold livestock at Altoona and Stratford markets, ca. 1963 Box/Folder 1/12Association fees, 1963-1964, 1966 
Sales reports Box/Folder 1/13November, 1953 Box/Folder 1/14-15December 1957; January 1958 Box/Folder 2/1-3January, March 1961; January, November 1962; 1963 Box/Folder 3/1-31964-1966 
Series: Published MaterialBox/Folder 2/4Equity Livestock News Round-Up, 1963-1966, 1971 Box/Folder 2/5Wisconsin Council of Agriculture Co-operative Newsletter, 1963-1965