This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Size | 20 items |
Abstract | The Delta Cooperative Farm of Rochdale, Miss., was a philanthropically supported endeavor founded in 1936 to help southern agricultural labrorers out of their economic plight. Interracial efforts on the farm were primarily interested in establishing economic equality between African Americans and whites who worked together for equal wages. The collection contains material related to Delta Cooperative Farm collected by Paul J. Vanderwood, journalist for the Memphis, Tenn., Press-Scimitar including articles, clippings, and other items; notes made by Vanderwood; and letters, 1964, to Vanderwood from David R. Minter, physician and head of the Delta Cooperative Farm medical clinic, and Constance Rumbough recounting in some detail their experiences as workers at the farm in the 1930s. |
Creator | Vanderwood, Paul J. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, June 2010
Updated by: Laura Hart, January 2021
This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.
Back to TopThe following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
Delta and Providence Cooperative Farms Papers (#3474), Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Back to TopDelta Cooperative Farm, started in 1936 in the community of Hillhouse (later called Rochdale) in Bolivar County, Miss., was an attempt by a philanthropically supported corporation, Cooperative Farms, Inc., to help southern agricultural laborers out of their economic plight. Delta Cooperative Farm was founded by missionary evangelist and author Sherwood Eddy, who served as secretary-treasurer, and Reverend Sam H. Franklin, director, 1936-1943. In addition to Franklin and Eddy, the original board of trustees included theologian Reinhold Niebuhr; John Rust, inventor of the cotton picking machine; and Professor William R. Amberson. Later trustees included Blaine Treadway, Charles S. Johnson, Arthur Raper, and Frederick Patterson. Most of the first member families on the farm were sharecroppers who lost work following the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933; many were also refugees from East Arkansas who were evicted during a strike in the mid-1930s. Interracial efforts on the farm primarily focused on establishing economic equality, as whites and African Americans worked together and were to be paid equally depending upon the amount and quality of work done. The medical clinic at Delta Cooperative Farm was run by physician David R. Minter.
Back to TopThe collection contains material related to Delta Cooperative Farm collected by Paul J. Vanderwood, journalist for the Memphis, Tenn., Press-Scimitar including articles, clippings, and other items; notes made by Vanderwood; and letters, 1964, to Vanderwood from David R. Minter, physician and head of the Delta Cooperative Farm medical clinic, and Constance Rumbough recounting in some detail their experiences as workers at the farm in the 1930s.
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