Farmers & Merchants Bank Correspondence

The collection consists entirely of the incoming correspondence to Farmers & Merchants Bank of Sheyenne, North Dakota. between 1907 and 1942. It is arranged alphabetically by author then by recipient. Prominent among the addressees are bank employees Henry Grinde, Joseph E. Johnson, John F. Swenson, Emil. B. Norin, and Alfred Garnaas. Though largely prosaic in their content, the correspondence reveals the thoughts and feelings of the Swedish immigrant farmers the bank served throughout the northern Plains, with correspondence from all over the United States and some from as far away as Sweden and Norway. The letters highlight salient historical events such as political turmoil in Europe during World War I, comparisons of agricultural conditions in the United States and Sweden, and the individual financial crises brought on by the Great Depression.

Subjects in the collection include: Agriculture of the Great Plains; Indians in North Dakota; 20th century agricultural history; divorce; real property; rental housing management; Swedish-Americans; World War I; and World War II.