Leaving a Paper Trail
“Big Swedes” big on farm-related literature
By Bill Vossler
One day at a farm auction, Jim Swenson of Hancock, Minn., noticed three boxes of farm literature for sale. “The way the auction was going,” the 44-year-old says, “the auctioneer wouldn't get to it until 7 p.m., and I had a toy show in Mason City, Iowa, the next day.” So Jim walked up to the auctioneer, told him he would have to leave, and said if the boxes were brought up soon, Jim would open the bid at $300.
The auctioneer asked the crowd if he should piece out the items in the boxes, or take bids on the entire load. Jim chuckles as he recalls the scene. “A guy in the audience yelled, ‘If you don't take the bid that's offered, both you and the bidder are fools.' When I walked up to get the boxes, there was a low mutter in the crowd, everybody wondering about this guy who would pay that much money for something like that, but I was grinning from ear to ear.”
The next day at Mason City, Jim and his father, Lyle, sold a quarter of the boxes' contents, including Oliver Hart-Parr and Farmall F-20 literature in mint shape. “We made a lot of money off those boxes of literature,” Jim says. The proceeds allowed them to support their “habit” of collecting farm-related literature, tractor manuals, memorabilia and other farm-related items.
The start
Farm literature first became a staple for the pair at a 1989 farm toy auction in Yankton, S.D., Jim says, where he got stuck with a box of farm literature for $13. Three shows later, after removing pieces for their own collection, only half of the box's contents remained, and Jim decided he would try to get more.
That required a mammoth effort, traveling to farm auctions, thresherees, toy shows, flea markets and defunct implement dealerships – anywhere old pieces of farm literature (as well as tractor manuals, farm signs, calendars and many other types of farm-related items) might be for sale. “For four years in a row, dad and I went our separate ways to shows,” Jim says, “so each year we did 72 shows.” Sometimes that meant driving 400 miles the night after one toy show to get to another. “We only do about two dozen a year now,” he adds.
Finding materials for their collection is tougher now than ever, Jim says. “You end up buying what comes up for sale.” His favorites are tractor manuals. “People who buy tractor manuals are going to use them to work on their tractors, so they'll get thumbed through a lot, which means they're not as concerned about the condition of the manuals.” The best manuals have come from dealerships that have closed in Nebraska and the Dakotas, Jim says.
Over the years, collector interests in farm literature and memorabilia have shifted. “What's changed is what is no longer being bought,” Jim notes. “When we started, people were really interested in threshing machines and tractors from the 1920s and 1930s, but the people who could relate to those old steam tractors and threshing machines are mostly gone now, so the interest in that kind of stuff is too.” Instead, literature for four-wheel tractors is quite popular nowadays, Jim says. Literature for the Allis-Chalmers Landhandler 440 four-wheel drive tractor, for instance, has become hard to find.
Rare pieces are higher-priced now, which is no surprise, but Jim says he doesn't keep a lot of rare items in his collection. “If it's a rare piece, I like to keep it for a while so I can look at it,” he says. Instead, most of the materials in his collection have a personal connection. “Because we had a particular piece of equipment when I was growing up on the farm, that's what I'm interested in. I have a lot on the International 560, 1466 or Farmall M tractors. That's the type of stuff I keep for myself.” Many collectors are doing the same thing, he says, finding items they can relate to personally.
Up in smoke
Common pieces are difficult to move or trade, partly because of the proliferation of literature on eBay. And because most collectors limit the amount of common pieces in a collection, it tends to pile up, especially for the Swensons, who periodically buy large collections.