Western Illinois University

A Foundation for Sustainable Rural Community Development

History of the American Country Life Association

By Stephen R. Hicks and Timothy Collins

Although the Theodore Roosevelt’s Country Life Commission (CLC) of 1908-1909 was abandoned by Congress following his presidency, commission members continued to carry out its mission. Liberty Hyde Bailey and Kenyon L. Butterfield represented CLC a decade later, exerting their influence to help establish the American Country Life Association (ACLA). Groundwork for ACLA was laid at an organizational meeting in Washington, D.C., in 1917. Seventeen educators, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials, and church representatives attended the meeting.

Bailey’s and Butterfield’s CLC experience became influential in forming ACLA when they joined other notable experts in rural sociology, agricultural economics, rural specialists, and individuals concerned with country life, such as Charles J. Galpin, Carl C. Taylor, Henry C. Taylor, and Frank O. Lowden. ACLA’s organizational structure addressed many areas familiar to rural community developers today. Most committees addressed elements of the community: Family; Rural Health; Rural Education; Rural Social Service; Rural Government and Legislation; Rural Recreation; Sociable Life, Morals and Religion; Means of Communication; Country Life Organization; and International Aspects of the Country Life Movement. Leadership offices included the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Field Secretary, and Field Representatives.

ACLA’s first years were spent establishing a solid foundation and purpose. By 1924, ACLA had developed into a leading organization regarding rural affairs. It was incorporated under New York Laws in 1924; the following year it began publishing its journal Rural America, replacing the brief Country Life Bulletin. Membership and funds steadily grew. After five years of organizing, ACLA had grown into a broadly based organization that attracted thousands of people, including rural scholars, farmers, country school teachers, rural ministers, women, and students. The association also attracted representatives from numerous agencies such as United Department of Agriculture (USDA), USDA Cooperative Extension, land grant universities, the YM/YWCA, 4-H, and the American Farm Bureau Federation, and the Farm Foundation.

ACLA held yearly conferences throughout the country. In 1919, the first meeting’s theme was, "What are the Chief Goals in an Adequate Program of Country Life?" Topics discussed at these conferences over the years included rural education; rural homemaking; agencies for agricultural education; health; sanitation; recreational and social affairs for older people; local government; country planning, and religious life (Wunderlich, 2003). The meeting’s agenda suggests the possibility of considering aspects of rural community development that extended beyond farming. During the association’s 77-year history, it offered a national forum that addressed significant social and economic issues of rural life and communities.

The Great Depression ravaged rural America. As the United States struggled through the depression, ACLA also addressed the severe conditions of farming and country life. The association supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (1933-1945) New Deal policies, while trying to adjust to agricultural change. ACLA survived the 1930s, but the following decade challenged its existence. Like many Americans, ACLA made sacrifices to support World War II. It faced financial problems and discontinued its main means of communication, Rural America. The association no longer had a paid staff, and contributions toward the war siphoned off resources, including funding, transportation, and ACLA leaders who were needed to address war-related matters. The association canceled its conferences in 1941, 1942, and 1945. In the ensuing years, ACLA never seemed to recover from the war.

In the postwar years, ACLA’s leaders worked to re-establish and redefine the organization. Although the association continued to host its yearly national conference, financial difficulties plagued the organization. In addition, adapting to a changing world proved difficult. The war produced new forms of communications and health care. Opportunities offered by the GI Bill enabled young farmers to pursue non-agrarian careers. Most importantly, new advances with agricultural equipment and technology generated an outmigration of farm workers and a decline in the number of farms.

As ACLA entered mid-century, it transitioned from the first generation to the second as the organization established new bylaws and a new constitution. It continued to have yearly conferences, but as the decade progressed, issues addressed tended to stray from the social and economic aspects of agriculture toward political and international issues. During this time the organization on a goal that became the younger generation’s primary focus: a second Country Life Commission. However, after years of planning, lobbying, and Congressional hearings, ACLA failed to reach its goal. By the mid 1960s, the association was again re-examining itself in an effort to find direction in the ever-changing society.

In the 1960s, ACLA continued to try to improve country and farm life. At the same time, it experienced declining membership and competition with other agricultural and rural development agencies. While the association discussed various aspects of rural America, the United States witnessed social upheaval and reform. This was the era of the Civil Rights Movement, rising awareness of urban and rural poverty, heightened federal intervention in regional and social inequities, and the growing importance of community development study and practice. In 1967, the American Country Life Association suffered what likely was a fatal wound as a result of the War on Poverty. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s (1963-1969) National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty issued a study, The People Left Behind. Its recommendations resembled ACLA’s purpose and eclipsed the association. Following Johnson’s ‘Great Society’ programs, the Association faded in the 1970s. ACLA held its last convention in Morgantown, WV, in 1976, leaving others to carry on rural community development in the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt’s Country Life Commission.

Recommended Resource

  • Wunderlich, Gene. 2003. American Country Life: A Legacy. Dallas, TX: University Press of America.