Kost, William Cassell, 1917-1989 (farmer) Search this
Former owner:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Search this
Extent:
17.66 Cubic feet (53 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Housebooks
Receipts
Place:
Illinois -- 1940-1990
Vermont (Ill.) -- 1940-1990
Date:
1939-1989
Summary:
The records of the Kost family farm, Vermont, Illinois. The farm consisted of 120 acres where small grains, hay, and cattle were raised.
Scope and Contents:
The William C. Kost Farm Records is an exhaustive collection of bills, receipts, pay-stubs, and other financial records relating to the business of a small, mid-western family farm. Beginning with Kost's employment as a bookkeeper in 1942 for local Vermont, Illinois area taverns, the financial records intensely cover the period until the year before his death in 1989. The collection is a complete financial picture of a typical mid-western farm during the post WWII period, through the agricultural boom days of the 1950s and 1960s, and into the trying agricultural times of the late 1970s and 1980s. These financial records reconstruct a day to day, week to week, and month to month, financial portrait of the Kost farm. The limited amount of correspondence found in this collection complements the financial record. Tax returns, medical, and personal expense records are all included within the collection. Kost and his wife ran the farm operation with occasional hired help. Kost also took a job off the farm to supplement the farm income.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into three series.
Series 1, Tavern Accounts, 1939-1945
Series 2, Maryland Farm, 1946
Series 3, William C. Kost Farm, 1946-1989
Biographical / Historical:
William Cassel Kost (1917-1989) acquired land and began farming in Vermont, Illinois in 1946. The farm consisted of 120 acres where Kost raised small grains, hay, and cattle. Prior to this time, Kost had been a bookkeeper for local taverns and a tenant farmer. Over the next fifty-three years, Kost worked his own farm as well as occasionally renting land, the Maryland Farm and others. In the 1950s, Kost secured a position with Hemp & Company, later known as the King-Sealey Thermos Factory, first in a part-time capacity then as a full-time employee, retiring on disability in 1975. He continued to farm until his death in August 1989. He was married to Maxine Elvidge (1916-1987) and had one son, William Elvidge Kost (1941-).
Related Materials:
Division of Work and Industry and the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds artifacts related to this collection.
Provenance:
Donated to the National Museum of American History, Archives Center by William E. Kost in 1993.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
