Missouri State University Libraries
Copenhaver Collection
Collection Number: LA 22
Volume: 1 cubic feet
Dates: 1924-1938
This collection has been digitized in its entirety and is available online in our Digital Collections.
Provenance
The collection was donated to the archives by Dorothy Copenhaver (Mrs. H. H. Copenhaver) in 2000.
Copyright
This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Tile 17, United States Code).Access
The collection is unrestricted. Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be obtained from the Department of Special Collection and Archives. Citations should be as follows: Identification of the item, box and folder number, Copenhaver Collection [LA 22], Department of Special Collections and Archives, Missouri State University.
Biography/Historical Sketch
James Albert Copenhaver and his brother, H. H. Copenhaver, were union members who worked in Springfield, Missouri’s milling industry in the 1920s and 1930s. James Albert was a bookkeeper and cashier for the Missouri Farmers Association, whose Mill and Feed Company was located on Holland Street in Springfield. James Albert resigned as bookkeeper and cashier in 1928 and began working for the Tindle Milling Company, also of Springfield.
The Missouri Farmers Association (MFA) formed as an organization in 1914, incorporating approximately three thousand farm clubs around the state of Missouri, in order to improve the economic conditions of local farmers. William Hirth, the organization’s founder, served as president from 1914 until his death in 1940.
In the early 1920s, the MFA began a wholesale feed operation in Springfield, Missouri, called the Farm Club Mill and Feed Company of Springfield. In 1924, the name was changed to the Missouri Farmers Association Purchasing Department, but was still referred to as the Farm Club Mill and Feed Company, as well as other similar names, such as the Springfield Mill and Feed Department, the Mill and Feed Company of Springfield, and the Springfield Mill.
Today, MFA Incorporated provides livestock feed, plant food, crop protection products, and other products and services to farmers and ranchers in Missouri and the Midwest.
Sources:
Young, Raymond A. Cultivating Cooperation: A History of the Missouri Farmers Association. University of Missouri Press, 1995.
“About Us.” MFA Incorporated. 2006. MFA Incorporated. 13 June 2007 <http://www.mfa-inc.com/web/guest/aboutus>
Scope and Content
The collection mainly consists of materials regarding the Missouri Farmers Association (MFA) Milling Company in Springfield, Missouri, including photographs of the inside of their building and of floods at their building in the late 1920s; MFA financials; and meeting minutes for the Exchange Managers of Southwest Missouri, especially regarding the purchase of a new mill. Also included in the collection is information regarding the Flour, Cereal, Feed Mill, and Grain Elevator Workers Union.
Container List
| Box 1 | |||
| Folder | 1 | Flour, Cereal, Feed Mill and Grain Elevator Workers Union Ballots | Dec. 4, 1938 |
| 2 | Lipscomb Grain and Seed Company Postcard | n.d. | |
| 3 | MFA Milling Company Drawing | n.d. |
|
| 4 | MFA Financial Statement | Sept. 30, 1928 | |
| 5 | MFA Operative Statement | 1928 | |
| 6 | Mill Owners Mutual Fire Insurance Advertisement | c. 1931 | |
| 7 | Minutes and Correspondence | 1928, n.d. | |
| 8 | North Dakota State Mill and Elevator Workers’ Union Working Agreement | March 4, 1937 | |
| 9 | Photograph – Missouri Farmers Association | March 31, 1924 | |
| 10 | Photographs – Springfield Mill and Feed Company | 1927, 1937, n.d. | |
