Nelson, Lowry, 1893-

Sociologist.

From the description of Lowry Nelson writings and papers, 1948-1974. (Utah State University). WorldCat record id: 10317534

Rural sociologist, editor, educator.

From the description of Papers, 1948-1957. (Utah State University). WorldCat record id: 122599736

Professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

From the guide to the Lowry Nelson papers, 1929-1978, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)

Lowry Nelson was a professor of Rural Sociology at the University of Minnesota from 1937 until 1958. He began his career in 1916 in Utah county agriculture service, became the director of the Brigham Young University Extension Division, in Provo. In 1934, Nelson began working in Washington, D.C. as a Regional Advisor for Rural Rehabilitation of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, followed by a position with the Resettlement Administration Division of Rural Rehabilitation. He was the director of the Utah Agricultural Experiemt Station for one year before coming to the University of Minnesota in August of 1937.

From the description of Lowry Nelson papers, 1934-1965. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 63286201

Agricultural expert and sociologist.

From the description of Interview, 8 Aug 1975. (Utah Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 86147219

Lowry Nelson was a sociologist and university professor.

From the description of Lowry Nelson papers, 1934-1965. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 63286039

Lowry Nelson was born in Ferron, Utah in April of 1893. He attended college in Utah and later earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin. During his lifetime he became a world known sociologist.

Nelson earned a B.S. degree at Utah State University in 1916. He spent the next two decades working mainly in Utah. He served as the County Agricultural agent in Sanpete County, Utah in 1919, he became the field agriculturist for the People's Sugar Company in 1920 and edited the Utah Farmer from 1920-1922. He was associated with Brigham Young University from 1921-1935. During the Depression he worked for the Utah Relief Administration in 1934, he was regional advisor to the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and in 1935 became director of the Resettlement Administration. He was then director of the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station at Logan. In 1937 he received a position at the University of Minnesota in the Sociology Department.

During his tenure at the University of Minnesota, Nelson began to develop an international reputation as a rural sociologist. In 1944 he did a study for the State Department on rural life in the Caribbean. In 1945 he received a Fullbright to study rural life in Italy. Dr. Nelson continued his international work taking an interest in different aspects of Canadian rural life.

Dr. Nelson's works include several monographs and a multitude of articles and papers ranging from rural life in Latin America, the United States and Canada as well as studies on various Mormon Villages in Utah. Dr. Nelson died in Provo, Utah in 1986.

From the guide to the Lowry Nelson writings and papers, 1948-19747, (Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives)

Born in Ferron, Utah, in 1893, Lowry Nelson received his B.S. degree in agronomy from Utah State Agricultural College in 1916. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1924 and 1929 from the University of Wisconsin. Much of his early career was centered in Utah. First, he served as secretary to the president of Utah State Agricultural College from 1917 to 1919. From 1919 to 1920 he acted as Sanpete County agricultural agent and as the assistant state leader of county agent work.

In 1921 Nelson shifted fields to become editor of the Utah Farmer, the state farm magazine. Two years later he joined the staff of Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, as director of the University Extension Division, serving from 1923 to 1934. In 1929 he was also made dean of the College of Applied Science, holding both positions until 1934. It was during his BYU years that he married Florence Newell in 1924.

In 1934 Dr. Nelson organized the social welfare division of the Utah Emergency Relief Administration. During the next year he was regional advisor for the Rural Rehabilitation Division of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration in Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona. As assistant director of the Rural Rehabilitation Division, Resettlement Administration, Lowry Nelson spent 1935-1936 in Washington, D. C., then returned to Utah State Agricultural College for a year as director of the Agricultural Experiment Station. He joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota, St. Paul, as a rural sociologist in 1937. On June 30, 1958, Lowry Nelson retired from the university after twenty-one years of service.

Lowry Nelson had several overseas assignments. In 1938 he attended, as the United States member, the first Permanent Agricultural Committee meeting of the International Labor Organization in Geneva, and attended subsequent conferences in 1947 and 1949. In 1945 and 1946, he was a rural sociologist for the United States Department of State and made a study of Caribbean rural life. It was from research for this study he wrote the book Rural Cuba, published in 1950. In 1954 and 1955, Nelson studied Italian rural life under a Fulbright research award.

Following his return from Cuba in 1947, Lowry Nelson received a letter from Heber Meeks of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints inquiring about the possibilities of doing missionary work in Cuba. This letter precipitated Nelson's interest in the L.D.S. church's policies toward people of Negroid extraction. From this beginning Dr. Nelson maintained a lifelong interest in the question and communicated frequently with church authorities about a variety of church-related problems. He published articles, books, and pamphlets about the L.D.S. church, some of which were met with disfavor by church authorities.

Nelson was a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Farm Tenancy Committee in 1936 which drafted the recommendation that Congress create the Farm Security Administration. In 1952 he was a consultant for the Ford Foundation to study the problem of evaluating technical assistance in Latin Americirca In 1957 he was a consultant to the International Cooperation Administration on special assignment in Brazil.

After retirement from the University of Minnesota, in 1958, Dr. Nelson undertook a number of assignments to Latin American countries under the United States Agency for Independent Development (AID) and acted as a visiting professor of sociology at Cornell University, the University of Florida, and the University of Puerto Rico. Beginning in 1966 he spent six years studying Cuban life under Fidel Castro which resulted in his book Cuba: The Measure of a Revolution, published in 1972.

Lowry Nelson died in 1986.

From the guide to the Lowry Nelson papers, 1906-1985, (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)