Southwest Irrigated Cotton Growers Association (SWIG) records
Collection
Identifier: Ms-0481
Scope and Content
This is a minimally-processed collection. The container list follows the identification written on the boxes at the time of accession. The boxes have not been arranged. The records include the following:
Audit Reports – annual audit reports; Commodity Division–materials usual relating to cottonseed sales(?); Correspondence; Cottonseed Commodities – records relating to that division; General Accounting Records – the day-to-day operations files, mostly consisting of bank statements, cancelled checks, etc.; may include some correspondence or reports; Kretschmer’s Files – the specific files of Hans Kretschmer, the longtime SWIG sales agent who traveled abroad; Member Agreements – the signed agreements over the years for SWIG members to participate; Member Relations – the annual files of correspondence and business records with each SWIG member that year; Oil Mill – records relating to that division; Patronage Checks – SWIG-copy records of each check disbursement made to its members; Personnel Records; Sales Records – records relating to that division, over and beyond Kretschmer’s Files for the same period; and other smaller sets of assorted materials.
There are also photographs, including an album made in the 1950s with carefully composed shots of people, buildings and machinery.
Audit Reports – annual audit reports; Commodity Division–materials usual relating to cottonseed sales(?); Correspondence; Cottonseed Commodities – records relating to that division; General Accounting Records – the day-to-day operations files, mostly consisting of bank statements, cancelled checks, etc.; may include some correspondence or reports; Kretschmer’s Files – the specific files of Hans Kretschmer, the longtime SWIG sales agent who traveled abroad; Member Agreements – the signed agreements over the years for SWIG members to participate; Member Relations – the annual files of correspondence and business records with each SWIG member that year; Oil Mill – records relating to that division; Patronage Checks – SWIG-copy records of each check disbursement made to its members; Personnel Records; Sales Records – records relating to that division, over and beyond Kretschmer’s Files for the same period; and other smaller sets of assorted materials.
There are also photographs, including an album made in the 1950s with carefully composed shots of people, buildings and machinery.
Dates
- 1926 - 2006
Access Restrictions
Open. All materials in this collection are available for research under supervised conditions in the Research Room.
Copy Restrictions
Copyrights associated with materials in this collection have not been transferred to New Mexico State University.
Organizational Sketch
The Southwest Irrigated Cotton Growers Association, abbreviated to SWIG, was formed in 1926 as a non-profit farmers’ co-op to promote and sell cotton and cottonseed from New Mexico and Far West Texas. More than half of the farms in the co-op were located in El Paso and Doña Ana Counties, with the entire area extending from the Pecos River to eastern Arizona, from the 34th parallel south. Field offices and warehouses were located in Houston, Artesia, Fabens, Las Cruces, Deming, and Charlotte, North Carolina in addition to the main facility at El Paso. SWIG grew out of an earlier cooperative plan and built on it, retaining some strategies of its predecessor and introducing some innovations.
Anyone who grew cotton in the area was eligible for membership in SWIG. Prospective members signed applications and paid a non-refundable membership fee. They also signed individual marketing agreements which were renewed every 5 years. In its heyday, SWIG marketed around 100,000 bales of cotton a year, plus oil and other products from 50,000 tons of cottonseed.
In 2006 SWIG merged with CALCOT, the California cotton growers’ cooperative, and the SWIG office in El Paso offered their operational records to NMSU Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department.
Anyone who grew cotton in the area was eligible for membership in SWIG. Prospective members signed applications and paid a non-refundable membership fee. They also signed individual marketing agreements which were renewed every 5 years. In its heyday, SWIG marketed around 100,000 bales of cotton a year, plus oil and other products from 50,000 tons of cottonseed.
In 2006 SWIG merged with CALCOT, the California cotton growers’ cooperative, and the SWIG office in El Paso offered their operational records to NMSU Library’s Archives and Special Collections Department.
Extent
363.00 Linear Feet (287 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Southwest Irrigated Cotton Growers Association, abbreviated to SWIG, was formed in 1926 as a non-profit farmers’ co-op to promote and sell cotton and cottonseed from New Mexico and Far West Texas. More than half of the farms in the co-op were located in El Paso and Doña Ana Counties. This minimally-processed collection includes records of marketing cotton and cottonseed products, meetings of the board of directors, maps and photographs.
- Title
- Guide to the Southwest Irrigated Cotton Growers Association (SWIG) records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Brandi Vigil, Florence Kone, and Charles Stanford, 2009-2011
- Date
- © 2016
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections Repository