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Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], West Virginia University, Extension Service, Records Related to World War II Activities and Other Material, A&M 5220, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

The West Virginia University Extension Service provided vital education and communication to farm families before and during World War II. This collection documents the Mountain State Tourist Homes Industries spearheaded by Extension Service during the depression years, and four programs during the World War II years: food preservation, Neighborhood Leaders, the Farm Women's Army, and mattress making.

The tourist homes in West Virginia were managed by Mountain State Tourist Homes and included the Mountain State Home Industries Shop. The homes not only provided a place for tourists and vacationers to sleep during the time when roads and automobiles were becoming more abundant in the early 1930s, but provided meals made with products from the farms and provided additional income for farm families. Much of this work was performed by women who maintained the homes. For $5.00 an interested home owner could join the tourist home cooperative and receive a sign designating it as such. The sign indicated to travelers that the home had been inspected using scorecards and met the standards of the Mountain State Tourist Homes.

The U.S. government's expectations of support of the war effort by farms was communicated to localities through extension services mostly with directives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Women provided the labor for farms organized by the Farm Women's Bureau and Farm Women's Clubs, and food preservation for economy in feeding the family to keep up the war effort. The extension services guided local communities by organizing the Neighborhood Leaders program.

Mattress making became another program managed locally by the WWII era Extension Service. The U.S. government coined the saying "You can't eat cotton," thus mattress making. The surplus of cotton was used and poor families received mattresses.

Gertrude Humphreys who worked for Extension Service for 46 years, 1919-1965, played a major role in the implementation and management of the programs documented in this collection. It includes her correspondence, notes, and other collected material as well as her speech at the 45th annual conference of the American Country Life Association when she was serving as its president. Other women whose materials are included in this collection include Home Extension Agent Katherine Stump who managed the 1930s tourist home program, and Anna Boggs whose name is inscribed on Neighborhood Leaders Program materials as well as additional wartime directives.

Scope and Contents

Records of the Extension Service of West Virginia University. The records relate to the work of the Extension Service with the tourist home program, 1930-1933, and West Virginia women's efforts on the home front during World War II effort. War efforts include food preservation and conservation education and training including measures and programs such as annual food conservation schools for home economists with companies and agencies; the coordination of the Neighborhood Leaders program for farm families; women's farming including the Women's Farm Army through the Farm Women's Bureau and Farm Women's Clubs; and a mattress making program to use excess cotton. A few miscellaneous documents briefly touch on the history of the Extension Service as well as its wide range of activities.

World War II era Extension Service materials include the correspondence of home extension agents; program pamphlets and brochures; U.S. Department of Agriculture information sheets on a number of issues supporting these programs; a few photographs; reports and data by county for all programs; and directives and guidance from the federal government for all programs. In addition to correspondence to and from longtime Home Extension Demonstration Leader Gertrude Humphreys, the collection contains the booklets and other materials inscribed by Anna Boggs of Mineral County and the papers and correspondence of Katherine Stump who coordinated the Mountain State Tourist Home cooperative.

The collection is divided into 6 series:

Series 1. Tourist Homes (Boxes 1 and 3), 1924-1954; bulk dates 1930-1933
Series 2. Food Preservation (Boxes 1-3), 1938-1948
Series 3. Neighborhood Leaders (Box 2), 1942-1944
Series 4. Farm Women's Bureau and Clubs (Boxes 2-3), 1923-1996; bulk dates 1941-1945
Series 5. Mattress Making (Box 2), 1940-1949; bulk dates 1940-1941
Series 6. West Virginia University Extension Service Materials, Mostly War Effort (Boxes 2-3), 1939-1966

Separated Material

Brochure to Printed Ephemera Collection: "Farm Families in War or Peace" by Extension Service of West Virginia University, ca. 1941-1945.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• West Virginia University -- History -- World War, 1939-1945
• West Virginia University. Extension Service