Date: 1918

 

Description: This small booklet is a wordy pamphlet written by Berges J. Bergeson, head of a well-known family in the Sioux City stockyards. Bergeson was a livestock commission agent and head of the Mid-West Livestock Commission Company, one of the larger commission companies in the stockyards. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Sioux City meat market, and both he and his agents were well known to shippers and meatpackers across the country. In this pamphlet, which is ninth in an annual series, Bergeson writes primarily about his family travels. A section of the pamphlet discusses business affairs, including market prices and commission reports. He also includes a section where he provides his opinions about the politics and daily events of his time, and pictures of the stockyards and personnel. Pamphlets like these not only provided Bergeson’s contemporaries with important business information, but also helped the general public and Bergeson’s employees understand one of the biggest names in Sioux City at the time a little better. Bergeson’s pamphlets allow us in the future to see not only what he did but how he thought, what his personality was, and what kinds of things he liked to do in his free time. These are crucial details that remind us that those in the past are still human, and still very much like us.

 

Bergeson’s four sons were heavily involved in their father’s business while he was alive and after his death. His youngest son, Milo, was active both in the stockyards and in the community. He was a major supporter of the annual Farm-to-Market Truckers Day, president of the Little Yellow Dog Auction Club, director of the Livestock Exchange and director of the Livestock Market News and Educational Foundation. Descendants of the Bergeson family are still in the meat business in Sioux City and South Dakota.

 

Donor: William F. Rees