Website Search
Find information on spaces, staff, and services.
Catalog Search
Mixed Materials
Gordon Nielsen papers, 1950-1986
- Author / Creator
- Available as
- Physical
- Summary
-
This collection consists of financial documents and tax records from 1950-1986. The bulk of it is from the 1950s-1970s when H. Gordon Nielsen ran the farm. These include itemized notebooks for ever...
This collection consists of financial documents and tax records from 1950-1986. The bulk of it is from the 1950s-1970s when H. Gordon Nielsen ran the farm. These include itemized notebooks for every year which detail income and expenses, including farm sales and employee wages. The notebooks continue past the 1970s, ending in 1986. Although they no longer recorded farm income, they recorded miscellaneous income such as income from trusts and securities. The tax records include both federal and state tax returns. Also included are documents pertaining to the estate transfer of Sophia Nielsen after her death to Gordon Nielsen in 1953. These documents include correspondence, notarized legal documents, and itemized appraisals of the estate's cash value. The records provide a broad overview of the economics of a sample small-scale dairy farm in northern Wisconsin during the 20th century.
Details
Checking for availability...
- Format
- Mixed Materials
- Language
- English
- Contributors
- Physical Details
-
- 1.6 linear feet (4 archives boxes)
- Arrangement
- By series
- OCLC
- on1245967690
- Finding Aids
-
- Finding aid available in Special Collections & Archives
- Collection is open to the public.
- Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C.
- This collection is available for transfer through the Area Research Center Network. Contact Special Collections & Archives for more information.
- The Nielsen Family Farm was a dairy farm located in Rice Lake, WI. It was originally owned by Henry Nielsen, who acquired the land in 1900. He died in 1936, and his wife, Sophia Nielsen, inherited the farm. After Sophia Nielsen's death in 1953, her estate was divided amongst her six children and one of her sons, Henry Gordon Nielsen, took over the operation of the farm. During the latter years of the 20th century, agriculture in Wisconsin was in a tumultuous state. The rise of agribusiness coincided with the decline of family farms as the market for food shifted into vertically integrated supply chains. Farm income was rising to a record height, with income tripling from 1971 to 1973. (Gill, Rise and Decline of the Family Farm in Central Southern Wisconsin ... p. 15) This was due to the farm bubble of the early 1970s, which was caused by Nixon changing the dollar to a floating exchange rate system, as well as a wheat and grain deal with the Soviet Union having dramatic effects for prices across the entirety of the US agricultural market. Yet, at the same time, the Nielsen farm lost around $3,000 in income from 1970 to 1971. Their income continued to dwindle in the years following due to less dairy and cattle sales, even as farm income was rising nationwide. The records show that Gordon Nielsen attempted to mitigate this through investment in capital gains such as securities, which he would receive annual dividends for. Around 1973, Gordon Nielsen chose to retire. He spent his later years living off securities and other capital gains which he had invested in during his time as a farmer. The '76-'77 notebooks show rent income rather than cattle/milk income. After that, his only income is miscellaneous income.
- Materials are in English.