Agriculture:

The Cully A. Cobb papers consist of correspondence, reports, and other documents concerning the career and family of Cully A. Cobb.

Series 1, Secretary of Agriculture Candidacy, consists of materials documenting Cobb’s candidacy for Secretary of Agriculture in 1932. It includes letters from, and copies of letters to, extension workers, experiment station personnel, college and university officials, agricultural associations and organizations, commercial manufacturers, and editors and staff of farm papers and journals. Included are many letters to, and copies of letters from, Lois P. Dowdle (later Mrs. Cobb), President of the Association of Southern Agricultural Workers, and these letters include correspondence with Franklin Roosevelt. She served as the clearing house for all activities concerning Cobb’s candidacy.

Series 2, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, comprises material pertaining to Cobb’s time as the director of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration’s Cotton Division. Included are government forms, memos to and from Cobb, clippings, and letters to and copies of letters from Cobb regarding his resignation from the A.A.A. in 1937. Additional A.A.A. materials can be found in Scrapbooks 5 and 6.

Series 3, Other Career and Personal Materials, includes biographical materials; documents related to Cobb’s involvement in 4-H livestock competitions at Texas A&M University and elsewhere (including the later careers of two winners, Stephen A. Debnam and Jack Turner), biblical archaeology, church work, and various public events; and personal and professional correspondence.

Series 4, Publications, includes books from Cobb’s professional library.

Series 5, Scrapbooks and bound materials, includes the genealogical book The Cobbs of Tennessee, an 1879 business ledger belonging to Cobb’s father, Coca-Cola advertising materials, a presentation of costs and investments for use by the Ruralist Press, and nine scrapbooks containing documents and photographs related to Cobb’s personal life, friendships with General William Brougher and other figures, and work with the A.A.A. and Ruralist Press.

Series 6, Visual materials, includes photographs from Cobb’s personal and professional life, including the offices and workers at the Ruralist Press, fellow journalists and other colleagues, southern writer Corra Harris, travel, and family. Many of the photographs were used in the biography by Scott and Shoalmire.

There is one artifact: a cigar box with the name “R. L. Cobbs” (probably Cobb’s brother, Robert Lee Cobb) inscribed.

Some documents in the collection appear to have been damaged by fire, possibly the one at Cobb’s home, the Briar Patch, but readability is not affected. The collection is related closely to the Cobb Ruralist Press papers and the Lois P. Dowdle "Mrs. Cully" Cobb papers. All three collections overlap in subject matter and time.