John C. Baker papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MS-0546

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The collection (1921-1980, undated) contains research files and drafts of Baker's book,

Farm Broadcasting: The First Sixty Years (1981). Research files contain original materials collected by Baker during his research for the book, including farm radio directories, news clippings, correspondence, scripts of slide presentations, and speeches. Correspondents include Dixon Harper, Richard B. Hull, Lawrence F. Haeg, Forest A. Harness, Don Lerch, and E. B. Reid.

Dates

1921-1980, undated

Language of Materials

English

Access Restrictions

Open for research.

Use/Re-use Restrictions

Consult Special Collections and University Archives

Biography/Profile

John C. Baker was born in 1909 in Brazil, Indiana. He received his B.S. (1930) in agriculture from Purdue University. He began farm broadcasting at the Purdue radio station WBAA from 1930-1931. He also worked stints in farm broadcasting in Massachusetts, Chicago, and in the radio service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where he participated in the National Farm and Home Hour on NBC and The American Farmer on ABC. In the 1950s and 1960s he worked as an information officer in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Census Bureau. He published Farm Broadcasting: The First Sixty Years with Iowa State University Press in 1981. He died in 1999 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Extent

13.08 Linear Feet (5 records center cartons, 3 document boxes, 1 half-document box, 3 photo boxes)

Additional Description

Abstract

Farm broadcaster and author. John C. Baker (1909-1999) received his B.S. (1930) in agriculture from Purdue University. He began farm broadcasting at Purdue in 1930-1931 and continued in the field in Massachusetts, Chicago, and in the radio service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The collection contains farm radio directories, news clippings, correspondence, scripts of slide presentations, speeches, and materials assembled for his book, Farm Broadcasting: The First Sixty Years (1981), including drafts of the book. Correspondents include Dixon Harper, Richard B. Hull, Lawrence F. Haeg, Forest A. Harness, Don Lerch, and E. B. Reid.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into three series:

Series 1, Research files by book chapter,

Series 2, General research files

Series 3, Book drafts

The collection contains two distinct types of files: research files and book drafts. Within the research files, there was a group of files that clearly followed the structure of the book by chapter. There were other research files that Baker used to write the book, but their organization was not so clearly tied to the chapter structure of the book. To clarify this organization, the research files have been grouped into two separate series.

Items in related collections

RS 5/6. Iowa State University. WOI Radio and Television records, 1911-2012, undated RS 13/13/55. John D. "Jack" Shelley papers, 1944-2011, undated RS 21/7/42. Herbert Plambeck papers, 1920-2001, undated

Related collection materials

Other related collections in the Special Collections and University Archives, Iowa State University Library include:

Ronald C. Bently Papers (RS 13/9/53)

William E. Drips Papers (RS 13/13/53)

Clair B. Heyer Papers (MS 334)

Processing Information

Released on 2018-11-01.

Subjects

Clippings (information artifacts) Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Directories Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Drafts (documents) Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Photographic prints Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Radio broadcasting Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Radio in agriculture Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Scripts (writing) Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source
Speeches (documents) Subject Source: Unspecified ingested source