The E. Howard Hill Papers (1923-2001, undated) contain biographical information, correspondence, approximately 400 speech manuscripts, files on the history and activities of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, files relating to agricultural missions to South America (1962) and Eastern Asia (1963), clippings, and photographs. The bulk of the material is Hill’s correspondence as President of the Iowa Farm Bureau. Letters of interest include those from Secretaries of Agriculture Charles F. Brannan and Ezra T. Benson; U.S. Senators Allen J. Ellender, Guy M. Gillette, Bourke Hickenlooper, and Jack Miller; and U.S. Representatives James E. Bromwell, Paul Cunnningham, James I. Dolliver, H. R. Gross, Ben F. Jensen, John Kyl, Fred Schwengel, and Leonard G. Wolf. Other correspondents include Allan B. Kline and Charles B. Shuman. Hill’s reaction to an editorial in Wallace’s Farmer related to the performance of Shuman is also in the collection. Most of these letters related to farm policy supported or opposed by the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Iowa Farm Bureau. Particular issues include price controls, soil conservation, interstate roads, the Jensen-Mundt Alcohol Fuel bill, and the Animal Disease Research Lab located in Ames.



Hill’s annual addresses to the State Convention of the Iowa Farm Bureau, 1948-1963, are a major portion of the collection. The topics of these speeches often include the promotion of agriculture, international trade, price controls, and reapportionment. Transcripts of speeches by Hill to civic groups and other organizations on the reapportionment of the Iowa Legislature are in the collection. There are also photographs and papers related to the Farm Bureau’s agricultural missions to South America in 1962 and Asia in 1963. The collection contains transcripts of Hill’s testimony before Senate and House Committees of Agriculture. These include House testimony on the Granger Farm Bill in 1950, and price controls in 1951. The testimony for the Senate is related to a farm policy bill and land adjustment in 1961, sponsored by Senator Bourke Hickenlooper.



Papers related to Hill’s work on the American Good Government Committee, Humane Slaughter Committee (1958-1962), Iowa Committee on the resettlement of Displaced Persons, Iowa Institute of Cooperation (1947-1951), and the Iowa Development Commission (1954-1960) are present as well. At the state level, Hill concerned himself with the issues of reapportionment, daylight savings time in Des Moines, and the promotion of agricultural products, with significant correspondence to Representative L. O. Weston and Ray Cunningham. The largest amount of personal correspondence is with William W. Waymack of Dallas County, Iowa. Particular issues include a trip to Waymack’s farm by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, which never materialized, and the Atomic Energy Commission on which Waymack served. Other personal correspondence of note is with V. B. Hamilton of Hampton, Iowa. See Appendix I for a list of other correspondents.



The collection also includes a scrapbook created by Hill’s daughter, Marjorie Joslin, and documents both his personal and professional life.