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Joseph M. Tucker Massey Harvest Brigade Collection
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Folder 8: “6000 acres cut, and no washing machine!” by Donald Wendt, Ferguson Heritage, Issue 34

In this article, Donald Wendt takes a reader through buying an M-H 21 combine and working with the harvest brigade in 1944. This article also includes a photo of Joseph M. Tucker who was Massey-Harris vice president and United States Sales Manager who masterminded the Massey-Harris Harvest Brigade. It also includes a photograph of Judy Horsch and Lenwood Holo on the Brigade trail; re-living the operation conceived and planned by her father, Joseph M. Tucker.

Folder 4: 1944-1945 Harvest Brigade…keyed to the wartime harvest emergency, (Andale, KS: Judy Horsch)

This booklet has information on the Harvest Brigade that includes the plan, advertising, pledge of the Harvest Brigade, how the 1945 Harvest Brigade differed from 1944, the Brigade operators, service and parts supply depots, and how the Harvest Brigade had the full cooperation of the government.

Folder 27: Letnes, Lawrence John

Fern Letnes gave the photograph and news clippings to Judy Horsch, daughter of Joseph M. Tucker.

This includes a mini-biography of Lawrence John Letnes who was in charge of the Harvest Brigade during the summer of 1944. The story states that Letnes "was the aerial liaison man who kept a fleet of 20 self-propelled combines rolling across the state of Kansas northward to the Canadian border to harvest grain that may have remained uncut because of the critical shortage of manpower and machines during WWII."

The photograph is of John Letnes standing in front of his airplane. The side of the airplane reads, "Self-Propelled Combines, L. J. Letness, Representative, Grand Forks, N. D."

Folders 26: Photographs

7 photocopy of unidentified photographs (undated), 1 unidentified photograph (undated), 1 photograph of Emil Kluck (1949), 1 photograph of Ray Kluck (undated), 1 photograph of Willis Borns (undated), 2 photographs of Emil H. Kluck’s self-propelled combine, the first in Codington County, South Dakota (circa 1940s).

Folder 25: "Watertown man owns first self-propelled combine in county," Watertown Public Opinion

This article is about Emil H. Kluck's self-propelled combine. It was the first combine in Codington County, South Dakota. Included in the article is a page from Emil H. Kluck's 1944 expense record book, a photograph of equipment on display, and a photograph of Emil H. Kluck's self-propelled combine.

Folder 22: Massey-Harris Self-Propelled Harvest Brigade Business Card & Sales Slip

The business card is for Emil, Roy, Ray, Harvest King's, Kluck Bro's, Custome Combining. According to the business card, the brothers had over 22 years of experience.

The sales slip is a blank Massey-Harris Self-Propelled Harvest Brigade sales slip no. 33671. This type of sales slip was used during the 1940s as indicated on the slip as _194.

Joseph M. Tucker Massey Harvest Brigade Collection

  • US US kmk 2019-20.001
  • Collection
  • 1939-1949, 2000, 2005, 2013, undated

Collection includes documents, photographs, magazines, personal records, and other materials related to the life of Joseph Maxwell Tucker and his work in formulating and organizing the Massey-Harris Harvest Brigade in 1944 and 1945 which used Massey-Harris self-propelled combines to harvest wheat and other crops in a wartime environment of both scarce labor and rationing of raw materials. The combines were used to harvest crops in the Great Plains states, Pacific Northwest states, Arizona, and California.

The Subject Series is made up of five folders and includes an organization chart for VP & GSM Sales Department, Joseph Tucker's 1941 job application with the War Food Administration, a 1943 memorandum on the organization of the Massey-Harris Emergency Harvest Brigade, the 1943 proposal of the Massey-Harris Harvest Brigade, and two War Production Board certificates.

The Printed Material Series consists of fourteen folders and includes a calendar, four journal articles, a speech Joseph Tucker gave in 1946, and seven publications.

The Don & Kay Kluck Series is comprised of seven folders. This series pertains to The Kluck Brothers: Custom Harvesters (Emil Kluck, Ray Kluck, and Roy Kluck), the combines they purchased, and a few photographs.

The Photograph Series contains four folders. There are photographs of Lawrence John Letnes, Joseph Tucker, and a photograph of the medal, Order of the British Empire give to Joseph Tucker by King George VI in 1946.

The Oversize Printed Materials Subseries consists of three journal articles, three publications, and two advertising posters.

The Oversize Photographs Subseries has two photographs: 1) Proclamation by King George VI, 1946 September 9, that nominates and appoints Joseph Maxwell Tucker “to an Honorary Officer of the Civil Division of Our said and Most Excellent Order of the British Empire" and 2) a newspaper advertisement poking fun at Joseph Tucker titled “Retribution Overdue."

Tucker, Joseph M.

Subseries 2: Photographs

This series is made up a photograph of the Proclamation by King George VI appointing Joseph M. Tucker “to an Honorary Officer of the Civil Division of Our said and Most Excellent Order of the British Empire" and a photograph of a joke that was printed in the Farm Implement News in 1944.

Folder 13: 1944-1945 Harvest Brigade...keyed to the wartime harvest emergency

This pamphlet explains America's dwindling food stock in 1943 and how "Massey-Harris foresaw the critical situation of the 1944 harvest - a record crop production with too few men and combines to handle the vast acreages." Recognizing the seriousness of the situation the government approved the plan for a Harvest Brigade (a fleet of 500 Self-Propelled Combines) that "pledged to harvest more acres with less fuel, manpower and equipment than ever before in the history of the world."

Box 1

This box is made up of four series: 1) Subject Series; 2) Printed Material; 3) Don & Kay Kluck Series; and 4) Photograph Series.

Tucker, Joseph M.