Administrative Information | Search Terms | Background Note | Scope and Contents Note | Arrangement | PDF of Finding Aid
 

COLLECTION SUMMARY

Title:     H.L. Loucks correspondence with R.F. Pettigrew collection

Dates:     1914-1916

Creator:     H. L. (Henry Langford) Loucks

Physical Description:     0.42 linear feet—1 container

Collection number:     MA 23

Language:     Collection material in English, German, and Spanish.

Repository:     South Dakota State University Archives, Hilton M. Briggs Library, South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D.

Abstract:     Collection is composed of correspondence between Henry L. Loucks and Richard F. Pettigrew during 1914-1916.  The content is mainly political in nature, dealing with issues of the progressive movement in the United States in  the early 1900s.

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Provenance:    This collection was donated by George L. Brown, Louck's grandson, in February 1998. 

Access Restrictions:     This collection is open to research without restriction. Items in this collection do not circulate and may be used in-house only. 

Copyright Status:     Copyright 2008 by South Dakota State University and SDSU Archives. Please credit the SDSU Archives if you copy or reproduce material from this finding aid. 

It is the responsibility of anyone reproducing material to determine the copyright holders and obtain permission from them if necessary. Archives staff will provide available copyright information on request. Please note that most collections, especially those received before 1997, may not have complete information on file. (Revised 15 SEP 2003) 

Preferred Citation:     [Identification of item]. H.L. Loucks correspondence with R.F. Pettigrew collection, MA 23, South Dakota State University Archives, South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D. 

Processing Information:    This collection was processed by Crystal J. Gamradt on November 19, 1998 with revisions on July 8, 2008 (cjg).  

SELECTED SEARCH TERMS

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the subject guide. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Persons:

• Loucks, Henry Langford, 1846-1928.

• Pettigrew, Richard F. (Richard Franklin), 1848-1926.

Subjects:

• Agriculture and politics.

• Dakota Ruralist.

• Progressive Party (Founded 1912)

• Progressivism (United States politics)

• South Dakota—Politics and government.

BACKGROUND NOTE 

Henry Langford Loucks was born at Hull, Ontario, Canada, May 24, 1846 to William J. and Anna (York) Loucks.  He was educated in the Canadian common schools.  He married Florence Isabel McCraney at Oakville, Ontario, Canada, May 22, 1878.  They had seven children, four of whom grew to maturity:  Perry, Anna, Elizabeth, and Daniel.  Loucks came to the United States and conducted a mercantile business in Michigan and later in Missouri.  In 1884, he settled on a government homestead in Deuel County, Dakota Territory, near Clear Lake (S.D.).  His settlement came as the great boom was subsiding.  He experienced almost at once the hardships which were common to the farmers of the region and he took up their cause by organizing a "farmer's club" which soon became the Territorial Alliance.  In 1885, this group affiliated with the National Farmer's Alliance.  Loucks became the leader and president of the Territorial Alliance and assisted in organizing a number of cooperative business ventures, including fire and hail insurance and merchandising.  He also established the Dakota Ruralist as the exponent of his economic views and published it for nearly twenty years.

At first, he and his associates, who generally affiliated with the Republican Party, hoped to accomplish their objectives through the existing parties.  But in 1890, at a joint convention of the Knights of Labor and the state Farmers' Alliance, of which he was then president, Loucks was named as candidate for governor.  He was defeated, but succeeded in consolidating a large section of the farmers into a separate political party in 1891, at first known as the Independent, later identified with the People's of Populist Party.  In 1892, he presided over the first Populist Party national convention.  In the same year he was elected president of the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union.  He fought for the adoption of the initiative and referendum in South Dakota in 1898 and its success was conceded to have resulted from his efforts. 

Loucks published several works, the titles of which indicate the direction of this thought.  Some of the titles include:  The New Monetary System (1893); Government Ownership of Railroad and Telegraphs (1894); and the Great Conspiracy of the House of Morgan and How to Defeat It (1916).

While his home for many years was Watertown, South Dakota, his death occurred at Clear Lake, South Dakota, December 29, 1928.

Richard F. Pettigrew was a Delegate from the Territory of Dakota and a Senator from South Dakota. Born in Ludlow, Windsor County, Vt., July 23, 1848, he moved with his parents to Wisconsin in 1854. He attended the public schools and Evansville Academy, Evansville, Wis. and entered Beloit College, Beloit, Wis., in 1864. He spent one year teaching school and studying law in Iowa and entered the law department of the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1867.

He went to Dakota in 1869 in the employ of a United States deputy surveyor. He settled in Sioux Falls and was admitted to the bar about 1871. Pettigrew practiced law, and engaged in surveying and the real estate business.

He was a member of the Territorial House of Representatives 1872 and served in the Territorial council 1877 and 1879. He was elected as a Republican Delegate to the Forty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1881-March 3, 1883). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress. He was a member of the Territorial council 1885.

Upon the admission of South Dakota as a State into the Union was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1889 and reelected in 1895 and served from November 2, 1889, to March 3, 1901.

Pettigrew left the Republican party on June 17, 1896, to join the Silver Republicans. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1900. He served as chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs (Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses).

He engaged in the practice of law in New York City and returned to Sioux Falls where he was active in politics and business until his death in that city October 5, 1926 

Bibliography:

Addresses, [Watertown?, S.D. : s.n., between 1910 and 1930]. [SD Collection: S561.5 .L68]

Government ownership of railroads and telegraph, as advocated by the National Farmers' Alliance and industrial union, Huron, S.D. : s.n., 1893. [Books/Upper Level: HE1081.L6]

The great conspiracy of the house of Morgan and how to defeat it, [Watertown, S.D. : H. L. Loucks] c1916. [Books/Upper Level: HG2481.L6g]

The great conspiracy of the house of Morgan exposed and how to defeat it, [Watertown, S.D. : The Author], c1916. [Books/Upper Level: HG2481.L6g2]

How to restore and maintain our government bonds at par, [Watertown, S.D. : The Author], c1921. [Books/Upper Level: HJ8117.L84]

The mythical gold base : or, Standard of the Federal Reserve System compared with our farmers land loan and sub-treasury plan, [Watertown, S.D. : American Honest Money League, 1922]. [SD Collection: HG2565.L6]

The new monetary system as advocated by the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, [Aberdeen, S.D.], Ruralist Quarterly, 1895. [Books/Upper Level: HG529.L6 1895]

"Our daily bread" must be freed from the greed of private monopoly, [Watertown, S.D. : The Author] c1919. [Books/Upper Level: HD9036.L7]

Related Material:

Guarnieri, Thom, H. L. Loucks and the Dakota Ruralist: voices of reform, Thesis (M.S.)—Journalism and Mass Communications Dept., South Dakota State University, 1981. [Archives: LB2385.G932]

South Dakota Farmers’ Alliance Records, South Dakota State University Archives, South Dakota State University, Brookings, S.D. [Archives: MA 11]

SCOPE and CONTENTS NOTE

This collection is composed of correspondence between Henry Langford Loucks and Richard F. Pettigrew during the years 1914-1916.  The content of the letters is mainly political in nature, dealing with issues of the progressive movement in the United States in the early 1900's.

ARRANGEMENT of the RECORDS

Folders are arranged in alphabetical order and there under chronologically. 

Box 1.

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